Justin S. Crotteau

Justin S. Crotteau

Research Forester

Rocky Mountain Research Station

800 East Beckwith Avenue
Missoula, MT 59801-5801
United States

Phone

406-542-4169

0000-0001-8889-822X

Email

Research
Education & Experience
Organizations & Awards
Publications & Products
Research Highlights
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Current Research

I investigate forest structural and compositional change (i.e., stand dynamics) to inform management. Active forest management plays an integral role in providing society the resources required to function and flourish. Overall, my research elucidates stand responses to natural disturbances or silvicultural practices in multiple benefit forests, and therefore has implications for timber production, biodiversity, restoration, and resilience to future disturbances.

Scientist in Charge of the Boise Basin Experimental Forest and Coram Experimental Forest.

Research Interest

Silviculture
Stand dynamics
Disturbance ecology
Emulating natural disturbances
Natural regeneration
Fire and fuels

Why This Research Is Important

Understanding how forests change in response to management decisions and natural disturbances is imperative for delivering sustainable benefits to forest land owners. By evaluating forest structural and compositional change in the past we are able to assess the tradeoffs associated with management activity or inactivity. Ultimately, this leads to enhanced understanding of forest dynamics and improved decision making for the future.

Education

University of Montana, Ph.D., Forest and Conservation Sciences, 2017
Humboldt State University, M.S., Forestry, 2011

Professional Experience

Research Forester, USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station - Missoula, 2019 - Current
Research Forester, USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station - Juneau, 2018 - 2019

Professional Organizations

Associate Editor (Editorial Board), Northwest Scientific Association, 2019 - Current
Member, Association for Fire Ecology, 2017 - Current
Member, Society of American Foresters (SAF), 2010 - Current
-Juneau, Alaska chapter. Chair-elect, 2019. -Montana state chapter. Science and Technology Chair (2021-present). Chair-Elect (2022). Chair (2023).

Awards & Recognition

Montana Society of American Foresters Young Forester Leadership Award, 2023

Featured Publications

Lucretia E. Olson, Justin S. Crotteau, Shelagh Fox, Gary Hanvey, Joseph D. Holbrook, Scott Jackson, John R. Squires. 2023. Effects of compound disturbance on Canada lynx and snowshoe hare: Wildfire and forest management influence timing and intensity of use
Justin S. Crotteau, Christopher R. Keyes, Sharon M. Hood, Andrew J. Larson. 2020. Vegetation dynamics following compound disturbance in a dry pine forest: fuel treatment then bark beetle outbreak
Justin Crotteau, Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, Theresa Jain, David Wright, Melissa Jenkins, Christopher Keyes, Linda M. Nagel. 2019. Initiating climate adaptation in a western larch forest
Justin S. Crotteau, Sharon M. Hood, Duncan C. Lutes, Christopher R. Keyes, Anna Sala, Michael G. Harrington. 2018. Management and succession at the Lick Creek Demonstration/Research Forest, Montana
Justin S. Crotteau, David V D’Amore, Jeffrey C. Barnard, Gary Lawton, Jessika McFarland. 2022. Commercial thinning strategies in southeast Alaska: establishment and effects of the Prince of Wales Commercial Thinning Study
Justin S. Crotteau, Michael H. McClellan, Toni L. De Santo, Sheila R. Spores, Jeffrey C. Barnard. 2020. Sharing the load to develop young-growth silviculture for forage and biodiversity in southeast Alaska

Other Publications

Justin S. Crotteau, William J. Beese, John-Pascal Berrill, Robert L. Deal, Constance A. Harrington, Kellen N. Nelson. 2024. Ecological silviculture for North American Pacific coastal temperate rainforests [Chapter 15]
Sharon M. Hood, Justin S. Crotteau, Cory C. Cleveland. 2024. Long-term efficacy of fuel reduction and restoration treatments in Northern Rockies dry forests
Lou Dzierzak, Sharon Hood, Justin Crotteau, Cory Cleveland. 2024. The alchemy of addition: Cutting and burning together most effective in reducing fuels and improving forest resilience
Justin S. Crotteau, Sharon M. Hood. 2024. Many benefits realized after a long-term fuel reduction and restoration study in western Montana
Lucretia Olson, Justin Crotteau, John Squires. 2023. Compounding effects of wildfire and forest management on Canada lynx: The importance of management mosaics
Kellen Nelson, Jeffrey Barnard, Preston Massingham, Justin Crotteau. 2023. Tree pruning improves tree form but not understory plant production in mixed stands of Sitka spruce and western hemlock, USA
Neil G. Williams, Justin S. Crotteau, David K. Wright, Adele Underwood, Peter F. Stickney. 2023. Visualizing long-term forest recovery after management and wildfire at Miller Creek Demonstration Forest
Andrew J. Larson, Michael S. Schaedel, Justin S. Crotteau, David K. Wright, Rebecca Durham, Alexander V Kumar, John Fothergill, Michael McTee, L. Scott Mills, Anne Orlando, Philip Ramsey, Andrew Reed, James Sparks. 2022. Early stand improvement for multiple ecosystem services using adaptive complexity thinning
Kellen Nelson, Jeff Barnard, Preston Massingham, Justin Crotteau. 2022. Effect of pruning in Sitka spruce-western hemlock forests in the Pacific Temperate Rainforest
Justin Crotteau, Theresa Jain, Jason Reinhardt. 2022. Regenerating and tending under the vision for resilience and function in the free selection system
Shelagh Fox, Cheri Hartless, Sharon Hood, Justin Crotteau. 2022. Transitioning from even-aged to multi-aged forest structure in second-growth ponderosa pine
Josh McDaniel, Dave Calkin, Justin Crotteau, Mark Finney, Sam Larkin, Michael Johnston, Serra Hoagland, Dylan Johnson, Sarah McCaffrey, John Squires, Shawn Urbanski. 2022. Getting more fire on the ground: Landscape-scale prescribed burning supported by science
Woongsoon Jang, Justin S. Crotteau, Yvette K. Ortega, Sharon M. Hood, Christopher R. Keyes, Dean E. Pearson, Duncan C. Lutes, Anna Sala. 2021. Native and non-native understory vegetation responses to restoration treatments in a dry conifer forest over 23 years
Adelaide Johnson, Audrey E. Clavijo, Glenn Hamar, Deborah-Aanutein Head, Andrew Thoms, Wayne Price, Arianna Lapke, Justin Crotteau, Lee K. Cerveny, Hailey Wilmer, Lillian Petershoare, Andrea Cook, Sienna Reid. 2021. Wood products for cultural uses: Sustaining native resilience and vital lifeways in Southeast Alaska, USA
Annelise Z. Rue-Johns, Justin S. Crotteau, David V D'Amore, Jeffrey C. Barnard. 2021. Biomass regressions for understory species in young-growth Sitka spruce-western hemlock forests of southeast Alaska
Justin S. Crotteau, Christopher R. Keyes. 2020. Restoration treatments improve overstory tree resistance attributes and growth in a ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forest
Justin S. Crotteau, Annelise Z. Rue-Johns, Jeffrey C. Barnard. 2019. Effects on understory biomass and forage 8-10 years after precommercial thinning of Sitka spruce - western hemlock stands in southeast Alaska
Justin S. Crotteau, Christopher R. Keyes, Sharon M. Hood, Andrew J. Larson, Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, David K. Wright, Joel M. Egan. 2018. Stand dynamics 11 years after retention harvest in a lodgepole pine forest
Justin S. Crotteau, Christopher R. Keyes, Sharon M. Hood, David L. R. Affleck, Anna Sala. 2018. Fuel dynamics after a bark beetle outbreak impacts experimental fuel treatments
Justin S. Crotteau, Christopher R. Keyes, Elaine K. Sutherland, David K. Wright, Joel M. Egan. 2016. Forest fuels and potential fire behaviour 12 years after variable-retention harvest in lodgepole pine
Justin S. Crotteau, Martin W. Ritchie, J. Morgan Varner, John-Pascal Berrill. 2015. Quercus kelloggii (Newb.) sprout response to fire severity in northern California
Justin S. Crotteau, Martin W. Ritchie, J. Morgan Varner. 2014. A Mixed-Effects Heterogeneous Negative Binomial Model for Postfire Conifer Regeneration in Northeastern California, USA
Justin S. Crotteau, Martin W. Ritchie. 2014. Long-term stand growth of interior ponderosa pine stands in response to structural modifications and burning treatments in northeastern California
Justin Crotteau, Morgan Varner, Martin Ritchie. 2012. Post-fire regeneration across a fire severity gradient in the southern Cascades

Last updated September 7, 2024