RM-4151 - About Us - Staff - USDA Forest Service

RM-4151: Ecology & Management
of Northern Rocky Mountain Forests

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	Missoula Forestry Sciences Lab 800 East Beckwith Missoula, MT 59801 (406) 542-4150

	Bozeman Forestry Sciences Lab 1648 South 7th Ave. Bozeman, MT 59717 (406) 994-4852

Staff

RM-4151 is led by a scientist Project Leader with research administrative duties. There are six other scientists and thirteen science staff employees and four part-time administrative staff employees. During the summer of 2002, we added fourteen seasonal employees to assist with fieldwork, many of which are students. We also employ other student assistants year-round.

Listed below are pictures of the staff, their names, titles, and a brief description of what they do for the Forest Service. A larger image of each staff member can be viewed by clicking on the thumbnail image. If you are looking for contact information such as an email address or a telephone number please see the directory.

	Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, PhD Project Leader & Research Biologist Elaine Kennedy Sutherland has been Project Leader of RM-4151 "Ecology and Management of Northern Rocky Mountain Forests" since 1999. In her present position she both administers the research unit and performs research on disturbance history of riparian vegetation in western Montana.
	Jennifer Birdsall Botanist Jennifer Birdsall has been a Botanist with RM-4151 "Ecology and Management of Northern Rocky Mountain Forests" since 1996. In her present position she assists with stand and vegetation development and weed invasion associated with fire and harvest treatments in coniferous forests.
	Matthew Burbank Forestry Technician Matthew Burbank has been working with the RMRS-4151 as a Term Forestry Technician since 2004. During this time he has been conducting field and lab research on riparian and upland fire history. In the summer of 2003 he was part of a team conducting rapid response research on active wildland fires through out western Montana.
	Jimmie D. Chew, PhD Forester Jimmie D. Chew has over twenty years experience in the National Forest System (Northern Region and Alaskan Region) in positions of District Silviculturist, Area Silviculturist, Forest Timber Management Planner, Forest Planning Team Leader, and Silviculturist in a Regional Office Silviculture Group. Since 1992, he has been a Forester with the Rocky Mountain Research Station, RM 4151- Ecology and Management of Northern Rocky Mountain Forests.
	Tom Cook Program Assistant Tom graduated with a B.A. degree in 1970 from Thiel College in Greenville, PA. He spent eleven seasons fighting fires for the Forest Service, served two years in the Peace Corps, returned to work for Region One and has worked as a PA for the Fire Sciences Lab and the Forestry Sciences Lab since 1995.
	Karen Estill Biological Science Technician Karen began working for RM-4151 in 2003 as a term Biological Science Technician. She works as a project resource; assisting all scientists in a variety of ways.
	Ethan Allen Mace Biologist Ethan works as a contractor, writing up manuscripts for the "Riparian Area Dynamics and Disturbance Processes, Characterizing Fire Disturbance Regimes in Riparian Zones of Western Montana" study.
	George P. Markin, PhD Senior Research Entomologist George P. Markin is a research entomologist who specializes in finding, testing and introducing biological control agents to control forest weeds. Beginning in 1982, he set up a program in Hawaii for biological control of invasive weeds of native rain forests. In 1995 at the request of the Washington Office, he moved to Bozeman, Montana to set up a new program to encourage and train forest range management personnel in the use of biological control and when no agents were already available, to conduct the research necessary to find and import them for weeds of the coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest.
	Ward McCaughey, PhD Research Forester Ward McCaughey is the manager of the Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest and coordinator of the planning committee for the Tenderfoot Research Project. A large part of his research includes evaluations of regeneration, stand and vegetation development and hydrologic parameters associated with harvesting in lodgepole pine forests. He is also active with research on natural and artificial regeneration processes of whitebark pine.
	Kirk Moeller Information Technology Specialist Kirk has been with RM-4151 since 1997. He holds an M.S. in Computer Science and has been actively developing the computer model SIMPPLLE since 1997. He has worked closely with Jim Chew and others in making SIMPPLLE the modern desktop application it is today. He has five years of service in 2002 and will continue to work with Jim Chew and the SIMPPLLE team in adding even more modeling capabilities in future versions of SIMPPLLE.
	Patricia Pierson Program Operations Assistant
	Jack A. Schmidt Forester, Retired Volunteer Jack A. Schmidt has been a Forester of RM-4151 "Ecology and Management of Northern Rocky Mountain Forests" since 1969. He has supported research scientists' focusing on regenerating and stand management of western larch and associated conifers within the Inland Mountain West.
	Raymond C. Shearer, PhD Research Forester Emeritus, Volunteer Raymond C. Shearer has been a Research Forester of RM-4151 "Ecology and Management of Northern Rocky Mountain Forests" since 1957. His research focuses on regenerating western larch and associated conifers within the Inland Mountain West.
	Christine Stalling Biologist Chris is a biologist employed since 1992 by the Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS), Forestry Sciences Lab. The mission of this work unit, RM-4151 ìEcology and Management of Northern Rocky Mountain Forestsî, is to integrate knowledge about forest ecology and silvicultural practices into management guidelines needed to sustain ecosystem integrity, improve forest health, and enhance social values in landscapes. Specifically, she has been involved with the development and technology transfer of a simulation modeling system called SIMPPLLE (Simulating Patterns and Processes at Landscape scaLEs) which uses landscape level vegetation data, linked to GIS, to dynamically model vegetation change as a result of interacting disturbance processes and management actions.
	David K. Wright Ecologist David joined the RM-4151 work unit in June 2005. His degrees in Wildlife Science and Forest Ecology/Silviculture, and extensive research experience in many ecosystems across the U.S. gives him a broad perspective on ecosystem dynamics. His primary job is to help develop and coordinate research studies for fire history studies in riparian areas of the Northern Rockies with Elaine Sutherland. Prior to joining the Rocky Mountain Research Station, he worked for over 6 years with the Pacific Northwest Research Station in Seattle studying the fuel loading dynamics of fire research.
	Eric Ziegler Biological Sciences Technician Eric graduated from the University of Montana in 2002 with a B.S. in Natural Resource Conservation and has been working with RM-4151 for 4 years on the riparian project. His job entails sampling upland and riparian areas for fire history. In 2003, he assisted in organizing and implementing a rapid response research team; doing fisheries fire research. As an avid outdoorsman Eric really enjoys his job!


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Last Modified: Friday, 03-Feb-2006