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Fire and Timber Quality

Prescribed Fire for Forest Management Series

Fire and Timber Quality

Jun. 4, 2025 | 10:30 A.M.-Noon CT

Presented by Michael Saunders, Ph.D., Professor of Hardwood Silviculture, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University and Joseph Marschall, Senior Research Associate, Oak Woodlands & Forests Fire Consortium, University of Missouri-Columbia.

Joseph Marschall’s presentation will focus on perceived conflicts between prescribed fire use and managing an oak forest for timber product values. Studies which assess prescribed fire caused timber product value loss in oak forests at both individual tree and stand scales will be discussed, and mitigation actions will explored.

CLICK HERE to join the live webinar on Jun. 4, 2025

PRESENTER

Michael R. Saunders, Ph.D.

Professor of Hardwood Silviculture, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University

Dr. Mike Saunders is currently a Professor of Hardwood Silviculture in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University, a member of the Institute for Digital Forestry (IDiF), and a scientist within the Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center (HTIRC). He also currents serves at the Editor-in-Chief for the Society of American Forester’s journal Forest Science.  Mike obtained two B.S.’s from Iowa State in 1994, an M.S. from the University of Minnesota in 1998, and a Ph.D. in 2007 at the University of Maine.

Dr. Saunders’ research seeks to develop robust silvicultural systems that can be used for successful establishment of diverse, high-quality, hardwood-dominated forest types in eastern North America. Mike co-leads the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment, a large-scale forest management study in southern Indiana that includes scientists from seven universities and agencies. In recent years, his focus has shifted to better understanding the role of fire, in both historical and modern contexts, in the ecology and management of oak-dominated forests.

Joseph Marschall

Joseph Marschall, Senior Research Associate, Oak Woodlands & Forests Fire Consortium, University of Missouri-Columbia

Joe Marschall is a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Tree-Ring Science at the University of Missouri, and serves as Coordinator for the Oak Woodland & Forests Fire Consortium (one of the fifteen Fire Science Exchanges funded by the Joint Fire Science Program). He has participated in tree-ring based fire history and other fire effects research across much of the eastern U.S., and is especially interested in research related to natural community restoration management.  

MODERATOR

Brian Zweifel

Forest Products Specialist, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Brian Zweifel is a Forest Products Specialist with the Wisconsin DNR.  He received his BS in Forest Science and MS in Forest Products Utilization & Marketing from UW-Madison.  Before coming to the DNR in 2018, Brian worked as a consulting forester, prescribed fire crew member, and horse logger for an ecological restoration contractor based in Dane County.  With the DNR, Brian worked primarily on state lands forestry, prescribed fire, and for the last 3 years, as a Forest Products Specialist.  Brian brings his experiences in logging and field forestry to the Forest Products Services Team to support, promote, and grow Wisconsin’s forest products industry.

Additional Resources

Continuing Education

This webinar has been pre-approved for the following:

Certificates of completion are available by emailing wfc@uwsp.edu. Certificates will be emailed to you within 7-10 business days.

Resources

Fire damage effects on red oak timber product value. Marschall, et al. Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 320, 15 May 2014, pp. 182-189.

Effects of long-term prescribed burning on timber value in hardwood forests of the Missouri Ozarks. Knapp, Marschall, et al. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 304-313. 2017.

Evaluating the impact of prescribed surface fire on seedlings in the Central Hardwood Region. Cuprewich, S.A., and Saunders, M.R. 2024. USA. Forestry 97(1): 94-106.

Prescribed fire causes wounding and minor tree quality degradation in oak forests. Saunders, M.R., Mann, D.P., Stannis, S., Wiedenbeck, J.K., Dey, D.C., and Schuler, T.M. 2023. Forests 14(2): #227

Evaluating economic impacts of prescribed fire in the Central Hardwood Region. Mann, D.P., Wiedenbeck, J.K., Dey, D.C., and Saunders, M.R. 2020. Journal of Forestry 118(3): 275-288.

Effect of prescribed fire on timber volume and grade in the Hoosier National Forest. Stanis, S., Wiedenbeck, J., and Saunders, M.R. 2019. Forest Science 65(6): 714-724.

 

 

 

 

Evaluation

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