Current Research
Faculty members in the Forest Resources program conduct and disseminate high-quality, objective and relevant research on forest ecosystems, the people who value them and the institutions affecting them. Our distinctive research helps policymakers make informed decisions based on a solid understanding of ecosystem conditions and socioeconomic values.
The expertise of our diverse faculty covers a wide range of subjects, including both traditional practices and new technologies. Faculty members have received numerous awards and are recognized both nationally and internationally for their research. Current research topics include:
- Conservation biology
- Forest entomology
- Forest regeneration
- Forest genetics
- Tree improvement
- Policy/Social science
- Remote sensing
- Geographic information systems (GIS)
- Modeling of forest operations and management
- Forest hydrology
- Social ecology
- Hardwood silviculture
- Reforestation
- Physiological ecology
- Fire
- Landscape ecology
- Forest pathology
Activities
Society of American Foresters
Logger Sports
Hands-On Experience
You will participate in numerous class field trips to the college’s 10,300-acre experimental forest sites. Our program provides a broad, integrated perspective of the diversity of forest ecosystems and the many resources – amenities, products, services and values – that sustainable forest management makes possible for all people.
Breakthroughs & Discoveries
Effects of Early Snowmelt: One common practice for reducing fire hazard risk is mechanical thinning or creation of gaps and fire breaks. Such forest treatments, especially in snow-dominated systems, can cause detrimental, increased snowmelt rates and peak flow increases. This leads to erosion, stream destabilization and degradation of water quality and ecosystem health. Tim Link, a forest resources hydrologist, is studying ways to connect basic forest snowmelt research to management needs. With an $84,000 McIntire-Stennis grant, Link and graduate students, Rob Lawler and Diana Carson, are developing modeling tools to improve understanding of radiation transfer, where gaps and firebreaks are typically used in fuels treatments.
Facilities
The 10,300 acres of experimental forest sites, located near the campus on Moscow Mountain and in McCall, provide a field environment to conduct a wide variety of field and research projects. At our state-of-the-art nursery, students can gain paid career experiences packing, sowing and caring for 300,000 to 400,000 seedlings that are raised and sold to the public. Our facilities also feature new remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) technologies, complementary Windows NT and UNIX networks, a large file-server, color output and global positioning system (GPS) equipment. Other laboratory facilities include a mass spectrometer for analysis of stable isotopes, field ecophysiology instruments. Facilities and resources include:
- University of Idaho Experimental Forest
- University of Idaho Center for Forest Nursery and Seedling Research
- Remote Sensing and GIS Research Laboratory
- Forest and Range Measurements Laboratory
- Guernsey Outdoor Classroom
- Taylor Wilderness Research Station
- Idaho Stable Isotopes Laboratory
- Inland Empire Tree Improvement Cooperative
- Intermountain Forest Tree Nutrition Cooperative
- University of Idaho Laboratory for Conservation and Ecological Genetics
- Landscape Dynamics Laboratory
- Lee Sharp Experimental Area
- McCall Field Campus
- Policy Analysis Group
- Stillinger Herbarium