Susan Stout

Title: Project Leader / Research Forester
Unit: Sustaining Forests in a Changing Environment
Previous Unit: Guidelines and indicators for sustaining forest ecosystems of Pennsylvania and the adjacent Allegheny Plateau Region
Address: Northern Research Station
PO Box 267
Irvine, PA 16329
Phone: 814-563-1040
E-mail: Contact Susan Stout

Jump to Publications

Education

• Yale University, D.F. 1994
• State University of New York, M.S. Silviculture 1983
• Radcliffe College of Harvard University, A.B. 1972

Civic & Professional Affiliations

I serve on the Pennsylvania State Bureau of Forestry Ecosystem Management Advisory Council. I have served as the Chair of the Silviculture Working Group of the Society of American Foresters (SAF), as Co-Program Chair of the SAF National Convention in 2006, and I was elected a Fellow of the Society of American Foresters in 2003. I served on the Northeastern Research Station's Science Advisory Team. I have appointments as adjunct faculty at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and the Pennsylvania State University. I was the President of the League of Women Voters of Warren County from 2001 through 2007, and am a member of the Board of Directors of the Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry, and have been an elder and Sunday School teacher at North Warren Presbyterian Church.

Current Research

My research interests include measuring crowding and diversity in forests, deer impact on forests, silvicultural systems, and translating results from ecosystem research into practical management guidelines for Pennsylvania?s forests and beyond. Currently, I am collaborating with the Sand County Foundation and several landowners in a demonstration project called the Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative. Landowners, land managers, hunters, and scientists are working together to improve both hunting and habitat on a 74,000 acre landscape in northwestern Pennsylvania. This research should strengthen evidence of practical indicators of deer impact. I have recently collaborated with colleagues at Penn State and the University of Georgia in development of a web site meant to serve as a central contact point for research results and management guidelines related to the interactions of deer and forests ? www.deerandforests.org. I am active participant in the annual workshops in sustainable forestry offered by the Warren Forestry Sciences Laboratory team, and the lead scientist on on-going development of the SILVAH decision-support software package. In recent years, I have been collaborating with colleagues at Penn State and with the Pennsylvania Sustainable Forestry Initiative on tools for loggers and landowners to make quick assessments of the likely sustainability of planned timber harvests. As project leader of the Warren unit, I also understand the integration of results from diverse research into a coherent set of management guidelines as a major role.

Why is This Important

Especially in eastern North America, very high proportions of forestland are privately owned (75% in the region of the Northern Research Station). Translating basic and applied forestry research into guidelines that are accessible and useable by the variety of private owners is critical to sustaining our forests and the values and benefits they provide. This requires continued research on techniques for forest management, whether to provide specific kinds of wildlife habitat or wood for energy or high-value sawtimber products. It also requires truly interdisciplinary research that integrates strategies for responding to global change, air pollution, and invasive species (both native and exotic) and a commitment to engaging users through the full cycle of research and science delivery. In our region, white-tailed deer have been a particularly important force in shaping forest vegetation communities for many decades, and the problem is growing in other regions. Our research provides important guidance to those with emerging deer problems, and with recent changes in policy leading to a lower deer impact level locally, we can also provide valuable and practical information about indicators and rates of recovery.

Future Research

I anticipate that with consolidation of units through Northern Research Station reorganization, ever more of my time will be spent on the administrative side of my role. I am excited about the synergies that will emerge as we bring together the exciting research already underway in the three units that will soon form Work Group II.

Featured Publications

Additional Online Publications