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On January 9, 1926, Charles Lathrop Pack Demonstration Forest came into being with the acceptance of a $9,222 gift from conservationist and East Coast lumberman, Charles Lathrop Pack. This gift was used, pursuant to Mr. Pack's wishes, to acquire the first 334 acres of what would, by 1996, become a 4,300 acre facility.
 Mr. Pack established criteria for the forest in his communication with Dean Winkenwerder of the College of Forestry, which would and does continue to be dominant in the development of management and operation programs at Pack Forest:
... This should be situated on one of the big highways that is much travelled. It would be one idea to have a small amount of large timber, some timber of various ages; also a place where there would be some regeneration particularly of Douglas-fir. After this forest is purchased, it should be put into shape to sell forestry....
In May 2004 the Dean of the College of Forest Resources announced the creation of the Center For Sustainable Forestry at Pack Forest. The Center's programs and management are the responsibility of the Director of the Center For Sustainable Forestry at Pack Forest. A steering committee, appointed by the Dean advises the College on policy and programs. The Center Director is a co-chair of this committee.
Much of the current management direction also stems from the Pack Forest Landscape Management Plan as well as the Pack Forest Management Plan.
The Center Director employs a permanent staff of ten to carry out the day-to-day operation, demonstration and management needs of the forest and conference center. This staff consists of administrative, professional, and custodial personnel, some of which reside at the Forest and others of which reside in the local community. These personnel assist in research, academic, management, and demonstration projects to complement the College of Forest Resources' academic programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels, and in Continuing Education and research.
Pack Forest has long been one of the focal points in the undergraduate curriculum, with a quarter of residency field studies being an integral part of the program. During this time, forest resources management students received field level training in a number of areas important to their future careers. With curriculum changes this quarter of residency is no longer required and effectively ended in 2003.
Lab exercises and case study classes continue to use Pack Forest a day or more at a time. Continuing Education programs have used the Forest to an advantage at both the undergraduate and graduate level due to the forestry resource conveniently at hand and because the isolation provides a place for work and study that assures minimal interruption.
The Pack Forest Conference Center contains housing for students, faculty, and staff. Most of the housing is dormitory style, and is supported by the center staff from a well-equipped, modern kitchen and dining hall. There is also a complement of self-contained housing used by faculty, staff, and graduate students for projects and assignments requiring them to stay overnight.
Several classroom settings are available in buildings originating from CCC and WPA projects in the 1930's. In 1982, three new buildings containing dormitory rooms, classrooms, computer lab, conference rooms and new shower facilities were dedicated. In addition to the College of Forest Resources, these facilities are extensively used by other University of Washington schools and colleges, other institutions, agencies, and groups in accordance with University of Washington facilities use policy for conferences, short courses, internal training programs, and continuing education.
The forest itself is a field laboratory for academic programs and forestry research, in that it contains a diversity of forest types, sites, soils, and operating features that are essential to a well-rounded undergraduate forestry curriculum and research program. The Pack Forest staff is responsible for maintaining the setting and forest diversity so that academic and research opportunities may continue and expand. The staff also plays an important role in being able to provide equipment, equipment maintenance, and operation so that programs can be carried out efficiently, cost effectively, and safely.
Research opportunities are not restricted to forestry. Other schools and colleges are encouraged to use the forest in their programs, and a number of them do. The organization of Pack Forest provides for staff support to be available to most institutions, subject to normal recharging policy. The security of the forest, its support from the local community, the permanent staff, and the long term assurance of continuity are the major advantages Pack Forest offers to a research project.
There are presently several research projects in progress at Pack Forest, including the short-term evaluations of tree spacing and growth, forest amphibian response to landscape vegetation patterns, and long-term (50+ years) evaluations of the effects of pruning on wood quality. The projects range from personal graduate student experiments to the multi-million dollar municipal biosolids utilization project jointly undertaken with METRO of Seattle and the Department of Ecology. They also include three major cooperative projects, one dealing with the response to different fertilizing and thinning regimes, another dealing with the effect of spacing on growth yield and quality, and the third dealing with yields from plantations established with progeny from superior parents.
Demonstrations at Pack Forest attempt to link the practical findings of research to the every-day world of operations. Many research findings have been able to be implemented in operations, and the results are available to the public, the industry, and forest landowners. Records of these undertakings are maintained so that ongoing information, updated as technology changes occur, can continue to be disseminated. Field trips and tours are a major part of the Pack Forest program, and the professionals and forest landowners commonly taking part in these tours benefit greatly from the catalog of information that can be provided to them in field examples.
Pack Forest is nearly a financially self-sufficient facility, receiving only about ten percent of its $1.5 million biennial operating budget from University sources. The forest operations budget, which includes staff salaries, building, grounds and equipment maintenance, heat and electricity, road construction and maintenance, reforestation, and other cultural forestry expenses, all comes from the monies generated from silvicultural activities and from funded research recharges.
Sale of timber is the major revenue source, and includes not only conventional forest products (logs), but also special forest products such as floral greens, small diameter logs and firewood. Excess revenues are dispersed throughout the College at the discretion of the Dean. Most capital improvements in the campus area have been funded through normal University processes.
In early 2003 the Pack Forest Conference Center budgets were restructured to become a "cost center". The conference center generates over $293,000 annually in housing revenue and food service. The conference center became entirely self-sufficient in 2004.
The principal timber sale method itself is almost unique in the state system. The system involves two contract procedures for each sale. The logs themselves are offered by bid sale to companies buying delivered logs. A separate contract providing the logging and hauling service is then offered for bid. Both contracts are handled in conventional manner, and are subject to normal University policies and processes.
This process permits Pack Forest to design its harvest areas according to physical and biological requirements, instead of having to yield to economic requirements. The result is that small sales have been able to be made, even under depressed market conditions. Revenue is also generally higher because the basic marketing, and the risk for doing same is borne by Pack Forest, not the logger. This results in greatly reduced logging bids, leaving a larger percentage of the log selling price with Pack Forest.
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