File:1910. Josef Brunner (left) and Jesse L. Webb on a field trip in the northern Rocky Mountains region. (37460296595).jpg

Josef Brunner (left) and Jesse L. Webb on a field trip in the northern Rocky Mountains region.

Photo by: Unknown Date: August 1910

Credit: USDA Forest Service, Region 6, State and Private Forestry, Forest Health Protection. Source: H.E. Burke Collection digital files; Regional Office; Portland, Oregon.

This photo and the following excerpt are from: H.E. Burke. 1946. My Recollections of the First Years in Forest Entomology. Berkeley, California. 37 p. <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/sites/default/files/recollections-on-forest-entomology.pdf" rel="nofollow">www.fs.fed.us/sites/default/files/recollections-on-forest...</a>

"Josef Brunner was a native of the German state of Bavaria. After graduating from one of the German forest academies and working for the Bavarian forest service for a few years, Brunner became interested in big game hunting and came to the United States and Montana in about 1900. He hunted and wrote hunting stories for such magazines as "Outing." These stories attracted attention and he was requested to write a nature book for the Boy Scouts of America. "Tracks and Tracking" was published by the Outing Publishing Company in 1909 and has been used for a number of years as a reference book for the Boy Scouts.

While hunting in the Snowy Mountains of central Montana, Brunner in 1908 noticed quantities of dying pine and studied the same. Finding insects under the bark he started corresponding with Dr. Hopkins and was invited to join the staff of Forest Insect Investigations and to conduct a control project against the mountain pine beetle which was the destructive species. This project was so interesting and such a success that Brunner remained with the staff and continued the investigation of forest insects in Montana."

For additional historical forest entomology photos, stories, and resources see the Western Forest Insect Work Conference site: <a href="http://wfiwc.org/content/history-and-resources" rel="nofollow">wfiwc.org/content/history-and-resources</a>