Season 7 | Episode 2
The Restoration Forester
February 1, 2026
Foresters know degraded forests all too well. You’re out on a woods-walk with an enthusiastic landowner, but your eyes go straight to the poor growing stock, invasive plants, and eroded forest soils – the fingerprints of past degradation. Regardless, you set about the complex task of developing a prescription that will nudge this forest towards a brighter future. Foresters don’t always think of themselves as restorationists, but in many ways, the tools of silviculture are the tools of restoration. In this episode of SilviCast, we dive into the science and practice of forest restoration with John Stanturf, visiting professor at the Estonian University of Life Sciences and Senior Forest Restoration Specialist with InNovaSilva. With more than 30 years of experience researching forest restoration in both temperate and tropical forests around the world, John brings a global perspective to the question of what it means to restore a forest.
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Guest On This Episode
John A. Stanturf, Ph.D.
Visiting Professor, Estonian University of Life Sciences
Dr. John Stanturf is a Visiting Professor at the Estonian University of Life Sciences, and a restoration specialist with InNovaSilva, a Danish consulting firm. He retired in 2018 as a Senior Scientist from the US Forest Service. He continues to consult and conduct training on Forest Landscape Restoration and the Resilient Future Forest Lab. His research on restoration, disturbance, climate change adaptation, and bioenergy is conducted in temperate, boreal, and tropical forests in North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. His PhD in Forest Soils is from Cornell University. His awards include an honorary doctorate from the Estonian University of Life Sciences, the International Union Forest Research Organizations Distinguished Service Award, Forest Service Chief’s Honor Award for Superior Science, Delta Council Achievement Award, “Outstanding Contributions to Hardwood Forestry”, and Ducks Unlimited Taking Wing Awards for Public Awareness and for Research.
John A. Stanturf Publications featured on Google Scholar.
John A. Stanturf Publications featured on ResearchGate.
Advances in forest restoration management and technology, Stanturf et al., Chap. 11, pp. 297-334, of Restoring Forests and Trees for Sustainable Development, Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Oct. 2024.
Katila, Pia, and others (eds), Restoring Forests and Trees for Sustainable Development: Policies, Practices, Impacts, and Ways Forward (New York, NY, 2024; online edn, Oxford Academic, 6 Sept. 2024).
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