Title:	Professor of Forest Resources
	Phone:	814-863-0402
	Email:	fj4@psu.edu
	Address:	The Pennsylvania State University School of Forest Resources 302 Forest Resources Building University Park, PA 16802

 

 

Education:

B.S., The Pennsylvania State University (1970)

M.S., The Pennsylvania State University (1975)

Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University (1991)

Academic Interests:

Ecosystem management on mixed ownerships; forest management; private forest owner issues and education; sustainable forestry; human dimensions of natural resources

Courses Taught:

Natural Resources Decisions

Professional Affiliation:

Society of American Foresters

Association of Natural Resources of Extension Professionals

Inventory Process for Determining Forest Stand Habitat Structure and an Assessment Model for Wildlife Habitat
Although wildlife is a principal concern of forest landowners and professionals, they lack simple methodologies for assessing habitat and wildlife use prior to and following management activities. This study compared survey methods for evaluating vegetative and structural habitat components. Methods selected are readily compatible with commonly used forest inventory procedures. Critical habitat variables for 227 wildlife species were identified through literature review and an expert panel. The resulting habitat and wildlife species matrix, coupled with the assessment metric, provides an important first step in quantifying potential wildlife use.

Human Dimensions of Resource Management
Increasingly my research considers the interaction of people and resource management.  Ultimately this research informs the development of education materials and programs for specific audiences that can, through change, improve and sustain these resources.  Several recent projects have focused on riparian forest issues.  Specifically they seek to understand streamside landowner motivations, interests, and issues relating to establishing or maintaining buffer systems.  Timber harvesting in Pennsylvania, because of the age structure of its forests, is increasing and the decisions that private forest owners, resource professionals, and timber harvesters have the potential of long-term effects on forest systems.  Two projects are exploring the relationship between timber harvesters and foresters striving to improve the dialogue between these two segments of the industry.  Private forest owners are a long-term interest and focus of my research program.

Forest Regeneration, Management, and Assessment
The Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry is funding a long-term project to evaluate forest regeneration responses on state forests.  This project is considering various pre- and post-harvest treatments as well as tracking responses.  The goal is to develop guidelines for evaluating regeneration conditions and for suggesting appropriate site protection and preparation treatments.  Research and education projects relate specifically to silviculture and management for resource professionals and timber harvesters.  These include evaluation of education approaches and the development of education materials.  To obtain sustainable outcomes during timber harvesting operations it is important to assess pre- and post-harvest conditions.  Past research has considered and described important variables for conducting these assessments.  Current interests are to use this information to guide future research and educational tools.  Related to the impact of timber harvesting are the changes in wildlife habitat conditions and responses of wildlife to these changes.  A current project with the Audubon Society is developing protocol for evaluating these potential changes.
 

Recent Extension/Educational Projects:

Forest Stewardship 
Penn State, working with the U.S. Forest Service and the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry, focuses on developing the state's Forest Stewardship Program awareness and knowledge efforts. Components include landowner, logger, and resource management professionals designed to encourage audiences and the general public to become more involved in forest management. Programs include video teleconferences, meetings, tours, demonstrations, slide sets, bulletins, newsletters, volunteer training, and courses for loggers and resource professionals. Many of the awareness and knowledge elements contain research components that support further refinement to extension programs.

Selected Publications:

Cleveland, H.M., J.C. Filey.  1998. Assessing Forest Wildlife diversity in Pennsylvania. No. Jor. Appl. For. 15(2):77-85.

Finley, J.C., M.G. Rickenbach.  1996. Log Rule Conversions for Use In Pennsylvania Stumpage Price Reporting. No. J. Appl. For. 13(3):1-6.

Luloff, A.E., S. Jacob, J. Bourke, J.C. Finley. 1996. Achieving Better Forest Management Through a Forest Land Preservation Program: A Pennsylvania perspective. Manuscript submitted to Ecosystem Health. Ecosystem Health 2(1).

Jones, S.B., A.E. Luloff, J.C. Finley. 1995. Another Look at NIPFs: Facing our Myths. J. or For. 93(9):41-44.
Jones, S.B. and J.C. Finley.  1995.  The Case of the Missing MBPs. J. of for. 93(9):20.

Egan, A.F., S.B. Jones, A.E. Luloff, J.C. Finley.  1995. The Value of Using Multiple Methods: An Illustration Using Survey, Focus Group, and Delphi Techniques. Soc. and Nat. Res. 8:457-465.

Egan, A.F., S.B. Jones, A.E. Luloff, and J.C. Finley. 1995. What is forest stewardship? The application of three social science research methods to the development of a NIPF stewardship metric. Manuscript accepted by Society of Nat. Res. J. 15p.

Finley, J.C., H.M. Harvey, and R.D. Shipman. 1994. Herbicides and forest vegetation management: controlling of unwanted trees, brush, and herbaceous weeds in Pennsylvania. Extension Circular 369. 19p.

Jones, S.B. and J.C. Finley. 1993. Public forest stewardship ethic: Extension's role in the forest program. J. Extension, Vol. XXXI, Fall, pp. 8-10.