This report presents a comprehensive history of the Hugo Sauer Nursery and the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Institute for Applied Ecosystem Studies located near Rhinelander, Wisconsin from 1931 to 2023. It details the evolution of the nursery, which started as a Depression-era federal nursery created to reforest the national forests in the upper Midwest, became a state-operated nursery leased by the Wisconsin Conservation Department, and transformed into an experimental testing ground for cutting-edge forestry research. The establishment of the Institute of Forest Genetics adjacent to the nursery in 1957 initiated a new era of valuable genetic and physiological forestry research. As new challenges arose, the laboratory expanded its research programs to meet the needs of foresters and ecosystem managers, becoming the Forestry Sciences Laboratory in 1978 and the Institute for Applied Ecosystem Studies in 2007. The report documents the significant research programs conducted at the laboratory over the decades, which have impacted and continue to impact natural resources management on a national and international level.