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Lincoln Bramwell

Lincoln Bramwell
Chief Historian
Knowledge Management & Communications
240 West Prospect Road
Fort Collins, CO 80526-2098
United States
Phone
970-498-1174
Email
Current Research
As the agency historian, my current research reflects the Forest Service's broad range of activities. At this time I am leading a team that is writing a book-length history of American agriculture and the role of forest conservation in this story for the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee. The committee is celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2020 and Chairman Conaway of Texas has asked for an official history to highlight the committee's work in relation to the nation's agricultural sector.  I am also working on a book-length collection of the key legislative acts, court decisions, and agency directives that have the most impact on Forest Service management today. The collection will gather the original documents and provide an annotated narrative that places each one into historical context. In addition to these long-term projects I am involved in directing all aspects of the agency's history program, including public speaking, internal and external outreach, producing and managing oral histories, as well as policy support, expert testimony in Federal court, and developing a strategic vision for history within the agency's mission.

Position Statement:

Lincoln is responsible for making Forest Service history more accessible to the public and more meaningful to the agency. He directs all aspects of the agency’s history program, including research and publication, public speaking, external outreach, producing and managing oral histories, as well as policy support, expert testimony in Federal court, and developing a strategic vision for history within the agency’s mission.
Past Research
Wilderburbs: Communities on Nature’s Edge. Foreword by William Cronon, Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books Series. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014).

Forest Management for All: State and Private Forestry in the U.S. Forest Service. (Durham, NC: Forest History Society, 2013).

Stein, S. M.; Menakis, J.; Carr, M. A.; Comas, S. J.; Stewart, S. I.; Cleveland, H.; Bramwell, L.; Radeloff, V. C. 2013. Wildfire, wildlands, and people: understanding and preparing for wildfire in the wildland-urban interface - a Forests on the Edge report. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-299. Fort Collins, CO. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 36 p.
Research Interest
Environmental history, human relationships with the environment, forest and conservation history, fire management history, U.S. political and cultural history.
Why This Research Is Important
It is important to understand that the Forest Service has never operated in a vacuum.  National forest management at any point in time is a reflection of Americans' attitudes and desires toward their natural resources. In a democracy, these attitudes and desires are expressed through Congressional legislation, court decisions, and Executive branch direction that impacts how the national forests are managed. Understanding the historical context of how our agency operated in the past provides meaning for our day and helps us chart a successful future. History can turn hindsight into foresight.
Education
  • University of New Mexico, Phd, United States History, 2007
  • University of Utah, Master Of Arts, United States History, 2000
  • Brigham Young University , Bachelor Of Arts, History, 1996
Professional Experience
  • Affiliated Faculty,  Colorado State University,  2017 - Current
    Teach graduate research seminar on Environmental History topics.
  • Chief Historian,  USDA Forest Service,  2009 - Current
    Duties include directing all aspects of this Federal agency’s history program, including research, public speaking, digital asset management, archival storage, external outreach, as well as policy support, expert testimony in Federal court, and developing a strategic vision for history within the land management agency’s mission.
  • Research Director, Public History Program,  University of Nevada, Las Vegas,  2007 - 2009
    Co-Principal Investigator, Yosemite Administrative History, Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit, National Park Service. Co-Principal Investigator, Lake Mead National Recreation Area Historic Resource Study, National Park Service. Co-Principal Investigator, St. Thomas, Nevada, Historic Resource Study, National Park Service.
  • Assistant Editor,  University of New Mexico Press,  2004 - 2007
    Evaluated, reviewed, and prepared manuscripts for publication.
Professional Organizations
  • Editorial Positions,  Society of American Foresters (SAF),  2017 - Current
  • Prize Committee Member,  Society for History in the Federal Government,  2015 - Current
  • Editorial Board Member,  American Society of Environmental History,  2013 - Current
  • Advisory Committee,  American Society of Environmental History,  2012 - Current
  • Executive Council,  Society for History in the Federal Government,  2014 - 2016
  • Conference Program Committee Co-Chair,  Organization of American Historians,  2013 - 2015
Awards & Recognition
  • Finalist--Spur Award, Best Contemporary Nonfiction book, Western Writers of America, 2015
    Finalist for Wilderburbs: Communities on Nature's Edge.
  • Friend's Choice Award, Montana Historical Society, 2010
    For best article in Montana Magazine.
  • Graduate Dean's Dissertation Scholarship, 2007
    University of New Mexico
  • Regents Fellowship , 2007
    University of New Mexico
  • Walter Rundell Dissertation Award, 2006
    Western History Association
  • Frederick G. Bohme Memorial Prize in History, 2006
    University of New Mexico
  • Dorothy Woodward Memorial Fellowship in History, 2004
    University of New Mexico
  • John F. Kennedy Award, 2004
    University of New Mexico
  • Howard Rabinowitz Award, 2001
    University of New Mexico
  • Award of Merit, 1999
    Pike National Forest
  • Award of Merit, 1998
    Ashley National Forest
  • Boy Scouts of America, 1987
    Eagle Scout
Featured Publications
Other Publications
Citations of Non-Forest Service Publications

  • Books

    Wilderburbs: Communities on Nature’s Edge. Foreword by William Cronon, Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books Series. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014).

    Forest Management for All: State and Private Forestry in the U.S. Forest Service. (Durham, NC: Forest History Society, 2013).

    Playing the Odds: Las Vegas and the Modern West. Hal Rothman. Lincoln Bramwell, editor. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2007).

    Our New Mexico: A Twentieth Century History. Lincoln Bramwell, Sonia Dickey, Lisa Pacheco and Calvin Roberts, eds. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005).

    Articles

    “Mad Skills: How Historians Are Like Swiss Army Knives,” Perspectives on History Vol. 54, No. 5 (May 2016), 24-25.

    “History of Smokejumping,” Fire Management Today Vol. 74, No. 4 (Winter 2015), 5-7.

    “Firefighters in the Sky: 75 Years and Still Smokejumping over Montana,” Montana: The Magazine of Western History Vol. 65, No. 1 (April 2015), 60-69.

    “Fire on Denver’s Edge,” Journal of the West Vol. 53, No. 4 (Fall 2014), 44-55.

    “The 1911 Weeks Act: The Legislation That Nationalized the U.S. Forest Service,” Journal of Energy and Natural Resource Law Vol. 30, no. 3 (2012), 325-36.

    “The Law That Nationalized the U.S. Forest Service,” with Jamie Lewis, Forest History Today 17, nos. 1 & 2 (December 2011), 8-16.

    “When the Mountains Roared: The 1910 Northern Rockies Fires,” Montana: The Magazine of Western History (Autumn 2010), 54-69.

    “The Looming Fire Problem in the East,” Penn State Environmental Law Review Vol. 18, no. 2 (Summer 2010), 101-107.

    “Hotshots: The History and Work Culture of America’s Elite Wildland FireFighters,” New Mexico Historical Review Vol. 83, no. 3 (Summer 2008), 291-322.

    Book Chapters                       

    “The Grand Canyon: From Great Barrier to Grand Resort,” in American Tourism: Constructing a National Tradition. J. Mark Souther and Nicholas Dagen Bloom, eds. (Chicago: Center for American Places at Columbia College Chicago, 2012).

    “Wilderburbs and Rocky Mountain Development,” in Country Dreams, City Schemes: Utopian Visions of the Urban West. Amy Scott and Kathleen Brosnan, eds. (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2011).

https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/about/people/lbramwell