Frank H. Wadsworth

Frank Howard Wadsworth was born on November 26, 1915 in Chicago, Illinois, to Robert Wadsworth and Helen Celestia Woodman.[3] In 1937 he received both a bachelor's and master’s degree in forestry from the University of Michigan. His graduate work had focused on Alaskan ecology. In 1941, he married Margaret Pearson, until her death in 1985;[1] he later married Isabel Colorado Laguna.[2] He earned his PhD in Forestry in 1950, focusing on tropical forest management in Puerto Rico.[4][5][6]

In 1938, Wadsworth worked at the Southwestern Forest and Range Experiment Station at Fort Valley, Arizona.[7] In 1942, he accepted a job at the Tropical Forest Experimental Station in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. In 1943, he was elected into Sigma Xi membership.[8]

Wadsworth in 1970

In 1949, he completed the "Multiple Use and Timber Management Plan" for the Caribbean National Forest (now known as El Yunque National Forest), calling for uplands preservation, parrot habitat, and watershed conservation.[9]

In 1949, prior to the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, Wadsworth became involved with the efforts to recover the Puerto Rican parrot population.[10] He was successful in setting aside 3,200 acres for parrot habitat. The parrot population, which once numbered in the millions had been reduced to a population of around 2,000 birds, which was further reduced to just 13 birds by 1975.[10]

By the start of the 20th century, aggressive agricultural use left the island of Puerto Rico mostly barren of forests, and attempts to restore the tropical forests failed. In the 1950's, along with agronomist José Marrero Torrado,[11] Wadsworth performed comprehensive scientific research and experimentation which led to successful approaches for the reforestation of the island of Puerto Rico.[12] The lessons learned from these studies and efforts paved the way for reforestation efforts for tropical forests around the world.[13]

Wadsworth was appointed supervisor of the national forest and became director of the International Institute of Tropical Forestry in 1956.[14][15][16][17]

In 1960 Wadsworth assisted in the founding of the Puerto Rico Natural History Society (Sociedad de Historia Natural de Puerto Rico in Spanish).[18] In the early 1960s, Wadsworth played a key role in the construction of the Yokahú Tower.[19] In 1968, as member of the Governor's Advisory Council, he played a key role in the creation of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources.[20] As a researcher, he conducted more than one hundred investigations.[18]

Wadsworth served as editor of the journal Caribbean Forester for 24 years.[18] He authored multiple books on the biodiversity of the El Yunque National Forest and other forest reserves of the Caribbean archipelago.[21] Among the books are Common Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (1964-1989), co-authored with Elbert Luther Little; and Flora of Virgin Gorda (1976),[22] with Little and Roy O. Woodbury. With Forest Production for Tropical America (1997),[23][24] Wadsworth created a reference book towards those who aim to make tropical forests more productive as well as students in the forestry schools.

Although Frank Wadsworth retired from the Forest Service in 1999, he continued working as a volunteer in various capacities. In 1960 Wadsworth assisted in the founding of the Puerto Rico Natural History Society (Sociedad de Historia Natural de Puerto Rico in Spanish).[18] Wadsworth assisted in the founding of the Santa Ana Environmental Center known as Centro Ambiental Santa Ana or CASA in Spanish.[25][26][27][28] CASA located at the Julio Enrique Monagas Park in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, was founded in 2006 pursuant to Dr. Wadsworth’s vision to provide a natural field laboratory where young people could acquire knowledge about the environment and its organisms.[29]

Wadsworth's expertise took him around the world, where he both studied tropical forests and taught about them. He worked with the International Tropical Timber Organization, USAID, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations. In Latin America he is remembered as a founding father of tropical forestry. During his life, Dr. Wadsworth was responsible for the development of a large number of foresters whom he trained and mentored in Puerto Rico and beyond.[30][31][32]

Wadsworth became a member of the Boy Scouts of America in 1927 and earned the rank of Eagle Scout. In 1933 he belonged to Troop 899 in Chicago. Wadsworth credits his scouting experience in his youth as spurring his interest in trees and birds. Scoutmaster Alexander Kopp, a retired Army captain, who lived by strong principles and an organized approach to life also left an impression in young Wadsworth. [33]

As an adult, he remained active in the Scouting movement throughout his life. He made numerous contributions in the conservancy of Guajataka Scout Reservation's forests, and offered numerous educational lectures to Scouts.[34] Wadsworth volunteered as Scoutmaster from 1945-1960, and served in various roles in the Puerto Rico BSA Council.

In 1952, he founded the Guajataka Scout Reservation's Nature Team,[35] which is entrusted with maintaining the scout camp's nature education programs. Dr. Wadsworth began the tradition in which scouts selected to belong to the Nature Team would receive training lectures by experts, including himself, in various fields such as astronomy, insects, reptiles, birds, soil and water, and forestry. Since the Nature Team's founding, numerous former members have pursued studies and careers in natural and environmental science fields.[36]

In 1954, along with Luis Matías Ferrer, Wadsworth co-founded the Yokahu Lodge[37] of the Order of the Arrow and served as the Ordeal Master for the first Ordeal ceremony held in Puerto Rico.

In 1955, he was awarded the Silver Beaver Award. In January 1961, Wadsworth became the Yokahu Lodge’s first Vigil Honor member. In 1965, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Order of the Arrow, the highest honor awarded, and the only member of Yokahu Lodge to be awarded it.[38] He received the Silver Antelope Award (Region Two) in 1968. In 2014 he was awarded the National William T. Hornaday Gold Medal, for service in natural resource conservation, reforestation, and environmental education.

In 2003, he published Guía Para la Isla de la Mona on behalf of the Puerto Rico Council, a Scout guidebook on Mona Island.[39] [40]

Bust of Wadsworth located at the Guajataka Scout Reservation.

• Byrsonima wadsworthii (Almendrillo in Spanish), a rare and endemic plant found in northeastern Puerto Rico, was named after Wadsworth by botanist Elbert Luther Little in 1953.[41]
• In 1973, Dr. Wadsworth received the Bernhard Eduard Fernow Forestry Award.
• In 1980, Dr. Wadsworth received an Environmental Merit Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
• In 1994, Dr. Wadsworth received an honorary doctorate degree from the State University of New York.
• In 1997, Dr. Wadsworth received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez.[42][43]
• In 1998, the International Institute of Tropical Forestry Library in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico was named after Dr. Wadsworth.[44]
• In 1999, Dr. Wadsworth received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus.
• In 2004, Dr. Wadsworth received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey.[45][46]
• In 2006, Dr. Wadsworth received an honorary doctorate degree from the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, in Costa Rica.[47]
• In 2009, the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation recognized Dr. Wadsworth with their Sustained Achievement Award.[48][49]
• In celebration of Dr. Wadsworth's 100th birthday, the Puerto Rico Council issued a commemorative patch.[50]
• For his many contributions to the Scouting movement in Puerto Rico, Dr. Wadsworth was honored with a bust at the Guajataka Scout Reservation, unveiled in 2014 with Dr. Wadsworth in attendance.[51]
• Wadsworth appears in the 2015 documentary, JIBA: el bosque de Maricao.[52]
• Wadsworth's life was featured in an episode of Sistema TV's program Geoambiente, aired in 2016.[53]
• In 2016, the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources named a hiking trail after Wadsworth at the Río Abajo State Forest.[54][55][56]
• In 2017, Wadsworth was inducted into the Puerto Rico Agriculture Hall of Fame (Salón de la Fama de la Agricultura Puertorriqueña in Spanish).[57]
• Wadsworth was featured in the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture's Crónicas 90 series of short documentaries highlighting the lives of people over the age of 90, who have made significant contributions to Puerto Rico's culture and arts.[58]
• In 2020, Ciudadanos del Karso recognized Dr. Wadsworth with the Premio Trayectoria Extraordinaria Stahl award, named after Dr. Agustín Stahl.