Team Bio

The team of researchers working on this project have expertise ranging from forest genetics to landscape ecology and applied forest ecology. This diversity allows us to collaborate on novel research, moving science forward and finding solutions to complex issues facing trees, such as shifting climates and non-native pests. We received funding from the National Science Foundation (Grant #EF-1442597) for the basic infrastructure, and are searching for funds to add more to this large project.

Ethan Bucholz

I am a second-year PhD student in the School of Forestry at Northern Arizona University. My doctoral dissertation work focuses on adaptive characteristics of P. strobiformis and their relationship to resistance to white pine blister rust, a non-native invasive pathogen currently working its way across the southwestern US portion of the P. strobiformis range. Dr. Kristen Waring, a silviculture professor here at NAU and principal investigator on this project is my major advisor. Before attending NAU, I received a M.S. from North Carolina State University, working in the Christmas Tree Genetics department, studying biochemical resistance in different species of Abies (fir) to the non-native invasive insect Balsam Woolly Adelgid with Dr. John Frampton. I have a strong applied forest management background, working for several years with the US Forest Service in Colorado, where I became a certified timber cruiser, and working preparing timber sales in spruce beetle-killed stands. I also worked with Dr. Jim Worrall, leading a forest health crew inventorying Sudden Aspen Decline, which exhibits a strong interaction between abiotic (drought) and biotic (pathogens and insects) stress. I wish to continue my work with forest health, as climate change and invasive pests continue to pose new challenges for land managers.

Ehren Moler

I am a postdoctoral scientist with the University of Idaho Center for Forest Nursery and Seedling Research. The overarching goal of my research is to enhance the health of the world's forests through a better understanding of how past and present climate conditions influence the establishment and growth of new forests. In my current research at the University of Idaho, I use gardens containing thousands of conifer seedlings to study the effects of drought on species native to western North America. My team studies whether successive exposure of seedlings to drought is likely to enhance or reduce their resilience to strong drought. Unfortunately, climate warming is increasing the vulnerability of forests to drought, and different tree species and landscapes respond differently to water limitation, so studies are increasingly necessary to gain an understanding of how best to maintain healthy forests. In my most recently completed research, I studied responses of southwestern white pine (P. strobiformis) to excessive heat exposure during seed production, seed germination, and early seedling growth. That work revealed that warmer temperatures during seed production reduced seed germination and seedling survival. I expect that an improved understanding of the sensitivity of seeds to warming will allow for planning seed collections during periods of time when collected seeds will be most able to yield the forests of the future. Click here to learn more!

Kristen Waring

I have been researching forest ecosystems and searching for solutions to forest health problems for the past 20 years. My background includes an undergraduate degree in forestry, a MS degree in forest entomology, and a PhD from the University of California-Berkeley in silviculture and forest pathology. I have been on the faculty at Northern Arizona University since 2006, and have been working with Pinus strobiformis since 2010.