Henry Vaux Sr.; Helped Shape State’s Forestry Policy

Henry James Vaux Sr., 88, former chairman of California’s Board of Forestry and UC Berkeley professor known for his contributions to forest policy and economics. Vaux stressed accountability to the public for forest management, and he played a significant role in developing California’s forestry laws during the 1960s and 1970s. He worked for a forest tax reform act, which eliminated tax incentives for harvesting timber prematurely, and a forest improvement act, which created a fiscal partnership between the state and private forest owners. Vaux headed the Board of Forestry from 1976 until 1983. Born in Bryn Mawr, Pa., he was educated at Haverford College and UC Berkeley. He was a forest engineer for the Crown Willamette Paper Co. in Portland, Ore., a forest economist at the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station and an economist with the U.S. Forest Service. Vaux spent World War II in Washington, D.C., on active duty with the Navy Reserve. He joined the Berkeley faculty in 1948 and was dean of the School of Forestry from 1955 to 1965, during which he suggested and guided the creation of its Wildland Research Center. The UC Berkeley College of Natural Resources established the Henry Vaux Forestry Education Center at Blodgett Forest near Auburn, Calif., in 1999. Among his other honors were the Gifford Pinchot Medal from the Society of American Foresters and a lifetime achievement award from the American Forestry Assn. On Dec. 22 in Berkeley.