Marla Emery

Title: Research Geographer
Unit: People and Their Environments: Social Science Supporting Natural Resource Management and Policy
Previous Unit: Integrating Social and Biophysical Sciences for Natural Resource Management
Address: Northern Research Station
705 Spear Street
Burlington, VT 05403
Phone: 802-951-6771, ext. 1060
E-mail: Contact Marla Emery

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Education

• Ph.D. Geography, Rutgers University, 1998

Civic & Professional Affiliations

Association of American Geographers, International Association for Society & Natural Resources, Society for Economic Botany

Current Research

Contemporary nontimber forest product (NTFP) uses, especially in the eastern United States and elsewhere in the industrialized world.

Why is This Important

• Surveys suggest that approximately ¼ of the U.S. population gathers NTFPs. This widespread, if poorly understood, activity creates direct connections between people and forests.
• NTFPs may present income opportunities for forest landowners.
• NTFPs, especially those that have become global commodities, present sustainability concerns.
• NTFPs present environmental justice opportunities and challenges.
• NTFPs present opportunities to explore a range of human-forest interactions and, as a result, the possibility of both empirical and theoretical advances in our understanding of these relationships.
• Recent legislation mandates that the USFS manage for NTFPs. We need sound scientific information to meet that legislative requirement.

Future Research

We are planning a comprehensive research program to support sustainable managementof nontimberl forest products (NTFPs). The program would participate innational and international efforts while keeping a primary focus in the NRSregion. Research would take place across the urban-rural gradient. The program wouldaddress the following five objectives:

1. to identify the culturally and economically important (C&EI) NTFPs harvested in and around the State.
2. to understand the ecologies of the C&EI SFPs harvested in and around the State.
3. to understand the uses and values of the C&EI SFPs harvested in and around the state.
4. to inventory and monitor the C&EI SFPs harvested in and around the State.
5. to develop comprehensive plans, in a participatory manner, for managing the C&EI SFPs harvested in and around the State.

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