Protecting United States Forest Service Research Centers in NE Minnesota

Sep 10, 2026

Ingrid Lyons, Executive Director

Over the last 65 years plus, the U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, has hosted significant research critical to understanding large-scale issues in northern forests and watersheds, from implications of management practices to how these ecosystems react to a changing world and climate, and served as a community fixture.

Among the important research being undertaken at the facility is the SPRUCE Project, which assesses the effects of changing environments on peatlands and spruce forests through the largest manipulative experiment on the planet, which is globally recognized for its significance and broad use cases, from the forest product industry to conservation and forest management.

“That project is globally recognized for the work that it's doing about how climate change may affect our forested peatland and lowland conifer ecosystems in the state,” said Eric Schenck, executive director of the Minnesota Forest Resources Council. (Minnesota Public Radio, April 3, 2026)

The research center is also an important economic engine, contributing north of $800,000 to the Grand Rapids area annually, and nearly $20 million over a 20-year period, thanks to salaries, local spending, maintenance projects, and facility remodeling. The Center employs 10 Forest Service employees, and 2-4 Minnesota North Itasca Campus students throughout a given year.

With over 65 years of research and community contributions under its belt, it came as a surprise when on April 3 of this year, staff at the research center received word that the U.S. Forest Service would shutter the Grand Rapids research facility, along with 56 others across the country, including the research facility in Ely, Minnesota. As of this month, 23 of those 57 labs will close, and neither the Grand Rapids Northern Research Station nor the Ely facility are among them.

This is thanks to the effort of many, working in partnership to uplift the incredible impact the Grand Rapids facility has - local and national, scientific and economic. The relationships we have built through our advocacy in Washington and at home for permanent protection of the Boundary Waters from sulfide-ore copper mining can be and are, as in this case, applied in to other areas where we can have a positive impact on the northwoods. Here, we worked with the Minnesota Congressional Delegation, staff for the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, and folks on the ground in northern Minnesota to push back against the proposed closures, and ultimately prevailed. A big thank you is due in particular to Senator Amy Klobuchar and Representative Angie Craig, ranking members of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees, respectively.

You can read more about the Grand Rapids Research Facility and its impacts below:

Highlights of Northern Research Center Grand Rapids research contributions over the last 65 years

Top forest ecology and management contributions

● Decades of development of management guides of the important economic species in the state (e.g. White Pine, Red Pine, Aspen).

● Long-term silvicultural studies on white and red pine (Cutfoot Experimental Forest), aspen (Pike Bay Experimental Forest), and black spruce (Big Falls Experimental Forest) to determine management options and silvicultural alternatives.

● Assessing the effects of changing environments on peatlands and spruce forests through the largest manipulative experiment on the planet (SPRUCE: Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments) at the Marcell Experimental Forest.

● Initiation of the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) experiment on red pine that now has 14 installations of various species across the US and Canada.

● Also initiated the Long-term Soil Productivity (LTSP) experiment back in the 1990s and now there are 100+ sites across North America where we measure the influence of soil compaction and organic removal on tree productivity on various species. Our LTSP experiment on the Chippewa National Forest focuses on aspen.

● More recently, large scale simulation of emerald ash borer invasion of black ash wetlands to determine options for these ecosystems given the inevitable removal of black ash from our landscapes.

Top aquatic and atmospheric contributions

● Minnesota’s forest management guidelines were developed to protect water quality and wetlands in part from seasonal pond and stream riparian buffer and soil compaction studies conducted by Grand Rapids scientists.

● Large scale studies of watersheds managed for timber production and grazing on watersheds has provided critical information for connecting upstream management methods to downstream users.

● Long-term measurements of water flow and quality from peatlands (bogs and fens), and uplands during changing environmental conditions has increased our ability to provide clean drinking water to the public from forested watersheds.

● Long-term monitoring of carbon, mercury, and nutrient transport in watersheds managed for timber harvest has led to better best management practices to increase timber production and water quality.

● Long-term experiments and monitoring of atmospheric deposition of sulfur and mercury in peatland watersheds along with the Marcell Experimental Forest’s National Atmospheric Deposition Program site, the first and longest running site in Minnesota, provides invaluable data related to changes in acid rain impacts.