
Nathaniel (Nate) Anderson
Research Forester
800 East Beckwith Avenue
Missoula
Montana
United States
59801-5801
Phone: 970-219-2659
Fax: 406-543-2663
Contact Nathaniel (Nate) Anderson
Current Research
- Forest management and economics
- Forest operations research and engineering
- Forestry for climate change adaptation and mitigation
- Remote sensing and GIS technologies for natural resources management
- Research and development of advanced bioenergy technologies
Research Interests
I am fascinated by research questions at the intersection of ecology, economics, and public policy. I pursue applied research that bridges the gap between basic scientific inquiry and widespread adoption of new approaches and technologies for sustainable natural resources management. Most of the work I do is focused on active management of forest ecosystems, and blends elements of silviculture, remote sensing and GIS, climate science, finance, operations engineering, and supply chain management. Almost all of my projects include close collaborations with forest managers, industry professionals, and agency and academic researchers in a broad range of disciplines.
Past Research
- Sawmill wood procurement and timber trade
- Parcelization, ownership and management of non-industrial private forest
- Geographic variation in heart size of sugar maple
- Landowner cooperatives
Why This Research is Important
Rapid changes in forest management objectives, silvicultural techniques, and production technologies, have left significant knowledge gaps in our understanding of the short and long-term environmental, economic and social impacts of new options for managing forest resources. Understanding the costs and benefits of these options can help individuals, businesses and communities make informed choices to enhance the broad range of market and non-market benefits that forests provide. Science-based knowledge is also a critical tool in guiding the management of our National Forests and Grasslands. Among the most prominent management challenges, the relationship between forest resources and the expanding bioeconomy poses a wide range of compelling questions related to net greenhouse gas emissions, the sustainability of harvest, and the economic feasibility of new technologies their supply chains.
Education
- Ph.D. State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY, Ph.D. Forest Resources Management 2008
- M.S. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, M.S. Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology 2003
- B.S. Bates College, Lewiston, ME, B.S. Biology with a concentration in Ecology 1996
Professional Experience
- Co-Principal Investigator, Challis Region Forest Industry Feasibility Study
2020 - Current
Funded by the U.S. Forest Service, Intermountain Region. - Co-Principal Investigator, Effectiveness of Fuel Treatments at the Landscape Scale: State of Understanding and Key Research Gaps
2020 - Current
Funded by the Joint Fire Science Program. - Deputy Coordinator, IUFRO Division 3 - Forest Operations Engineering and Management, Unit 3.09.00 - Sustainable forest operations for forest landscape restoration
2020 - Current
International Union of Forest Research Organizations. - Co-Principal Investigator, A Roadmap for Technology Integration and Data Analytics in Fire Suppression Operations
2019 - Current
Funded by the U.S. Forest Service. - Co-Principal Investigator, Development of a Comprehensive Hydrologic Assessment and Restoration Plan and Regional Restoration Decision Support System for the Apalachicola Basin
2017 - Current
Funded by the U.S. Forest Service Southern Region and the RESTORE Act. - Advisor, RMRS Science Partner Program, New Partnerships to Improve the Use of Economic and Social Science Information in Forest Planning
2017 - Current
Funded by Salmon-Challis National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service Intermountain Region, and the Rocky Mountain Research Station - Co-Principal Investigator, Forest bioenergy and biofuels integration: Sustainability, energy balance and emissions from forest restoration in the southern Rocky Mountains
2016 - Current
Funded by the Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) Competitive Grants Program, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture. - Adjunct Associate Professor/Instructor/Co-PI, Seoul National University Graduate Program in Forest Carbon
2016 - Current
Funded by Seoul National University and the Korea Forest Service. - Co-Principal Investigator/Executive Leadership Committee, Sustainable biofuel feedstocks from beetle-killed wood: Bioenergy Alliance Network of the Rockies (BANR).
2013 - Current
Funded by the AFRI-CAP Sustainable Bioenergy Competitive Grants Program, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture. - Deputy Coordinator, IUFRO Unit 3.04 Forest Operations Management, Working Party 3.04.02 Supply Chain Management
2016 - 2019
International Union of Forest Research Organizations. - Co-Principal Investigator/Project Manager, Longleaf pine inventory, mapping, monitoring, and analysis: Outputs for cross-ownership conservation and restoration
2015 - 2018
Funded by the US Forest Service and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. - Project Director/Co-Principal Investigator, Integration of biofuels and bioproducts production into forest products supply chains using modular biomass gasification and carbon activation.
2011 - 2016
Funded by the Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) Competitive Grants Program, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture. - Project Director/Co-Principal Investigator, Expanding bioenergy production from mill and fuel treatment residues in the southern Rocky Mountains: Quantifying supply, demand, energy balance, and emissions.
2012 - 2015
Funded by the U.S. Forest Service, National Fire Plan. - Project Manager, Incorporating project-level analysis and enhanced decision support into the OptFuels fuel treatment planning system for the Lake Tahoe Basin.
2012 - 2014
Funded by the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, Competitive Grant Program. - Co-Principal Investigator, Regional assessments of carbon in harvested wood products: Estimates for the U.S. Forest Service Northern Region, 1906 to 2010.
2010 - 2014
Funded by the Rocky Mountain Research Station and the U.S. Forest Service, Resource Information Management Board. - Project Manager, Delivery of a novel GIS raster utility to facilitate high-resolution spatial analysis of ecologically diverse landscapes.
2012 - 2013
Funded by RMRS Science Application and Integration Program, U.S. Forest Service National Fire Plan. - Co-Principal Investigator/Project Manager, Integrating modular pyrolysis processing into forest operations to improve the sustainability and efficiency of treatment residue utilization.
2010 - 2013
Funded by the Woody Biomass, Bioenergy, and Bioproducts Competitive Grant, U.S. Forest Service Research and Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture. - Co-Principal Investigator, Uncompahgre Plateau restoration: Assessing the economic feasibility and net greenhouse gas emissions of producing bioenergy from forest and range treatment residues.
2010 - 2013
Funded by the Rocky Mountain Research Station, Competitive Research Initiative. - Co-Principal Investigator, Biochar from biomass: A process for utilizing forest treatment and mill residues.
2010 - 2012
Funded by the Rocky Mountain Research Station, Competitive Research Initiative. - Co-Principal Investigator, Mapping current and potential flows of biomass from national forest treatment operations to power and cogeneration facilities in a critical management region of the interior west.
2010 - 2012
Funded by the U.S. Forest Service, National Fire Plan. - Postdoc, Assessing costs and benefits of alternative methods for handling and transporting forest treatment residues for bioenergy.
2009 - 2010
Funded by the U.S. Forest Service, RMRS Agenda 2020 Research Initiative. - Postdoc, Economic and environmental analysis of mobile fast pyrolysis deployed under field conditions.
2009 - 2010
Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. - Postdoc, Sustainable forest bioenergy production using in-woods fast pyrolysis conversion including bio-oil production and biochar soil amendment.
2009 - 2010
Funded by the Woody Biomass, Bioenergy, and Bioproducts Competitive Grant, U.S. Forest Service Research and Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture. - PhD Student/Research Assistant, The impact of wood procurement pressure on sustained yield management on private non-industrial forestland in the Northern Forest.
2007 - 2009
Funded by the Northeastern States Research Cooperative.
Publications
- Kizha, Anil Raj; Han, Han-Sup ; Anderson, Nathaniel ; Koirala, Anil ; Louis, Libin T. 2020. Comparing hot and cold loading in an integrated biomass recovery operation.
- Hogland, John ; Affleck, David L. R.; Anderson, Nathaniel ; Seielstad, Carl ; Dobrowski, Solomon ; Graham, Jon ; Smith, Robert . 2020. Estimating forest characteristics for longleaf pine restoration using normalized remotely sensed imagery in Florida USA.
- Campbell, Robert M.; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2019. Comprehensive comparative economic evaluation of woody biomass energy from silvicultural fuel treatments.
- Townsend, Lucas ; Dodson, Elizabeth ; Anderson, Nathaniel ; Worley-Hood, Graham ; Goodburn, John . 2019. Harvesting forest biomass in the US southern Rocky Mountains: cost and production rates of five ground-based forest operations.
- Thompson, Matthew P.; Wei, Yu ; Calkin, David E.; O'Connor, Christopher D.; Dunn, Christopher ; Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Hogland, John S. 2019. Risk management and analytics in wildfire response.
- Hogland, John ; Anderson, Nathaniel ; Affleck, David ; St. Peter, Joseph . 2019. Using forest inventory data with Landsat 8 imagery to map longleaf pine forest characteristics in Georgia, USA.
- Campbell, Robert M.; Venn, Tyron, J..; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2018. Cost and performance tradeoffs between mail and internet survey modes in a nonmarket valuation study.
- Young, Jesse D.; Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Naughton, Helen T.; Mullan, Katrina. 2018. Economic and policy factors driving adoption of institutional woody biomass heating systems in the United States.
- Campbell, Robert M.; Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Daugaard, Daren E.; Naughton, Helen T. 2018. Financial viability of biofuel and biochar production from forest biomass in the face of market price volatility and uncertainty.
- St. Peter, Joseph; Hogland, John; Anderson, Nathaniel; Drake, Jason; Medley, Paul. 2018. Fine resolution probabilistic land cover classification of landscapes in the southeastern United States.
- Campbell, Robert M.; Venn, Tyron J.; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2018. Heterogeneity in preferences for woody biomass energy in the US Mountain West.
- Loeffler, Dan ; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2018. Impacts of the mountain pine beetle on sawmill operations, costs, and product values in Montana.
- Young, Jesse D.; Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Naughton, Helen T. 2018. Influence of policy, air quality, and local attitudes toward renewable energy on the adoption of woody biomass heating systems.
- Gu, Hongmei ; Bergman, Richard ; Anderson, Nathaniel ; Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda . 2018. Life cycle assessment of activated carbon from woody biomass.
- Hogland, John; Anderson, Nathaniel; St. Peter, Joseph; Drake, Jason; Medley, Paul. 2018. Mapping forest characteristics at fine resolution across large landscapes of the southeastern United States using NAIP imagery and FIA field plot data.
- Hogland, John; Anderson, Nathaniel; Chung, Woodam. 2018. New geospatial approaches for efficiently mapping forest biomass logistics at high resolution over large areas.
- Han, Hee; Chung, Woodam; Wells, Lucas; Anderson, Nathaniel. 2018. Optimizing biomass feedstock logistics for forest residue processing and transportation on a tree-shaped road network.
- Han, Hee ; Chung, Woodam ; She, Ji ; Anderson, Nathaniel ; Wells, Lucas . 2018. Productivity and costs of two beetle-kill salvage harvesting methods in northern Colorado.
- Loeffler, Dan ; Anderson, Nathaniel . 2018. Recovering from the mountain pine beetle.
- Campbell, Robert M.; Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Daugaard, Daren E.; Naughton, Helen T. 2018. Technoeconomic and policy drivers of project performance for bioenergy alternatives using biomass from beetle-killed trees.
- Becker, Ryer M.; Keefe, Robert F.; Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Eitel, Jan U. H. 2018. Use of lidar-derived landscape parameters to characterize alternative harvest system options in the Inland Northwest.
- Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Bergman, Richard D.; Page-Dumroese, Deborah S. 2017. A supply chain approach to biochar systems Chapter 2.
- Kim, Yaejun; Chung, Woodam; Han, Hee; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2017. Effect of downed trees on harvesting productivity and costs in beetle-killed stands.
- Chung, Woodam; Evangelista, Paul; Anderson, Nathaniel; Vorster, Anthony; Han, Hee; Poudel, Krishna; Sturtevant, Robert. 2017. Estimating aboveground tree biomass for beetle-killed lodgepole pine in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado.
- Western, Jessica M.; Cheng, Antony S.; Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Motley, Pamela. 2017. Examining the social acceptability of forest biomass harvesting and utilization from collaborative forest landscape restoration: A case study from western Colorado, USA.
- Hogland, John; Anderson, Nathaniel. 2017. Function modeling improves the efficiency of spatial modeling using big data from remote sensing.
- Bergman, Richard D.; Gu, Hongmei; Page-Dumroese, Deborah S.; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2017. Life cycle analysis of biochar Chapter 3.
- Loeffler, Dan; Hoyt, Stu; Anderson, Nathaniel. 2017. Production rates for United States Forest Service brush disposal planning in the northern Rocky Mountains.
- Becker, Ryer M.; Keefe, Robert F.; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2017. Use of real-time GNSS-RF data to characterize the swing movements of forestry equipment.
- Page-Dumroese, Deborah S.; Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Windell, Keith N.; Englund, Karl; Jump, Kevin. 2016. Development and use of a commercial-scale biochar spreader.
- Anderson, Nathaniel; Mitchell, Dana. 2016. Forest operations and woody biomass logistics to improve efficiency, value, and sustainability.
- Hensen, Reid; Essen, Maureen; Anderson, Nathaniel; Peters, Larry; Kimmerly, April. 2016. Integrating sustainable biofuels and byproducts into forest industry supply chains.
- Loeffler, Dan; Anderson, Nathaniel; Morgan, Todd A.; Sorenson, Colin B. 2016. On-site energy consumption and selected emissions at softwood sawmills in the southwestern United States.
- Loeffler, Dan; Anderson, Nathaniel; Morgan, Todd A.; Sorenson, Colin B. 2016. On-site energy consumption at softwood sawmills in Montana.
- Campbell, Robert M.; Venn, Tyron J.; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2016. Social preferences toward energy generation with woody biomass from public forests in Montana, USA.
- Wells, Lucas A.; Chung, Woodam; Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Hogland, John S. 2016. Spatial and temporal quantification of forest residue volumes and delivered costs.
- Miller, Sue; Essen, Maureen; Anderson, Nathaniel; Page-Dumroese, Deborah; McCollum, Dan; Bergman, Rick; Elder, Tom. 2015. Burgeoning biomass: Creating efficient and sustainable forest biomass supply chains in the Rockies, Part II.
- Hogland, John S.; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2015. Estimating FIA plot characteristics using NAIP imagery, function modeling, and the RMRS Raster Utility coding library.
- Hogland, John S.; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2015. Estimating FIA plot characteristics using NAIP imagery, function modeling, and the RMRS raster utility coding library.
- Kim, Dongyeob; Anderson, Nathaniel McLean; Chung, Woodam. 2015. Financial performance of a mobile pyrolysis system used to produce biochar from sawmill residues.
- Thompson, Matthew P.; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2015. Modeling fuel treatment impacts on fire suppression cost savings: A review.
- Campbell, Robert; Venn, Tyron; Anderson, Nathaniel. 2015. Quantifying social preferences toward woody biomass energy generation in Montana, USA.
- Miller, Sue; Essen, Maureen; Anderson, Nate; Chung, Woody; Elliot, Bill; Page-Dumroese, Deb; Han, Han-Sup; Hogland, John; Keyes, Christopher R. 2014. Burgeoning biomass: Creating efficient and sustainable forest biomass supply chains in the Rockies.
- Jarvis, Jacqueline M.; Page-Dumroese, Deborah S.; Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Corilo, Yuri; Rodgers, Ryan P. 2014. Characterization of fast pyrolysis products generated from several western USA woody species.
- Loeffler, Dan; Anderson, Nathaniel. 2014. Emissions tradeoffs associated with cofiring forest biomass with coal: A case study in Colorado, USA.
- Loeffler, Dan; Anderson, Nathaniel; Stockmann, Keith; Skog, Ken; Healey, Sean; Jones, J. Greg; Morrison, James; Young, Jesse. 2014. Estimates of carbon stored in harvested wood products from United States Forest Service Alaska Region, 1910-2012.
- Loeffler, Dan; Anderson, Nathaniel; Stockmann, Keith; Skog, Ken; Healey, Sean; Jones, J. Greg; Morrison, James; Young, Jesse. 2014. Estimates of carbon stored in harvested wood products from United States Forest Service Eastern Region, 1911-2012.
- Stockmann, Keith; Anderson, Nathaniel; Young, Jesse; Skog, Ken; Healey, Sean; Loeffler, Dan; Butler, Edward; Jones, J. Greg; Morrison, James. 2014. Estimates of carbon stored in harvested wood products from United States Forest Service Intermountain Region, 1911-2012.
- Stockmann, Keith; Anderson, Nathaniel; Young, Jesse; Skog, Ken; Healey, Sean; Loeffler, Dan; Butler, Edward; Jones, J. Greg; Morrison, James. 2014. Estimates of carbon stored in harvested wood products from United States Forest Service Northern Region, 1906-2012.
- Butler, Edward; Stockmann, Keith; Anderson, Nathaniel; Skog, Ken; Healey, Sean; Loeffler, Dan; Jones, J. Greg; Morrison, James; Young, Jesse. 2014. Estimates of carbon stored in harvested wood products from United States Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region, 1909-2012.
- Stockmann, Keith; Anderson, Nathaniel; Young, Jesse; Skog, Ken; Healey, Sean; Loeffler, Dan; Butler, Edward; Jones, J. Greg; Morrison, James. 2014. Estimates of carbon stored in harvested wood products from United States Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region, 1909-2012.
- Stockmann, Keith; Anderson, Nathaniel; Young, Jesse; Skog, Ken; Healey, Sean; Loeffler, Dan; Butler, Edward; Jones, J. Greg; Morrison, James. 2014. Estimates of carbon stored in harvested wood products from United States Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region, 1906-2012.
- Loeffler, Dan; Anderson, Nathaniel; Stockmann, Keith; Skog, Ken; Healey, Sean; Jones, J. Greg; Morrison, James; Young, Jesse. 2014. Estimates of carbon stored in harvested wood products from United States Forest Service Southern Region, 1911-2012.
- Butler, Edward; Stockmann, Keith; Anderson, Nathaniel; Young, Jesse; Skog, Ken; Healey, Sean; Loeffler, Dan; Jones, J. Greg; Morrison, James. 2014. Estimates of carbon stored in harvested wood products from United States Forest Service Southwestern Region, 1909-2012.
- Stockmann, Keith; Anderson, Nathaniel; Young, Jesse; Skog, Ken; Healey, Sean; Loeffler, Dan; Butler, Edward; Jones, J. Greg; Morrison, James. 2014. Estimates of carbon stored in harvested wood products from United States Forest Service's Sierra Nevada Bio-Regional Assessment Area of the Pacific Southwest Region, 1909-2012.
- Hogland, John S; Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Chung, Woodam; Wells, Lucas. 2014. Estimating forest characteristics using NAIP imagery and ArcObjects.
- Hogland, John S.; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2014. Improved analyses using function datasets and statistical modeling.
- Essen, Maureen; Morris, Caroline; Anderson, Nathaniel. 2014. Tucker RNG: Little machine, big impact.
- Keefe, Robert; Anderson, Nathaniel; Hogland, John; Muhlenfeld, Ken. 2014. Woody biomass logistics Chapter 14.
- Maker, Neal F.; Germain, Rene H.; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2014. Working woods: A case study of sustainable forest management on Vermont family forests.
- Anderson, Nathaniel; Jones, J. Greg; Page-Dumroese, Deborah; McCollum, Daniel; Baker, Stephen; Loeffler, Daniel; Chung, Woodam. 2013. A comparison of producer gas, biochar, and activated carbon from two distributed scale thermochemical conversion systems used to process forest biomass.
- Hogland, John; Billor, Nedret; Anderson, Nathaniel. 2013. Comparison of standard maximum likelihood classification and polytomous logistic regression used in remote sensing.
- Hogland, John S.; Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Jones, J .Greg. 2013. Function modeling: improved raster analysis through delayed reading and function raster datasets.
- Anderson, N.; Young, J.; Stockmann, K.; Skog, K.; Healey, S.; Loeffler, D.; Jones, J.G.; Morrison, J. 2013. Regional and forest-level estimates of carbon stored in harvested wood products from the United States Forest Service Northern Region, 1906-2010.
- Anderson, Nathaniel; Chung, Woodam; Loeffler, Dan; Jones, John Greg. 2012. A productivity and cost comparison of two systems for producing biomass fuel from roadside forest treatment residues.
- Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Germain, Rene H.; Hall, Myrna H. 2012. An assessment of forest cover and impervious surface area on family forests in the New York City Watershed.
- Stockmann, Keith D.; Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Skog, Kenneth E.; Healey, Sean P.; Loeffler, Dan R.; Jones, Greg; Morrison, James F. 2012. Estimates of carbon stored in harvested wood products from the United States Forest Service Northern Region, 1906-2010.
- Caron, Jennifer A.; Germain, Rene H.; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2012. Parcelization and land use: A case study in the New York City Watershed.
- Chung, Woodam; Kim, Dongyeob; Anderson, Nathaniel. 2012. Productivity and cost analysis of a mobile pyrolysis system deployed to convert mill residues into biochar.
- Chung, Woodam; Anderson, Nathaniel. 2012. Spatial modeling of potential woody biomass flow.
- Page-Dumroese, Deborah; Anderson, Nathaniel. 2011. Biomass utilization, forest restoration, and soil productivity associated with bioenergy harvesting and biochar application: Field and laboratory strategies for the U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
- Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Germain, Rene H.; Bevilacqua, Eddie. 2011. Geographic information system-based spatial analysis of sawmill wood procurement.
Research Highlights
Highlight | Title | Year |
![]() FPL-2019-68 | Life Cycle Assessment of Activated Carbon from Woody Biomass Expanding biofuels and bioproducts production using forest biomass as feedstock contributes to not only alternatives to U.S. fossil fuels, but a ... | 2019 |
![]() RMRS-2018-90 | The Region 4 — RMRS Science Partner Program: Working to improve management strategies and communication through shared stewardship
In 2016, the Rocky Mountain Research Station launched the Region 4—Rocky Mountain Research Station Science Partner Pilot program. The program' ... | 2018 |