Robert G. Haight
Title: Research Forester
Unit: People and Their Environments: Social Science Supporting Natural Resource Management and Policy
Address: Northern Research Station
1992 Folwell Ave
St. Paul, MN 55108
Phone: 651-649-5178
E-mail: Contact Robert G. Haight
Jump to Publications
Education
- Ph.D. Forest Management, Oregon State University, 1985.
- B.S. Forestry, University of California, Berkeley. 1978.
Civic & Professional Affiliations
Society of American Foresters, Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
Current Research
I am a native Californian who became interested in forestry and resource management while attending the University of California, Berkeley. My early experiences in northern California as a logger for a large forest products company and a silviculturist for the Plumas National Forest shaped my interest in public resource management policy and economics, and I earned a Ph.D. in forest management from Oregon State University in 1985. Since joining Forest Service Research in 1987, I have studied public policy issues involving the economics of wildlife protection, metropolitan open space protection, wildfire management, and invasive species management. My approach is to build models of resource management problems and use simulation and optimization methods to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative policies.
Why is This Important
My work is important because public resource managers allocate significant resources to protect endangered species, open space, and forests from unwanted disturbances associated with urban development, wildfire, and invasive species. My work provides information to decision makers about the benefits and costs of alternative protection strategies.
Future Research
I am interested in the optimal control of invasive species and beginning to build and analyze models to help allocate scarce resources among the four invasive species management strategies: prevention, detection, control, and rehabilitation. I am aware of the inherent uncertainties of the invasion process and have promising ideas about how to model this uncertainty and measure its effects on resource allocation strategies.
Featured Publications
- Amacher, Gregory S.; Malik, Arun S.; Haight, Robert G. 2006. Reducing social losses from forest fires. Land Economics. August 2006. 82 (3): 367-383
- Haight, Robert G.; Snyder, Stephanie A.; Revelle, Charles S. 2005. Metropolitan open-space protection with uncertain site availability. Conservation Biology 19:327-337.
- Amacher, Gregory S.; Malik, Arun S. ; Haight, Robert G. 2005. Not Getting Burned: The Importance of Fire. Land Economics 81:284-302.
- Haight, Robert G.; Cleland, David T.; Hammer, Roger B.; Radeloff, Volker B.; Rupp, T. Scott. 2004. Assessing fire risk in the wildland-urban interface.. Journal of Forestry 102(7):41-48.
Additional
Online Publications
- Burns, Eileen S.; Toth, Sandor F.; Haight, Robert G. 2013. A modeling framework for life history-based conservation planning. Biological Conservation. 158: 14-25.
- Lee, Yohan; Fried, Jeremy S.; Albers, Heidi J.; Haight, Robert G. 2013. Deploying initial attack resources for wildfire suppression: spatial coordination, budget constraints, and capacity constraints. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 43(1): 56-65.
- Horie, Tetsuya; Haight, Robert G.; Homans, Frances R.; Venette, Robert C. 2013. Optimal strategies for the surveillance and control of forest pathogens: A case study with oak wilt. Ecological Economics. 86:78-85.
- Sander, Heather A.; Haight, Robert G. 2012. Estimating the economic value of cultural ecosystem services in an urbanizing area using hedonic pricing. Journal of Environmental Management. 113: 194-205.
- Epanchin-Niell, Rebecca S.; Haight, Robert G.; Berec, Ludek; Kean, John M.; Liebhold, Andrew M. 2012. Optimal surveillance and eradication of invasive species in heterogeneous landscapes. Ecology Letters. 15: 803-812.
- Hyytiainen, Kari; Haight, Robert G. 2012. Optimizing continuous cover forest management. Chapter 6.. In: von Gadow, K.; Pukkala, T., eds. Continuous Cover Forestry, 2nd Edition. New York, NY: Springer: 195-228.
- Haight, Robert G.; Homans, Frances R.; Horie, Tetsuya; Mehta, Shefali V.; Smith, David J.; Venette, Robert C. 2011. Assessing the cost of an invasive forest pathogen; A case study with oak wilt. Environmental Management. 47: 506-517.
- Toth, Sandor F.; Haight, Robert G.; Rogers, Luke W. 2011. Dynamic reserve selection: Optimal land retention with land-price feedbacks. Operations Research. 59(5): 1059-1078.
- Aukema, Juliann E.; Leung, Brian.; Kovacs, Kent; Chivers, Corey; Britton, Kerry O.; Englin, Jeffrey; Frankel, Susan J.; Haight, Robert G.; Holmes, Thomas P.; Liebhold, Andrew M.; McCullough, Deborah G.; Von Holle, Betsy. 2011. Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States. PLoS ONE 6(9): e24587. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024587
- Kovacs, Kent; Vaclavik, Tomas; Haight, Robert G.; Pang, Arwin; Cunniffe, Nik J.; Gilligan, Christopher A.; Meentemeyer, Ross K. 2011. Predicting the economic costs and property value losses attributed to sudden oak death damage in California (2010-2020). Journal of Environmental Management. 92: 1292-1302.
- Kovacs, Kent F.; Mercader, Rodrigo J.; Haight, Robert G.; Siegert, Nathan W.; McCullough, Deborah G.; Liebhold, Andrew M. 2011. The influence of satellite populations of emerald ash borer on projected economic damage in U.S. communities, 2010-2020. Journal of Environmental Management. 92: 2170-2181.
- Kovacs, Kent F.; Haight, Robert G.; Liebhold, Andrew M.; McCullough, Deborah G.; Mercader, Rodrigo J.; Siegert, Nathan W. 2010. Cost of potential emerald ash borer damage in U.S. In: Michler, Charles H.; Ginzel, Matthew D., eds. 2010. Proceedings of symposium on ash in North America; 2010 March 9-11; West Lafayette, IN. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-72. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 12.
- Kovacs, Kent F.; Haight, Robert G.; McCullough, Deborah G.; Mercader, Rodrigo J.; Siegert, Nathan W.; Liebhold, Andrew M. 2010. Cost of potential emerald ash borer damage in U.S communities, 2009-2019. Ecological Economics. 69: 569-578.
- Hyytiainen, Kari; Haight, Robert G. 2010. Evaluation of forest management systems under risk of wildfire. European Journal of Forest Research. 129: 909-919.
- Haight, Robert G.; Polasky, Stephen. 2010. Optimal control of an invasive species with imperfect information about the level of infestation. Resource and Energy Economics. 32: 519-533.
- Sander, Heather; Polasky, Stephen; Haight, Robert. 2010. The value of urban tree cover: A hedonic property price model in Ramsey and Dakota Counties, Minnesota, USA. Ecological Economics. 69: 1646-1656.
- Haight, Robert G.; Mehta, S.V.; Horie, T.; Smith, D.J.; Venette, R.C.; Homans, F.R.; Walter, A.J. 2009. An economic impact assessment for oak wilt in Anoka County, Minnesota. In: McManus, Katherine A; Gottschalk, Kurt W., eds. Proceedings. 20th U.S. Department of Agriculture interagency research forum on invasive species 2009; 2009 January 13-16; Annapolis, MD. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-51. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 31.
- Haight, Robert G.; Kovacs, Kent; Liebhold, Andrew M.; McCullough, Deborah G. 2009. Economic assessment of potential emerald ash borer damage in urban areas in the United States. In: McManus, Katherine A; Gottschalk, Kurt W., eds. Proceedings. 20th U.S. Department of Agriculture interagency research forum on invasive species 2009; 2009 January 13-16; Annapolis, MD. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-51. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 32-33.
- Miller, James R.; Snyder, Stephanie A.; Skibbe, A.M.; Haight, Robert G. 2009. Prioritizing conservation targets in a rapidly urbanizing landscape. Landscape and Urban Planning. 93: 123-131.
- Toth, Sandor F.; Haight, Robert; Snyder, Stephanie A.; George, Sonney; Miller, James R.; Gregory, Mark S.; Skibbe, Adam M. 2009. Reserve selection with minimum contiguous area restrictions: An application to open space protection planning in suburban Chicago. Biological Conservation. 142(8): 1617-1627.
- Haight, Robert G.; Gobster, Paul H. 2009. Social and economic considerations for planning wildlife conservation in large landscapes. In: Millspaugh, J.J.; Thompson, F.R., eds. Models for planning wildlife conservation in large landscapes. Burlington, MA: Academic Press: 123-152).
- Tajibaeva, Liaila; Haight, Robert G.; Polasky, Stephen. 2008. A discrete-space urban model with environmental amenities. Resource and Energy Economics. 30: 170-196.
- Mercer, D. Evan; Haight, Robert G.; Prestemon, Jeffrey P. 2008. Analyzing trade-offs between fuels management, suppression, and damages from wildfire. In: Holmes, Thomas P.; Prestemon, Jeffrey P.; Abt, Karen L., eds. The Economics of Forest Disturbance: Wildfires, Storms, and Invasive Species: Springer Science. 247-272.
- Haight, Robert G.; Travis, Laurel E. 2008. Reserve design to maximize species persistence. Environmental Modeling & Assessment. 13: 243-253.
- Haight, Robert G.; Fried, Jeremy S. 2007. Deploying wildland fire suppression resources with a scenario-based standard response model. INFOR. 45(1): 31?39.
- Snyder, Stephanie A.; Miller, James R.; Skibbe, Adam M.; Haight, Robert G. 2007. Habitat acquisition strategies for grassland birds in an urbanizing landscape. Environmental Management. 40: 981-992.
- Mehta, Shefali V.; Haight, Robert G.; Homans, Frances R.; Polasky, Stephen; Venette, Robert C. 2007. Optimal detection and control strategies for invasive species management. Ecological Economics. 237-245.
- Hof, John; Haight, Robert. 2007. Optimization of forest wildlife objectives. In: Weintraub, Andres; Romero, Carlos; Bjorndal, Trond; Epstein, Rafael; Miranda, Jaime, eds. Handbook of operations research in natural resources: Springer. 405-418.
- Amacher, Gregory S.; Malik, Arun S.; Haight, Robert G. 2005. Forest landowner decisions and the value of information under fire risk.. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35:2603-2615.
- Snyder, Stephanie A.; Haight, Robert G.; ReVelle, Charles S. 2004. A scenario optimization model for dynamic reserve site selection. Environmental Modeling and Assessment 9: 179?187, 2004.
- Gobster, Paul H.; Haight, Robert G. 2004. From landscapes to lots: understanding and managing Midwestern landscape change.. Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-245. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station. 60 p.
- Snyder, Stephanie; ReVelle, Charles; Haight, Robert. 2004. One- and two-objective approaches to an area-constrained habitat reserve site selection problem. Biological Conservation 119 (2004) 565?574
- Haight, Robert G.; Cypher, Brian; Kelly, Patrick A.; Phillips, Scott; Ralls, Katherine; Possingham, Hugh P. 2004. Optimizing reserve expansion for disjunct populations of San Joaquin kit fox. Biological Conservation 117:61-72
- Arthur, Jeffrey L.; Camm, Jeffrey D.; Haight, Robert G.; Montgomery, Claire A.; Polasky, Stephen. 2004. Weighing conservation objectives: maximum expected coverage versus endangered species protection. Ecological applications. 14(6): 1936-1945.
- Ruliffson, Jane A.; Haight, Robert G.; Gobster, Paul H.; Homans, Frances R. 2003. Metropolitan natural area protection to maximize public access and species representation. Environmental Science and Policy 6:291-299
- Cochrane, Jean Fitts; Haight, Robert G.; Starfield, Anthony M. 2003. Modeling for Endangered-Species Recovery: Gray Wolves in the Western Great Lakes Region. In: Dale, Virginia H., ed. Ecological Modeling for Resource Management. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag: 23-45
- Haight, Robert G.; Travis, Laurel E.; Nimerfro, Kevin; Mech, L. David. 2002. Computer simulation of wolf-removal strategies for animal damage control. Wildlife Society Bulletin 2002, 30(3):1-9
- Ruliffson, Jane A.; Gobster, Paul H.; Haight, Robert G.; Homans, Francis R. 2002. Niches in the urban forest: Organizations and their role in acquiring metropolitan open space.. Journal of Forestry: 100(6):16-23.
- Haight, Robert G.; Cypher, Brian; Kelly, Patrick A.; Phillips, Scott; Possingham, Hugh P.; Ralls, Katherine; Starfield, Anthony M.; White, P.J.; Williams, Daniel. 2002. Optimizing habitat protection using demographic models of population viability.. Conservation Biology Vol. 16, No. 5, October 2002. pp 1386-1397.
- Haight, Robert G.; Revelle, Charles S.; Snyder, Stephanie A. 2000. An Integer Optimization Approch To A Probabilistic Reserve Site Selection Problem. INFORMS. Vol. 48 no. 5.:p. 697-708. (2000)
- Haight, Robert G.; Ralls, Katherine; Starfield, Anthony M. 2000. Designing Species Translocation Strategies When Populaton Growth and Future Funding Are Uncertain. Conservation Biology. Vol. 14 no. 5.:p. 1298-1307. (2000)
- Gobster, Paul H.; Haight, Robert G.; Shriner, David S. 2000. Integrated Research on Midwestern Landscape Change: A Program Description and Progress Report. Fragmentation 2000 Conference. p. 375-382. (2000)
- Gobster, Paul H.; Haight, Robert G.; Shriner, Dave. 2000. Landscape Change in the Midwest: An Integrated Research and Development Program. Journal of Forestry. Vol. 98 no. 3.:p. 9-15. (2000)
- Snyder, Stephanie A.; Tyrrell, Lucy E.; Haight, Robert G. 1999. An optimization approach to selecting research natural areas in National Forests. Forest science. Vol. 45, no. 3 (Aug. 1999).:p. 458-469 : ill., maps.
- Haight, Robert G.; Mladenoff, David J.; Wydeven , Adrian P. 1998. Modeling Disjunct Gray Wolf Populations in Semi-Wild Landscapes. Conservation Biology. Vol. 12 no. 4.:p. 879-888. (1998)
- Haight, Robert G.; Travis, Laurel E. 1997. Wildlife Conservation Planning Using Stochastic Optimization and Importance Sampling . Forest Science. Vol. 43 no. 1.:p. 129-139. (1997)
- Haight, Robert G. 1995. Comparing extinction risk and economic cost in wildlife conservation planning. Ecological Applications. 5(3): 767-775.
- Lorimer, Nancy D.; Haight, Robert G.; Leary, Rolfe A. 1994. The fractal forest: fractal geometry and applications in forest science.. General Technical Report NC-170. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Forest Experiment Station
- Haight, Robert G.; Monserud, Robert A. 1990. Optimizing any-aged management of mixed-species stands: II. effects of decision criteria. Forest Science 36(1):125-144
- Haight, Robert G.; Getz, Wayne M. 1987. Fixed and equilibrium endpoint problems in uneven-aged stand management. Forest Science 33(4):908-931.
- Haight, Robert G. 1985. A comparison of dynamic and static economic models of uneven-aged stand management. Forest Science 31(4):957-974
- Haight, Robert G.; Brodie, J. Douglas; Adams, Darius M. 1985. Optimizing the sequence of diameter distributions and selection harvests for uneven-aged stand management. Forest Science 31(2):451-462
Last Modified:
02/15/2012