University plants trees to honor Viereck, Wheeler
July 2, 2010
907-474-5042
7/2/10
Leslie Viereck and Robert Wheeler thought the world of trees so it is appropriate that the University of Alaska Fairbanks chose trees to memorialize both men.
A tree planting and dedication ceremony was held June 25 at West Ridge Plaza, with a birch grove established in honor of Wheeler and a Siberian fir and white spruce planted for Viereck.
Bob Wheeler taught forestry classes for SNRAS, including “NRM 452 Forest Health and Protection.” As a forester he traveled extensively, visiting many South Pacific and Southeast Asia countries. In Hawaii he developed a fast growing variety of the tree, Leucaena, which is now grown and used throughout Indonesia, South America, Mexico, and Australia. Since 1997 he worked for the UAF Cooperative Extension Service as a forestry specialist. His last project was developing cold tolerant apple trees that would grow and thrive in the Interior. He died in 2009.
Viereck was a respected botanist and forest ecologist who died in 2008. A research professor of forest ecology with BECRU and an affiliate professor with SNRAS, Viereck was the first president of the Alaska Conservation Society. He founded the Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest research program in the mid 1980s and retired as principal plant ecologist from the U.S. Forest Service’s Institute of Northern Forestry in Fairbanks in 1996 but continued on as emeritus scientist.
At the Friday ceremony Deborah Horner, university planner, noted that the new birch grove is on the site of a former parking lot. “Bob talked a lot about creating a birch grove,” Horner said. A representative of the Yukon River Chapter of the Society of American Foresters presented Wheeler’s widow, Bev Wheeler, with a plaque naming Bob Wheeler forester of the year for 2009.
CES Energy Specialist Richard Seifert said since his office was close to Wheeler’s the two became good friends. “We exchanged a lot of public information, scholarly information, and technical information,” Seifert said. “It was a very stimulating relationship.” As he was speaking, Seifert noted that a butio flew out of a nearby tree. “Maybe that’s symbolic,” Seifert said.
Wheeler would have been pleased with the new trees on campus, Seifert said. “He wanted the university to reflect what we do best and use the landscape to reflect that too.
“He went too early,” Seifert said. “This is a profound way to memorialize him. Trees were a huge part of his life.”
For Viereck, the Fairbanks Arbor Day Committee representative Ritchie Musick said Viereck was a mainstay in forestry. “We all have his guide to trees on our shelves,” she said. (Viereck was co-author of Alaska Trees and Shrubs, a popular and time-tested guide.)
David Klein, UAF professor emeritus, recalled how he and Viereck started their graduate studies in 1951 at the Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit. Both men had roots in the Northeast and both arrived in Alaska in Model A Roadsters. “We fell in love with Alaska,” Klein said.
“Les was in love with all mountains, the tops as well as the valleys. He was interested in glaciers and how they created mountains, and he was fascinated with the vegetation of the Alaska Range and Denali National Park. He loved alpine flora.”
Horner said the trees are an excellent addition to the campus and that they will fit nicely into a proposed “greenway,” that will consist of a trail system extending from the Fairbanks Experiment Farm to Cornerstone Plaza.
This story was originally posted on the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences blog. Visit it here.