​Managing the National Forests

Hagen’s research on the history of forest management in central Idaho focuses on the period after the 1860s invasion of Nez Perce territory, examining federal forest administration from the 1890s advent of Forest Reserves through the 1960s. In the postwar period, broader developments in America’s culture and economy, along with a host of associated midcentury legislation, transformed the work of public land management.  Around the Nez Perce and Clearwater National Forests, the postwar changes in National Forest administration—in the mandate, labor and goals of management—manifested at most every level, reshaping the workforce, the agency’s relationships with its many publics, the natural and built environments.

Portions of this research serve as the basis of article-length reports used by the Forest Service to guide planning and resource management.