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University
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| Biography | Charles R. Hursh was born in Jonesboro, Illinois, and received a B.S. from the University of Missouri and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. He began working at the Southern Research Station in 1926 to develop a watershed research program in western North Carolina. Between 1926 and 1931, he worked on accumulation of organic matter in soils, the role of upstream watersheds on the Mississippi River flood, and erosion control and stabilization of roadbanks. He founded the Coweeta Experimental Forest and Hydrolic Laboratory in 1933, encompassing 3,900 acres of the Nantahala National Forest near Franklin, NC. From 1933 until 1939, he constructed roads, offices, shops, a power plant, a hydraulic testing station, and 10 weather stations; he inventoried vegetation; he created a 60-gage network for measuring precipitation; he installed 16 stream gages and 4 ground water wells; he established a nursery to stock road stabilization projects; and he built the first 25 weirs. In 1939, Hursh began testing the effects of changes in cover using three watersheds in a unique way, by evaluating effects of treatments by measuring changes in the balance between precipitation and runoff. Before his retirement in 1954, he worked with other famous hydrologists including E.F. Brater and M.D. Hoover to shape current concepts of stream flow generation on forestland and to quantify many effects of forest removal on stream flow and water quality.* |
| Subjects | Hursh,
Charles R. United States Forest Service Forests and Forestry --- United States Forestry and Community Forestry Extension North Carolina Forestry Extension Southern States Forestry Industry Forestry Innovations Forestry Schools and Education Forestry Schools and Education --- North Carolina United States Department of the Interior |
| Bibliography |
Hursh, C.R and M.D. Hoover. Installation of
shallow observation wells. Asheville, N.C. : U.S. Dept. of
Agriculture, Forest Service, Appalachian Forest Experiment Station,
1943.
Hursh, C.R. Local climate in the Copper
Basin of Tennessee as modified by the removal of vegetation.
Washington, D.C. : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1948. Hursh, C.R. Measures for stand improvement
in southern Appalachian forests. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print.
Off., 1933. Hursh, C.R. Morphological and physiological studies on the resistance of wheat to Puccinia graminis tritici Erikss. and Henn. Washington, D.C.: 1924. Hursh, C.R. The naturalization of roadbanks. Asheville, NC : Appalachian Forest Experiment Station, 1942. |
| Citation | U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station Collection, D.H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville 28804 |
| Processed by | Special Collections staff - Erica Ojermark |