Forestry Workforce Training and Development
The ERI is working to provide continuing education for forestry professionals, such as state-of-the-art knowledge on new bioeconomy opportunities and business practices, including forest operations and logistics. The training program would provide much-needed forest operations workforce training, offering forest operations short courses to provide up-to-date information for forest practitioners. In collaboration with major equipment manufacturing companies, a training center would also offer a place to test and demonstrate new mechanized tools as well as implement forest operations and ecological research.
Forest Operations Training Program Development Project
With funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the ERI Forest Operations and Biomass Utilization program has been working to develop a Forest Operations Training Program (FOTP) in northern Arizona to provide career development opportunities that will expand Coconino County’s manufacturing base. To learn more about this project, read the project’s final technical report here.
A spreadsheet-based model called FOTP Analysis was developed to aid in the pre-feasibility and financial feasibility analysis of a forest operations training program (FOTP). This report was developed to aid in the use of the model, and the model is available for free.
Google Sheets FOTP model template
For a guide on how to use the model, please click here.
Modeling Financial Feasibility in a
Forest Operations Training Program
Modeling Financial Feasibility in a
Forest Operations Training Program
Working Paper: Opportunities for Application of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Restoration of Pinyon-Juniper Ecosystems of the Colorado Plateau
Pinyon-juniper (PJ) savannas, woodlands, and shrublands of the Colorado Plateau are of major importance, not only as habitat for plant and animal species, but also to local human communities for goods, services, and cultural values, both traditionally and contemporarily. Although an exhaustive ethnobotanical analysis of the flora of the Colorado Plateau has not been conducted, general descriptions of uses and values of more common species in these PJ ecosystems are found in the published literature. Chronic drought, wildfire, and severe insect outbreaks, along with anthropogenic stressors such as intensive livestock grazing, clearing, modifications of fire regimes, and spread of invasive species, have substantially altered ecosystem structure and function. In response, public land managers have called for renewed focus on pinyon-juniper conservation and restoration. Successful management of these systems will target actions that assist recovery of ecological function while simultaneously engaging local human communities, particularly Indigenous nations, that have strong, multigenerational connections to the ecosystem.
Positive drought feedbacks increase tree mortality risk in dry woodlands of the US Southwest
Global increases in temperature and aridity are driving extreme droughts that severely impact dryland ecosystems operating at the margins of plant tolerance. Focusing on the pinyon–juniper woodlands of the US Southwest, researchers used a long-term monitoring network to analyze how recurrent droughts influence tree mortality. Between 1998 and 2023, tree density and stand basal area declined substantially. Since 2014, tree mortality has outpaced new recruitment, and nearly half of the surviving trees have experienced crown dieback. While tree size influenced environmental responses, and local factors like soil organic matter and mycorrhizal fungi provided a protective buffer, the cumulative stress altered woodland demographics. Consequently, these shifts triggered a 28.2% increase in future mortality risk for surviving trees across species. Recurrent droughts have effectively overcome the ecosystem’s natural resilience, proving that consecutive climate events compound long-term vulnerability rather than allowing the system to stabilize.