Savenac hosts 15th reunion

Two distinguished speakers highlight history and the role Savenac played following 1910 fire

In 1907, while on his honeymoon, forester Elers Koch stumbled upon an abandoned homestead along Savenac Creek and dreamed of building a nursery. But by 1910, fires destroyed the fledging nursery along with millions of forested acres throughout the region. But the "Big Burn" as it would come to be called would not destroy Koch's dream. Instead, the nursery would play an important part in reforestation efforts. Koch was Forest Supervisor of the Lolo National Forest in 1910 and would come to be considered a pioneer in forestry and forest conservation.

Last Friday, July 16, Savenac held its 15th Annual Reunion to mark the fifteenth anniversary of Savenac's Passport in Time (PIT) Program. The Savenac PIT program is a forest service and volunteer collaboration program that helps to maintain the grounds and buildings of the nursery. Since beginning 15 years ago, they have held an annual reunion each year and this year's reunion was special as it also fell in line with the 100 year anniversary of the fire of 1910.

Two special speakers were on the program for Friday: Russ Graham from the Rocky Mountain Research Station and Bud Moore, who served as region one director of fire before retirement.

According to Graham, 100 years ago people were arguing about whether they should let fires burn or whether they should be put out. They were arguing about what roles fire would play in the management of the forests.

"This was the political landscape leading up to the fires of 1910," Graham said. "And we had a cavalier attitude about fire. In Idaho, we were burning the woods down because they were in the way. We were clearing land with fire."

Back in 1910, there were over 1,700 fires burning in August, but officials believes that as long they didn't get the winds they'd be safe, but unfortunately, the winds did blow on August 21 and 22, when most of the damage was done. Several communities and miles of railroad infrastructure were destroyed and at least 85 people, most of them Forest Service firefighters, were killed in the summer of 1910. Graham said that although there have been bigger fires besides the "Big Burn," the reason it had such an impact was because of politics and people.

"It burned three million acres and billions of dollars of timber went down," Graham said. "Around a half million acres needed reforesting...and these trees were coming from Savenac."

The nursery played an important role in the reforestation after the 1910 fire. Although the entire nursery had burned down in the 1910 fire, 31 acres were added and by 1910, ten million trees were in the ground. The target was to produce three million trees a year. Four thousand acres were planted each year and seedlings were sent to priority areas that were burned.

"They never really got up to their target although they came close a few times," Graham said. "But by 1936, they were hitting six million trees."

Graham said that Savenac faced several production issues including snow, droughts, flooding and weeds. But despite the hardships, Koch had picked out an ideal environment for growing seedlings.

"I don't think Koch realized it at the time, but the soils here were very conducive for growing trees," Graham said. "The climate was also very conducive for a nursery setting. It's arguable, but there's probably no other site in the northern Rockies that is as conducive for growing seedlings and trees as Savenac was."

The two types of trees heavily produced for reforesting the charred mountains were ponderosa pine and white pine. Trees were rolled up and shipped in the back of trucks. Graham said that rolling the trees up also allowed them to be put on the backs of horses and mules, which were means of accessing the back country at the time.

Several nursery experiments that looked at lifters, watering, fertilization, covering beds with sand, horse versus tractor and clipping seed coats among others were first done at Savenac.

"Some of what they established in Savenac in 1920 is an effective way of doing it today," Graham said. "What they did set the standards for nurseries for many years to come. Reforestation was and still is one of the primary goals of forestry and throughout the years, Savenac played a very important role."

After Graham spoke, Bud Moore recalled several stories and memories he had of working for the forest service. Although he never worked at Savenac, Moore said that he spent time planting a lot of the trees. He said that he saw a lot of the results over the years that came from the research done at Savenac.

Before becoming director of fire, Moor said that he and others were "alternate rangers," or the ones who didn't have any college education. Moore said that he "lucked out" and was one of the last to be "grandfathered into the professional rangers."

Moore recalled the first fire he saw at age six. He said he went across the pasture with his dad and although he couldn't help fight it, he could provide conversation. The first fire he fought as part of the forest service was in 1934.

"It was set by a little homesteader who was burning brush in August," Moore said. "He didn't know much about fire."

Moore said he saw the fire blow up across from his home and grabbed his equipment and ran out to it. He said it was fast moving fire that went up to the top of the hill. Within the first half hour, the rangers showed up and then told Moore to go home and rest, to return in the morning.

"That was the start of my career right there," Moore said.

Moore said that there was a lot happening within the forest service that revolved around policy, the role fire was going to play and the ideas of sustainability.

"What we were doing during my time I was in prime, we were protecting, trying to protect, the values and we didn't know quite what they were going to be. There were several ideas, but we didn't know how we were going to put them together," Moore said.

While the day's event took time to remember and recall the past, the day also focused on thanking those who had volunteered through the PIT program, those responsible for maintaining Savenac.

"I really appreciate all of you volunteers," Sharon Sweeney, district ranger, said. "You have done a magnificent job at helping to keep Savenac from falling into the earth. This place looks beautiful."

Volunteers of all ages from all across the United States come to Savenac during the summer to work on various projects including signs, painting buildings, maintaining the grounds and more. Sydney Bacon, who had coordinated the Savenac PIT program and an archaeologist for Lolo National Forest, said without the program Savenac wouldn't exist. She said that it's important to maintain the grounds as they're used in educational functions, but also that the grounds hold a special place in the hearts of those who live in the area.

"It has such a rich history and for Mineral County residents this place has such an important enduring place in their hearts," Bacon said.

A potluck lunch was offered after the program ended and tours throughout the nursery were available to those who wished to tour the area.