Spruce beetle history on the Alaska Peninsula
An assessment of current outbreak effects on stand conditions and historic patterns of insect outbreaks in spruce forests related to long-term climate variability in collaboration with the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Our analysis of past beetle disturbance at numerous sites in both Katmai and Lake Clark National Park and Preserves will provide insight into whether the current outbreak is similar in scale to previous outbreaks on the Alaska Peninsula, or whether it appears to be outside the historic range of variability.
Fire history and ecological restoration in the Colorado Front Range
Interrelated issues of forest management, land-use change, wildfire risk and ecological integrity in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of colleagues from the University of Colorado at Boulder and Gettysburg College. This research integrates both natural and human dimensions of resilience and landscape change. Our goal is to provide an assessment of changes in fire hazard conditions based on historic fire regimes with current and future fuel conditions and land management scenarios for the wildland-urban interface.
Historic spruce beetle and fire activity in subalpine forests in central Utah
An assessment of historic spruce beetle and fire activity in subalpine forests in central Utah across four plateau regions. Concurrent research efforts are currently underway in the region at the University of Utah (RED Lab) on the long-term (centennial to millennial time scales) interaction between bark beetle, fire, and climate variability in lake sediment records.
Dendrochronology in Hawaii
An investigation of annual tree-ring growth in high elevation native mamane forests on the island of Hawaii in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Hawaii and the U.S.G.S. Biological Resource Division.