Pacific Northwest Research Station

Ecosystem Services Team

Mission statement:

Forests support life on earth, providing natural resources that sustain economies, human health, cultural values, and quality of life. As timber revenues decline on public land, quantitative and qualitative descriptions of the benefits from these ecosystem services become increasingly important. The Ecosystem Services Team brings together scientists with expertise in forest products, economics, social science, and silviculture to describe, quantify, and project trends for provision of ecosystem services. Our research helps land managers and policymakers examine potential tradeoffs among services and articulate project outcomes to the public.

Topics we are working on:

Providing qualitative and quantitative information on the goods and services available from forest ecosystems.

Developing an ecosystem services framework to describe and integrate the benefits people receive from nature.

Developing multi-ecosystem services markets.

Timber characteristics, wood utilization technologies, wood products marketing, and wood product carbon balances.

Social trends and cultural interactions in southeast Alaska.

Production, prices, employment, and trade in Northwest forest industries.

Opportunities for wood product industries in southeast Alaska.

Health, wellness, and other individual, community, and societal benefits that accrue from spending time in nature.

Current research summaries:

Bioenergy opportunities in the western United States

Fuel treatment economic analysis

Ecosystem services as a framework for forest stewardship

Sustainable Operations Science

Health and wellness benefits of spending time in nature

Team Members:

Robert Deal, Team Leader
Portland Forestry Sciences Laboratory
620 SW Main, Suite 400
P.O. Box 3890
Portland, OR 97208-3890
Phone: (503) 808-2015

As a research forester, I conduct research on applied silviculture, including research on stand development, regeneration, ecosystem services, and silvicultural practices to enhance compatible forest management. My current research focuses primarily on ecosystem services and sustainable forest management, and the synthesis of ecosystem services research in the national and international arena. This includes identifying emerging issues for ecosystem services such as markets for carbon, water, wetlands, and habitat, and developing a new framework to incorporate ecosystem services into management of public lands. I am responsible for directing, developing, and integrating research for the Ecosystem Services team of scientists in Oregon and Alaska.

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Allen Brackley, Research Forester
Alaska Wood Utilization Research and Development Center
204 Siginaka Way
Sitka, AK 99835-7316
Phone: (907) 747-4308

As a research forester, I am involved in all phases of growing, producing, and marketing of forest products. Most of my research efforts are directly related to the development of the forest products industry in Alaska, with an emphasis on southeast Alaska and the Tongass National Forest. Recent projects are concerned with the transition of forest management, harvesting, and product production from old growth to young growth. Additional projects are concerned with the development and conversion of space-heating applications in Alaska to renewable energy sources. The focus of the biomass research has been size of potential markets, consumer reaction to increased biomass use, and production problems that are unique to Alaska.

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David Nicholls, Research Forest Products Technologist
Alaska Wood Utilization Research and Development Center
204 Siginaka Way
Sitka, AK 99835-7316
Phone: (907) 747-4312

As a research forest products technologist, I conduct research on a variety of wood products topics of importance to Alaska. This includes projects on wood residue utilization, residential heating with wood energy, community energy management, wood product carbon balances, and wood products marketing. My research background includes positions at Michigan State University and the University of Georgia. I received a Ph.D. in wood science and technology from Penn State University, an M.S. in forest products from the University of Minnesota, and a B.S. in forest management from Oregon State University. I have been with the Pacific Northwest Research Station since March 2000.

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Trista Patterson, Research Economist
Alaska Wood Utilization Research and Development Center
204 Siginaka Way
Sitka, AK 99835-7316
Phone: (907) 747-4315

As an ecological economist, I research values and valuation of ecosystem services that support human well-being, following Gifford Pinchot’s declaration that the goal of the Forest Service is to provide the greatest good for the greatest number in the long run. Of particular interest are the public goods and ecosystem services that don’t involve market exchange, and factors that affect their consumption. I serve as the research lead for the Sustainability Science project of the Sustainable Operations Western Collective—a national effort to reduce costs, waste, and environmental impacts of federal agency operations. I anticipate social networking, technology, and digital globalization to be central to public participation in governance, valuation, and management of natural resources in the future, so I enjoy mentoring emerging scientists and young technologists, and learn a lot from them.

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Linda Kruger, Research Social Scientist
Juneau Forestry Sciences Laboratory
11305 Glacier Highway
Juneau, AK 99801-8545
Phone: (907) 586-7814

As an Alaska-based social scientist, I study social aspects at the interface where people and natural resources meet. My research focuses on three topics: recreation and volunteerism, particularly the health and other benefits of spending time in nature; community resilience in a context of social, cultural, economic, and biophysical change, including but not limited to effects of climate change and community response; and collaboration and partnerships, including challenges, benefits and innovative approaches. Recent work includes a scientific paper describing how to work across scales to integrate recreation management with management of other resources; an analysis of the effects of the Northwest Forest Plan on recreation; and work with tribal elders and youth to document traditional harvest and use of forest products. Current work focuses on and raising awareness of the importance of spending time in nature by building a community of practice around health and nature, and by producing fact sheets, posters, and other materials for use at health fairs and other community events.

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Xiaoping Zhou, Research Economist
Portland Forestry Sciences Laboratory
620 SW Main, Suite 400
P.O. Box 3890
Portland, OR 97208-3890
Phone: (503) 808-2017

As a research economist, I conduct research on a variety of topics including (1) fuel treatment economic analyses that estimate the potential supply of timber and biomass products in forest lands and study the economic feasibilities of proposed fuel treatments; (2) valuation of ecosystem services by means of potential mathematical approaches to measuring and valuing ecosystem services with different unit matrices; and (3) the impact of management activities on carbon sequestration on forest land. I also produce the quarterly report “Production, Prices, Employment, and Trade in Northwest Forest Industries,” and provide quarterly press releases on current information about the region’s log and lumber production and trade as well as other forest-industry-related issues.