Forest Resources and Environmental Science2011 Annual Review

Message from the deanTo our alumni, friends, corporate and agency partners, and state and federal legislators:

This is our first annual report and a summary of our accomplishments. It describes some of our education and research highlights and how we are benefiting the people of Michigan, the Great Lakes region, the nation, and the world. As a university, our major focus is on our educational programs, but what enhances these programs are the research projects motivating students to pursue advanced degrees and careers in applied ecology and environmental sciences, forest molecular genetics and biotechnology, forestry, wildlife ecology and management, and wood science.

In his 1929 essay “The Aims of Education,” Alfred North Whitehead said

The proper function of a university is the imaginative acquisition of knowledge . . . Do you want your teachers to be imaginative? Then encourage them to do research. Do you want your researchers to be imaginative? Then bring them into intellectual sympathy with the young at the most eager, imaginative period of life, when intellects are just entering upon their mature discipline. . . . (M)ake your young students crown their period of intellectual acquisition by some contact with minds gifted with experience of intellectual adventure.

Our core effort is and always will be our educational programs. Our research enhances our students’ intellectual adventures.

If you want to know more about what we’re doing, or if you are interested in someone’s research, please visit our website, http://forest.mtu.edu. Your investment in our programs is making a difference for future generations!

Peg Gale, Dean School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science

Mission StatementWe foster excellence in forestry and ecological science.

Vision StatementWe will be a premier community of scholars who investigate ecological processes from molecular to global scales and their relationship to society.

We strive to be internationally recognized educators of creative scientists and those who develop both technologies and strategies for sustainable natural resource management.

We educate students in the maintenance of healthy ecosystems through intensive, field-based training and cutting-edge interdisciplinary research programs.

Core ValuesThe principles that guide us and influence our decisions are based on the following core values:

We serve Michigan’s economic development through our quality forestry, ecology, quantitative, and biotechnology educational and research programs, with emphasis on sustainable land-use decisions to maintain a quality of life.

We strongly influence society, now and into the future, through the principles students learn in our classes, the mentoring we provide, and the respect for others’ ideas and cultures.

We inspire thought by how we teach and are committed to providing an exceptional educational experience at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

We have a passion for science. Scholarly efforts are viewed by all as a creative extension of continuous learning and are rooted in everything we do.

Saving Michigan’s ash treesSince the emerald ash borer entered the United States in 2002, this exotic invader has killed millions of ash trees throughout the Midwest, including Michigan. Andrew Storer leads the Slow Ash Mortality, or SLAM, effort, to better understand the insect pest and test methods to save America’s white ash trees. Tools include reducing the insect’s food source, injecting trees to protect them from the borer, and introducing the ash borer’s natural enemies.

Benefits: This work will help slow the spread of the emerald ash borer and prevent ash trees from disappearing from America’s forests. Partners in the project include Michigan Tech, Michigan State University, the USDA Forest Service, USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Secrets of the sugar maple forestResearchers led by Molly Cavaleri are building a network of towers and zip-lines high in treetops in order to study the shapes and patterns of leaves throughout the canopy of a sugar maple forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Benefits: This will help us better understand the inner workings of the forest, especially how forests cycle water and carbon dioxide, and lead to insights into the role forests may play in global climate change. This is partially funded by a USDA McIntire-Stennis Formula Grant.

Deer, sugar maple, and the decline of the hemlockHemlocks are in trouble, down 99 percent throughout their historic range. Christopher Webster is investigating whether the increasing numbers of sugar maples are contributing to the hemlock’s decline, and, if so, why this is happening. Preliminary observations suggest that expanding populations of white-tailed deer are playing a role in the process.

Benefits: This research will add to our understanding of wildlife-habitat interactions and improve hemlock forest and white-tailed deer management strategies in Michigan and surrounding states and provinces. This work is funded by a USDA McIntire-Stennis Formula Grant.

Serving Michigan and the Great Lakes 36.9%

Percentage of alumni in Michigan

Studying ash trees to combat the emerald ash borer

A study of the tree canopy adds to our understanding of water and carbon cycling in a

sugar maple forest.

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Our innovative Forest and Environmental Resource

Management program (The FERM), led by Jim Rivard, lets students apply

the techniques they learn in the classroom to a real-world

experience in forestland management.

5,426Acres of research and

educational forest managed by the School

Monitoring bats over Lake Michigan’s windy corridorWind power holds promise as a clean, renewable energy source for Michigan, especially in Lake Michigan’s offshore areas. However, wind turbines may also pose a threat to native bat populations that may be traversing these areas—bats that are voracious consumers of insect pests. Led by Joseph Bump, this project will monitor offshore bat activity in these offshore wind resource areas.

Benefits: Ultimately, the results from this study will be a resource in planning offshore wind energy development and provide a template for monitoring offshore bat activity throughout the Great Lakes region. This work is supported by the Michigan Coastal Management Program.

Creating a wetland for plants, animals, and peopleMichigan Tech’s Great Lakes Research Center, located along the Keweenaw Waterway, is a perfect place to introduce visitors to a coastal wetland. Rodney Chimner and collaborators will restore and create a wetland along the shoreline and build a boardwalk to provide access to everyone.

Benefits: In addition to improving habitat for the plants, birds, and animals that thrive in the Great Lakes wetland environment, this project will provide a great educational experience for the local community, who can view the wetland from both the boardwalk and the area bike trail. This work is supported by the Michigan Coastal Management Program.

A better composite siding from northern forestsLed by Peter Laks, a team of our researchers has been working for sixteen years to develop and commercialize a wood-composite siding made from aspen, adhesive, and the wood preservative zinc borate. This SmartSide siding is manufactured by Louisiana-Pacific in three Upper Midwest plants, including one in Newberry, Michigan. With ongoing funding from Louisiana-Pacific, the team is now evaluating the long-term performance of SmartSide throughout the United States.

Benefits: SmartSide provides a revenue stream to a major forest-products company, allowing it to create jobs in the manufacturing sector. The siding also supports independent loggers and benefits landowners through timber sales.

Hydrological investigation of restoring drained wetlands in MichiganTom Pypker and his team are researching which ecosystem processes control the successful restoration of drained wetlands in Michigan. In partnership with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, they are also determining the impact of drainage ditches on the water and vegetation of a major wetland in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 

Benefits: This project will help government agencies as well as private landowners better assess the pros and cons of plugging and restoring major drainage ditches. This project will also suggest future management techniques for restoration of key wildlife habitat.

56.6%Percentage of alumni

in the Great Lakes Region

Researching the effects of wind turbines on little brown bats

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U C A T I O N AL

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Our three undergraduate programs—in forestry, applied

ecology and environmental sciences, and wildlife ecology and management—give our students

the communication skills they need to succeed as professionals,

as well as exceptional field abilities.

30States where the School conducts

research

14Weeks of fall camp, the longest, most

comprehensive camp in the US

Saving the sage grouseJunipers have been spreading into the sage grouse’s historic range, drastically degrading its habitat. Millions of acres have been affected, yet no one knows exactly where junipers have encroached on the sage-brush steppe habitat needed by this endangered bird. Mike Falkowski is using cutting-edge remote-sensing technology to help land managers by mapping where junipers are invading.

Benefits: These remote-sensing techniques will be used to help restore other threatened and endangered species. The study is funded by the Nature Conservancy and the Natural Resource Conservation Service.

What does climate change mean for forest management?Forests play a large role in climate, and climate change also affects forests. How might that affect the wise management of America’s forests? Through the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change Project, Linda Nagel and her team are developing a series of workshops and experimental studies that will provide guidance for forest managers.

Benefits: This study, funded by the USDA Forest Service, will give forest managers information on 1) which of their strategies might best mitigate the effects of climate change, and 2) how they can anticipate the forest changes brought about by climate change and adapt accordingly.

Predicting the forest’s futureLand ownership patterns have changed in the last fifty years, and they continue to change. With support from a USDA McIntire-Stennis Formula Grant, Audrey Mayer is combining data from sources ranging from plat books to interviews to remote sensing to find what land goals are important to different owners (e.g., absentee versus resident, young versus seniors, investment-oriented versus recreation-oriented, etc.).

Benefits: With an understanding of what owners want, we can better predict what changes we might expect in our forests as industrial forests are sold off in smaller parcels to private owners.

Serving the Nation

Investigating the encroachment of junipers on the habitat of sage grouse

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Our seven graduate degree programs provide scientists and professionals with the advanced technical knowledge in natural

resources and the leadership qualities needed to build a sustainable, healthy, and prosperous future.

Developing viewing technologies for forestlands

50States where our

alumni live

1stLargest Peace Corps Master’s International

Program in the US

Survival of the fragmented?When humans break up a landscape with cities, roads, and industry, it’s not usually good news for the original residents. But in Hawaii, this process happens naturally, when lava flows create islands of forest that isolate bird populations. David Flaspohler and his team are studying how native Hawaiian honeycreepers survive in these tiny islands and whether nonnative rats are taking their toll on the bird populations.

Benefits: What he and his team learn from this study will provide insights into what happens when ecosystems are fragmented and how native species cope with highly adaptable nonnatives, like rats. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation and the USDA Forest Service.

What slash-and-burn means to the ground below—and the trees aboveMany forest stands in the western US are overgrown with brush and other unmarketable materials, due to 100 years of fire suppression and a lack of timber harvesting. Loggers and forest managers use slash burning to dispose of this material, but burning massive piles of woody debris scorches the soil below. Marty Jurgensen and his team are studying the biological changes in the soil caused by pile burning with an eye toward how those changes may affect its productivity.

Benefits: This project will give land managers new insights into how pile burning affects a forest’s growth, particularly its timber productivity. His work is funded by the USDA Forest Service.

Bringing back sagebrush after the miners have leftWyoming is a leading source of the mineral bentonite, a type of clay used in products as varied as kitty litter and cosmetics. Once bentonite is extracted, companies replace the topsoil, but replacing an ecosystem is not always that simple. Catherine Tarasoff is investigating various soil improvements and the process called “livecasting”: remediating a site with fresh, “alive” topsoil taken from a new mine rather than using old, stockpiled topsoil.

Benefits: The ultimate goal is to restore ecosystem function for a variety of species, including sage grouse, and to limit the establishment and spread of invasive species. This work is funded by the Wyoming Wildlife Trust Fund, the Big Horn Basin Local Sage Grouse Working Group, M-I Swaco, and American Colloid.

A river runs through itThe land along each river’s edge is unique, with its own network of vegetation and soils that exist in harmony with the water. One would think it would be relatively easy to tell where this riparian area, or ecotone, begins and ends. However, it can be highly variable, from just a few yards to over a mile during big floods, so mapping these areas can be challenging. Using precise information on the elevation changes of the surrounding landscape, plus historical data on fifty-year floods, Ann Maclean is redefining the true extent of a river’s ecotone using geographic information systems technology.

Benefits: This work will give resource managers a precise new tool for understanding a system that can transform dramatically, sometimes in a matter of hours. Her work is supported by the National Science Foundation and a USDA McIntire-Stennis Formula Grant.

David Flaspohler investigating the habitat of the native Hawaiian

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U C A T I O N AL

HI G H L I G H T

Our Master of Forestry program, led by Jim Pickens,

graduates professionals with the field, leadership, quantitative, and

communication skills that are key to successfully managing America’s

lands on behalf of industry and the public.

7Graduate students

conducting research abroad

$283,534 Total research

expenditure per faculty member

The roots of climate changeTree roots are a vast storehouse of carbon affecting tree growth and forest productivity. That means that they could play a critical role in climate change: either by determining if trees will store more carbon and mitigate the effects of climate change, or by causing trees to release more carbon into the atmosphere and accelerate the warming of the Earth. With funding from the US Department of Energy, Andrew Burton and his colleagues are studying how tree roots in a mature sugar maple forest respond to warmer soil temperatures. In particular, they want to determine if root systems take up more carbon, leaving less for tree growth, or if they adapt to their “new normal” soil conditions by channeling carbon to new growth, which would allow trees to remain productive.

Benefits: This research will help predict how productive forests will respond as the climate warms. In addition, it will provide insights into how forests worldwide will affect the dynamics of climate change.

Arctic snow, ozone, and climateIn the Arctic, there’s a complex relationship among the snowpack, sunshine, and the class of chemicals known as nitrogen oxides. Sometimes they interact to produce the greenhouse gas ozone, and sometimes they destroy it. With scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Wageningen in The Netherlands, Paul Doskey is working to fully understand this process.

Benefits: This work will enable us to better understand and predict climate change in the Arctic, the region that has been most affected by global warming. Their work is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Managing water in an age of scarcityWater is a scarce commodity in Northern Mexico, and it will become even more rare as the region warms. Kathy Halvorsen is working with water managers, academics, users, and nongovernmental aid agencies in the region to help citizens make informed decisions on more efficient water use.

Benefit: By providing state-of-the-art forecasting tools, this project will help managers make the most of this scarce, vital resource. Funding is provided by the National Science Foundation.

Serving the World

Andrew Burton, right, and a graduate student investigating how tree roots will respond to a

warmer climate

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Our Peace Corps Master’s International program, led by

Blair Orr, gives students technical skills that make them sought-after partners in their host communities,

where they work to create a healthy environment and sustainable

infrastructure. 

23Countries where our

alumni live

30Countries where the

School conducts research

Better trees for bioenergyOf all the tissue types in trees, cellulose is the most abundant. Plus, it holds great promise as a feedstock for biofuel. With funding from a USDA McIntire-Stennis Formula Grant and World Class University of South Korea, Shekhar Joshi is working to better understand the genetic mechanisms that create cellulose.

Benefits: Transforming cellulose into ethanol is not a simple chemical process. If we could tailor trees to produce cellulose that was easy to turn into biofuel, we could reduce the cost of ethanol and reduce our demand for fossil fuels.

The wolves and moose of Isle RoyaleResearch on the wolves and moose of Lake Superior’s Isle Royale National Park has been ongoing for nearly fifty-four years, making it the longest predator-prey study in the world. The island’s isolation and wilderness character add to the project’s distinctiveness. With funding from the National Park Service and the National Science Foundation, John Vucetich and Rolf Peterson are studying the behavior of the island’s wolves and moose and what environmental factors are affecting their populations.

Benefits: The many discoveries that have sprung from this long-term project are used to inform wildlife management practices throughout North America and Europe.

Solving a genetic puzzleHairong Wei has developed a quick and easy way to identify the genes that work together to control an organism’s traits. He used this bioinformatics method first to identify the genes that keep human stem cells in their “ready and waiting” state. Then he applied it to Arabidopsis plants, poplar trees, and the Axolotle salamander. His method identified gene clusters with a degree of accuracy ranging from 50 to 95 percent.

Benefits: He will use this tool to help identify key genes that enhance crop productivity, potentially benefiting the global economy and fighting world hunger. His work is funded by Michigan Technological University.

A biotech library for tree scientistsIn the last ten years, research on the genetic makeup of trees has yielded huge amounts of information that is critically important for scientists concerned with the health of America’s forests. Oliver Gailing is working to develop genomic resources that will make this information readily available. It will focus on ecologically and economically important North American hardwoods: yellow poplar, red bay, sweet gum, black willow, honey locust, black cherry, oak, black walnut, sugar maple, basswood, black gum, and green ash.

Benefits: This project, funded by the National Science Foundation’s Plant Genome Research Program, will provide powerful tools to help address major forest health issues that affect the forest products industry, which contributes over $400 billion to the US economy each year.

Measuring the jawbone of a moose, part of long-term research on the wolves and moose of Isle Royale

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Students in our

Transatlantic Master’s program, led by Shekhar

Joshi and partners from North Carolina State University, the Swedish

University of Agricultural Sciences, and the University of Helsinki,

benefit from an in-depth, global perspective on the science and

management of natural resources.

Students collaborating in Oliver Gailing’s biotechnology

laboratory

The School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences

StudentsTotal enrollment 271 Undergraduate enrollment 180 Graduate enrollment 91Student jobs provided by the School 94Scholarship recipients 101Total scholarship support $451,795 School awards $55,946 University awards $395,849Percentage who are female 39%Undergraduate degrees awarded 44Master’s and PhD degrees awarded 24

FacultyTotal 31

Tenured/tenure-track faculty members 25

Research assistant professors 6

Recipients of Michigan Tech’s Distinguished Teaching Award 7

Recipients of Michigan Tech’s Research Award 6

ResearchActive research projects 281Research expenditures per faculty member $283,534Total funds awarded in 2011 $8,129,972Total funds available $27,196,055Expenditures $8,789,546Proposals submitted 156Proposals funded 139Refereed books, chapters, or journal articles published 64Presentations made 124

AlumniTotal 3,073Years of leadership in forestry, wood products, and natural resources management

75

Total degrees and certificates awarded (to date) 3,445 Bachelor’s 2,806 Master’s 469 Doctorates 113 Certificates 57

2011 by the Numbers

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