Current Graduate Students - Forest Management
** Under Construction: Please note that this is not a complete list of our current grad students. Grad student profiles are posted as we receive them.
M.S. Candidates
Cindy Bertek
M.S. Candidate, Forestry
Advisor: Peter Kolb
Research Interests: Family forest lands have high value to the U.S. for wildlife, water resources, recreation, and wood products. Montana forests managed by private non-industrial landowners count 3.8 million acres or 16.5% of the state’s forestland. Since 1991, MSU Extension Forestry has provided an educational workshop for family forest owners. The Forest Stewardship Workshop provides information on how forests function, demonstrates to landowners the a process to inventory their forest, and provides personal onsite visits and advice from natural resource professionals. During the course of the workshop, participants develop and write their own forest management plan. By the end of 2005, 2,549 family forest owners attended the Stewardship Workshops. These participants represent 1,655 ownerships and almost a million acres of forested land.
My research focuses on the success of the Forest Stewardship Workshop in providing landowners with the information and training necessary for sustainably managing their forest resources. The study addresses the workshop’s affect on short and long term changes of family forest landowners’ actions and attitudes with regard to planning and implementing forest management and conservation practices. The study will also ascertain what landowners find as challenges to meeting their objective and the implementation of their forest management plans.
Anton Brennick
M.S. Candidate, Forestry
Advisor: John Goodburn
Research Interests: My research interests are focused in silviculture, the affects of fire on the ecosystem, and insect and disease, specifically within lands managed by the United States Forest Service. I am currently in the process of solidifying my research project, but will likely conduct my research on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. I am currently employed as a Project Leader with the Forest Service, and have been since 2000, working extensively throughout the Pacific Northwest. I plan to complete my M.S. Forestry degree in December 2009.
Dan Cahill
M.S. Candidate, Resource Conservation, ICD option
Research Interests: I’m pursuing a master’s degree in resource conservation in the International Conservation and Development option. I have a bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in secondary education from Stonehill College in Massachusetts. My interest in natural resources as a career was sparked while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala from 01’ to 03’. I worked as an agricultural production volunteer teaching organic farming methods in the schools and establishing community gardens with adults. Since then I have completed an AmeriCorps assignm ent with the Montana Conservation Corps and worked seasonally for the USDA Forest Service in the Forest Inventory and Analysis National Program. After completing my coursework at UM, I rejoined the Peace Corps in June 07’ and am currently on assignment in Zambia, where I am serving as a forestry extension volunteer. I am conducting my research in conjunction with my role as a volunteer and am focusing on food security and farming practices as they relate to Community Based Resource Management of the local forest.
Allissa Corrow
M.S. Candidate, Resource Conservation
Advisor: David Affleck
Research Interests: I spent most of my childhood playing in the woods of Minnesota, then my early adult life playing in the mountains of the western US and Alaska. I began my undergraduate studies in Colorado, and finished with a B.S. in Biology/Ecology from Western Washington University, with a minor in painting. I have lived, traveled and learned in a wide range of ecosystems, where I have been employed to count ants, enter data, identify plants, cruise timber and fight fire. All of these endeavors involve the often overlooked resource known as course woody debris (CWD). My current research project involves investigating potential double sampling applications for two CWD sampling strategies: line intersect sampling (LIS) and line intersect distance sampling (LIDS). I plan to complete my current program the spring of 2010.
Ryan Mchugh
M.S. Candidate, Forestry
Advisor: John Goodburn
Research Interests: My research interests focus on the effects of tree growth within a wide range of silvicultural treatments and site conditions in working forests of the northern Rockies. My master's project will involve continuing data collection on permanent small tree, competing vegetation research plots and displaying results from the long-term study. The experiment was designed and funded by the Inland Northwest Growth and Yield cooperative, headed by my advisor John Goodburn. I have an undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Nevada, Reno. I have enjoyed the outdoors my entire life and began my forestry work experience while in undergrad, working as a firefighter on the Forest Service and BLM Hotshot crews during the summer.
Christine Paulu
M.S. Candidate, Forestry
Advisor: Beth Dodson
Research Interests: I’m interested in multiple-objective forest planning with a focus on restoration forestry and public involvement. I’m enrolled in the Natural Resource Conflict Resolution program where I have learned the practical skills needed to facilitate an inclusive and transparent public process. I’m applying these interests and skills to perform a forest inventory and develop a forest habitat restoration plan for a 4,000 acre Wildlife Management Area owned by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. I came to the University of Montana after receiving and B.A. in Mathematics and Environmental Studies from Luther College, in Decorah, Iowa.
Matthew Shaffer
M.S. Candidate, Forestry
Advisor: Beth Dodson
Research Interests: I am interested in looking at litigation over Forest Service timber sales. My main interest is a local interest, so I am looking at the amount of appeals, litigation, and injunctions against the Forest Service in Region 1 and on the Lolo National Forest. In addition to getting information on litigation over Forest Service timber sales, I am also interested in possible solutions to reduce the amount of litigation. I am doing this by talking with people involved in all different aspects of the litigation over timber sales, which include Forest Service employees, loggers, and environmentalists. My hope is to try to identify just how much litigation is really going on, what the costs are to all parties involved, and then to identify some possible solutions that are or can reduce the amount of that litigation and those costs associated with it.
Ph.D. Candidates