James Gosz has over 40 years of professional experience in environmental science with emphases on ecology, forest and range productivity, biogeochemistry, and soils. He began his professional career with a B.S. in Forest Management at Michigan Technical University (1963), then to the University of Idaho for his Ph.D. in Forest Science and Soil Chemistry (1968). Following his Ph.D., he spent two years as a Postdoc Fellow with Dartmouth College and Cornell University working at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, on Forest Ecology and Biogeochemical Cycling. From 1970 to 2004, he was at the University of New Mexico as Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor in the Biology Department. He led the development of the Long Term Ecological Research program funded by NSF at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico and the development of the Sevilleta Field Station managed by the University of New Mexico.  His programs involved multi- and interdisciplinary research efforts to appropriately understand complex systems ecology.

In addition to being the Principal Investigator of the Sevilleta LTER for many years, he also was elected as the Chairman of the Long Term Ecological Research Network, a network of 26 LTER sites funded by NSF ranging from the Arctic to the Antarctic.  He also served as the elected chair of the International LTER Network program, a federation of ~30 countries that developed LTER programs in their respective countries. 

On two occasions he was on leave from the University of New Mexico and worked at the National Science Foundation as Program Director (1984-86) and Division Director in Environmental Biology (1993-95). After retiring from the University of New Mexico, he became a Research Professor at the University of Idaho and was on leave (IPA) while working at the National Science Foundation as Senior Program Director in the EPSCoR Program in the NSF Director’s Office (2005-2007). Following the NSF position in 2007, he returned to the University of Idaho and was named Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education.

• Peters, D., S.C. Goslee, S.L. Collins and J.R. Gosz. Landscape diversity.  In: S.A. Levin ed. Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, 2nd Edition. Academic Press, San Diego, CA (in press).
• Gosz, J.R., R. Waide, & J. Magnuson. 2010. Twenty-eight years of the US-LTER Program: Experience, results, and research questions. In: Long Term Ecological Research. Between Theory and Application. Muller, F., Schubert, H. & Klotz, S., Springer Science & Business Media.
• Peters, Debra, J. Gosz, Scott Collins. 2009. Boundary Dynamics in Landscapes, Chapter 5, pp. 458-463, In: Simon Levin, ed. Princeton Guide to Ecology, Princeton University Press.
• Robertson, G. Philip, Vivien Allen, George Boody, Emery Boose, Nancy Creamer, Laurie Drinkwater, James Gosz, Lori Lynch, John Havlin, Louise Jackson, Steward Pickett, Louis Pitelka, Alan Randall, Scott Reed, Timothy Seastedt, Robert Waide, Diana Wall. Long-Term Agricultural Research (LTAR): A Research, Education, and Extension Imperative.  BioScience 57: 640-645.
• Baez, Selene, J. Fargione, D. Moore, S. Collins, J. R. Gosz, 2007. Atmospheric nitrogen deposition in the northern Chihuahuan Desert temporal trends and potential consequences, Journal of Arid Environments, 68:240-251.

Current Research

Collaborative Research–Taylor Wilderness Ranch and Flathead Lake Biological Station

Collaborative Research–Vulnerability reduction of complex mountain landscapes

• 2012. RCN-SEES: Advancing our understanding of complex mountain landscapes and the vulnerability of natural and human systems to environmental change (PI). $750,000. NSF. 09/1/2012 – 8/31/2017.
• 2008. A Study of the eco-social system of an amenity-driven, urbanizing environment in the Inland Empire. $25,000. University of Idaho.  6/1/08 to present.
• Planning a Long-term Agricultural Project for Dryland Agroecosystems of the Inland Pacific Northwest.  coPI. $200,000. USDA/AFRI.  2009 to present.
• 2008. Polishing a Gem for Wilderness Research and Education: a Planning Proposal for Taylor Wilderness Research Station. $25,000. NSF. 10/1/08 – 05/31/11.
• 2009. Collaborative Research: FSML-Enhanced Cooperative Research and Education at Flathead lake Biological Station and Taylor Wilderness Research Station. $261,952. NSF. 09/15/09 – 08/31/12.
• 2010. Collaborative Research: WSC-Category 1. Sustainability Dynamics for Water Resources in a Rapidly Urbanizing and Climatically Sensitive Region. $150,000 (jointly with WSU). NSF. 09/15/10 – 08/31-12.
• 2011. University of Idaho McCall Field Campus Infrastructure Planning (coPI). $25,000. NSF. 02/01/11 – 1/31/12.