Current Research

I investigate forest structural and compositional change (i.e., stand dynamics) to inform management. Active forest management plays an integral role in providing society the resources required to function and flourish. Overall, my research elucidates stand responses to natural disturbances or silvicultural practices in multiple benefit forests, and therefore has implications for timber production, biodiversity, restoration, and resilience to future disturbances.

Research Interests

• Silviculture
• Stand dynamics
• Disturbance ecology
• Emulating natural disturbances
• Natural regeneration
• Fire and fuels

Why This Research is Important

Understanding how forests change in response to management decisions and natural disturbances is imperative for delivering sustainable benefits to forest land owners. By evaluating forest structural and compositional change in the past we are able to assess the tradeoffs associated with management activity or inactivity. Ultimately, this leads to enhanced understanding of forest dynamics and improved decision making for the future.

Education

• University of Montana, Ph.D. Forest and Conservation Sciences 2017
• Humboldt State University, M.S. Forestry 2011

Professional Experience

Professional Organizations

• Northwest Scientific Association, Associate Editor (Editorial Board) (2019 - Current)
• Association for Fire Ecology, Member (2017 - Current)
• Society of American Foresters (SAF), Member (2010 - Current)
  -Juneau, Alaska chapter. Chair-elect, 2019. -Montana state chapter. Science and Technology Chair, 2021-present.

Publications

• Jang, Woongsoon ; Crotteau, Justin S.; Ortega, Yvette K.; Hood, Sharon M.; Keyes, Christopher R.; Pearson, Dean E.; Lutes, Duncan C.; Sala, Anna . 2021. Native and non-native understory vegetation responses to restoration treatments in a dry conifer forest over 23 years.
• Johnson, Adelaide ; Clavijo, Audrey E.; Hamar, Glenn ; Head, Deborah-Aanutein ; Thoms, Andrew ; Price, Wayne ; Lapke, Arianna ; Crotteau, Justin ; Cerveny, Lee K.; Wilmer, Hailey ; Petershoare, Lillian ; Cook, Andrea ; Reid, Sienna . 2021. Wood products for cultural uses: Sustaining native resilience and vital lifeways in Southeast Alaska, USA.
• Crotteau, Justin S.; Keyes, Christopher R. 2020. Restoration treatments improve overstory tree resistance attributes and growth in a ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forest.
• Crotteau, Justin S.; McClellan, Michael H.; De Santo, Toni L.; Spores, Sheila R.; Barnard, Jeffrey C. 2020. Sharing the load to develop young-growth silviculture for forage and biodiversity in southeast Alaska.
• Crotteau, Justin S.; Keyes, Christopher R.; Hood, Sharon M.; Larson, Andrew J. 2020. Vegetation dynamics following compound disturbance in a dry pine forest: fuel treatment then bark beetle outbreak.
• Crotteau, Justin S.; Rue-Johns, Annelise Z.; Barnard, Jeffrey C. 2019. Effects on understory biomass and forage 8-10 years after precommercial thinning of Sitka spruce - western hemlock stands in southeast Alaska.
• Crotteau, Justin ; Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy; Jain, Theresa ; Wright, David ; Jenkins, Melissa ; Keyes, Christopher ; Nagel, Linda M. 2019. Initiating climate adaptation in a western larch forest.
• Crotteau, Justin S.; Keyes, Christopher R.; Hood, Sharon M.; Affleck, David L. R.; Sala, Anna . 2018. Fuel dynamics after a bark beetle outbreak impacts experimental fuel treatments.
• Crotteau, Justin S.; Hood, Sharon M.; Lutes, Duncan C.; Keyes, Christopher R.; Sala, Anna ; Harrington, Michael G. 2018. Management and succession at the Lick Creek Demonstration/Research Forest, Montana.
• Crotteau, Justin S.; Keyes, Christopher R.; Hood, Sharon M.; Larson, Andrew J.; Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy; Wright, David K.; Egan, Joel M. 2018. Stand dynamics 11 years after retention harvest in a lodgepole pine forest.
• Crotteau, Justin S.; Keyes, Christopher R.; Sutherland, Elaine K.; Wright, David K.; Egan, Joel M. 2016. Forest fuels and potential fire behaviour 12 years after variable-retention harvest in lodgepole pine.
• Crotteau, Justin S.; Ritchie, Martin W.; Varner, J. Morgan; Berrill, John-Pascal. 2015. Quercus kelloggii (Newb.) sprout response to fire severity in northern California.
• Crotteau, Justin S.; Ritchie, Martin W.; Varner, J. Morgan. 2014. A Mixed-Effects Heterogeneous Negative Binomial Model for Postfire Conifer Regeneration in Northeastern California, USA.
• Crotteau, Justin S.; Ritchie, Martin W. 2014. Long-term stand growth of interior ponderosa pine stands in response to structural modifications and burning treatments in northeastern California.
• Crotteau, Justin; Varner, Morgan; Ritchie, Martin. 2012. Post-fire regeneration across a fire severity gradient in the southern Cascades.