The Fraser Experimental Forest is an outdoor research laboratory to study timber, water, wildlife management, and their integration in the high elevation subalpine coniferous forests. The experimental forest was established in 1937, and encompasses 9,328 hectares (36.02 sq mi). It is situated on the west side of the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado and includes the entire watershed of main Saint Louis Creek, a tributary of the Fraser River.[1]
Fraser is one of few sites in the Rocky Mountains that maintains long-term records on hydrology, climate, forest structure and growth, and responses to forest management. Fraser provides the capacity for researchers to do whole-ecosystem manipulations in watersheds that are representative of high-elevation watersheds of southern and central Rockies.[1]
Most early research was oriented toward timber or water cycle and production resulting from forest management. For this research, many long-term study plots were established in both lodgepole pine and Engelmann spruce, and 7 watersheds were monitored for streamflow, climate and snow. Some of the records now exceed 60 years in length. Research on forest/wildlife interactions began in the 1950s. Biogeochemical studies began in the 1960s, were restarted in the 1970s, and have been continuous since 1982. Much of this work is done in cooperation with the National Park Service.[4]