Scott Woods

Dr. Woods has been a member of the University of Montana faculty since 2001. Dr. Woods was born in Scotland, and obtained a B.Sc. degree in Geology from Imperial College, Royal School of Mines in London, England in 1989. He began his professional career as a geologist in the U.K. and the U.S., working on projects ranging from a site investigation for the U.K’s first nuclear waste repository, to Superfund environmental assessments in Georgia, Maine, Texas and South Carolina. From 1995 to 2001, he attended Colorado State University and obtained an M.S. in Watershed Science and a Ph.D. in Earth Resources. Dr. Woods teaches classes in watershed hydrology, watershed management, soil science and riparian and wetland ecology. Dr. Woods’ research focuses on the hydrologic and geomorphic effects of forest management, wildfire and roads in wildland watersheds. He has also worked on issues related to wetland and riparian hydrology. Dr. Woods’ hobbies include trail running, hiking, backpacking and alpine mountaineering.

Ph.D. Earth Resources. Colorado State University, 2001.
M.S. Watershed Science. Colorado State University, 2000.
B.Sc. Geology. The Royal School of Mines, London, U.K., 1989.

Understanding the effects of natural and human induced disturbance events, such as forest management, wildfire, and roads, on runoff and erosion from wildland watersheds. We seek to obtain a detailed, physically based understanding of how disturbance alters the fundamental hydrologic and geomorphic processes, such as interception, infiltration, sediment detachment and sediment transport that control runoff and erosion rates. This information can then be used to refine and improve predictive runoff and erosion models used by researchers and land managers.     

Peer reviewed journal articles

Hyde K., Woods S.W. and J. Donahue, (accepted, 2006). Predicting gully rejuvenation after wildfire using remotely sensed burn severity data. Geomorphology.

Sugden B. and Woods S.W. (accepted, 2006). Sediment Production from Forest Roads in Western Montana Journal of the American Water Resources Association.

Woods S.W., Birkas A. and Ahl R., (in press, 2006).  Spatial Variability of Soil Hydrophobicity after Wildfires in Montana and Colorado. Geomorphology.

Woods S.W., J. Sappington, R.Ahl and W. McCaughey, 2006. Snow accumulation in thinned Lodgepole pine stands, Montana U.S.A. Forest Ecology and Management 235: 202-211.

Woods S.W., L.H. MacDonald and C. Westbrook, 2006. Hydrologic Interactions Between an Alluvial Fan and a Slope Wetland in the Central Rocky Mountains, USA. Wetlands 26:230-243.

Woods S.W. and D.J. Cooper, 2005. Hydrologic Factors Affecting Willow Seedling Establishment along a Subalpine Stream, Colorado, USA. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research, 37: 636-643.
Cooper D.J., L.H. MacDonald, S.K. Wenger, and S.W. Woods, 1998. Hydrologic restoration of a fen in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. Wetlands 18 (3):335-345.

Conference Proceedings, Technical Reports etc.

Woods S.W. , B. Sugden and B. Parker, 2006. Sediment travel distances below forest roads in western Montana. Proceedings of the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Council on Forest Engineering, Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, 31 July – 1 August 2006.

Ahl R.S. and S.W. Woods, 2006. Simulating landcover change and water yield dynamics in a a forested snow dominated Rocky Mountain watershed. Proceedings of the Western Snow Conference, Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Ahl R.S., S.W. Woods,M. Di Luzio and J. Arnold, 2006. Evaluating Long-Term Forest Management through Integrated Vegetation and Hydrologic Modeling. Proceedings of the American Water Resources Association Specialty Conference on Adaptive Watershed Management.  Missoula, Montana, 26-28 June 2006.

Hyde K., S.W. Woods and J. Potyondy, 2006. Challenges to Watershed Modeling in Forested Mountainous Environments.  Proceedings of the American Water Resources Association Specialty Conference on Adaptive Watershed Management.  Missoula, Montana, 26-28 June 2006.

Corbin J., S.W. Woods and S. O’Ney. 2005. Predicting High Alpine Lake Sensitivity to Atmospheric Deposition in Grand Teton National Park Using Basin Characteristics.  Proceedings of the George Wright Society Biennial Conference on Parks, Protected Areas and Cultural Sites.  14-18 March 2005. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Woods S.W., W. McCaughey, R. Ahl and J. Sappington, 2004. Effect of Alternative Silvicultural Treatments on Snow Accumulation in Lodgepole Pine Stands, Montana, U.S.A. Proceedings of the Western Snow Conference, 20-22 April 2004, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.

Woods S.W. and J. Corbin, 2003. Vital Signs Water Quality Monitoring for the Greater Yellowstone Network: Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Final Technical Report. March 2003. 24 figs. 186 p.

Woods S.W. and J. Corbin, 2003. Vital Signs Water Quality Monitoring for the Greater Yellowstone Network: Grand Teton National Park, Final Technical Report. August 2003. 35 figs. 282 p.

Woods S.W. and J. Corbin, 2003. Vital Signs Water Quality Monitoring for the Greater Yellowstone Network: Yellowstone National Park, Final Technical Report, September 2003.

Woods S.W. and L.H. MacDonald 2002. The Cause of Basement Flooding at Bents Old Fort National Historical Site, Colorado. Final Report to National Park Service for Contract No. CA 1200-99-009 CSU-23. Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO. 38 p.

Woods S.W., 2001. Ecohydrology of subalpine wetlands in the Kawuneeche Valley, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Ph.D. dissertation, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 166 p.

Woods S.W. and J. Wagner, 2001. Hydrologic Restoration of a Wet Pine Savanna at Moores Creek National Battlefield, North Carolina. Technical Report NPS/NRWRS/NRTR-2001/293 National Park Service Water Resources Division. 49 p.

Woods S.W., 2000. Hydrologic effects of the Grand Ditch on streams and wetlands in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. M.S. thesis, Department of Earth Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.
 
Wurster F.C., D.J. Cooper, and S.W. Woods, 2000. The influence of low winter streamflow on riparian zone surface water and groundwater along Snowmass Creek, Colorado. Report to Snowmass – Capitol Creek Caucus, Snowmass, Colorado.

Woods S.W., D.J. Cooper, L.H. MacDonald, and R. Chimner, 2000. Hydrologic effects of the Grand Ditch on streams and wetlands in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Final report submitted to Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, Colorado.

Woods S.W., and R. Chimner, 1999. Hydrology and Geomorphology of the Lake Pasture Wetland in Southern Larimer County, Colorado. Technical report submitted to Colorado Natural Areas Program, Denver, Colorado

Cooper D.J., and S.W. Woods, 1999. Why do Cattails (Typha spp.) dominate wetlands on the western Great Plains? Technical report submitted to State of Colorado Department of Transportation.