Colorado Forest Restoration Institute
What's New?Drawing numerous case studies, this recently released article authored by CFRI director, Tony Cheng, in Environmental Management offers practitioners, policy-makers, and researchers ways to understand and assess collaborative capacity in the context of public forest management in the U.S. Click the page to view or download.
Yvette Dickinson is joining the department and CFRI as a temporary assistant professor. Yvette graduated with a PhD in Forest Resources from the Pennsylvania State University in 2011. Her dissertation investigated the influence of silviculture on forest structure and carbon storage of Pennsylvania's hardwoods at both the stand and landscape scale; utilizing established silvicultural trials and a statewide LiDAR dataset. Yvette also has Bachelor of Forest Science and a Master of Science majoring in Environmental Science from University of Canterbury, New Zealand. She worked in New Zealand's native forests, pine plantations and rangelands prior to moving to the US. When not working she enjoys hiking and fly fishing, and is looking forward to joining CFRI and working in western forests
Ben Wudtke holds a B.S. in Forest Management and has recently completed a M.S. degree in Forest Ecology from Colorado State University. His graduate research involved post fire disturbance ecological recovery in ponderosa pine ecosystems of the Black Hills. He also recently presented the Black Hills Forest Supervisor and Forest Silviculturalist with a book highlighting previous and current research involving the Jasper Fire. Ben enjoys all facets of forestry but is most interested in post disturbance (natural and non-natural) effects and silvicultural practices. Ben is married to his wife, Cristina and they have a two year old son, Mitchel together. Outside of forestry, Ben enjoys a multitude of outdoor activities and spending time with his family.The mission of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute is to enhance the capacities of land managers, landowners, collaborative forest health partnerships, and communities to achieve forest restoration and wildfire hazard reduction goals in Colorado and the Interior West.
Goals• Localize science to achieve forest restoration and wildfire hazard reduction goals for specific landscapes. We develop, synthesize, and apply scientific evidence to support land managers’ efforts to restore forest landscapes and reduce wildfire hazards.
•Facilitate collaborative learning and adaptive management opportunities to build understanding and support for forest restoration and wildfire hazard reduction treatments. We bring together managers, stakeholders, scientists, and citizens to explore on-the-ground conditions, manage conflicts, and identify ‘zones of agreement’ for moving forward.
•Apply biophysical and social sciences to monitor forest restoration and wildfire hazard reduction treatments. We examine integrated ecological, economic, and social outcomes of treatments to better inform management planning, environmental assessments, and policy
•Promote and sustain knowledge partnerships. We serve as a bridge between research institutions and land management organizations to continually generate knowledge about what works on the ground to achieve restoration and hazard reduction goals.
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