Danny C. Lee Named Director of Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center
Asheville, NC - Lee, a research ecologist and currently project leader for the Arcata, CA unit of the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, will start his new position on June 27, 2005.
The Center’s mission is to generate and integrate the knowledge and information needed to predict, detect, and assess environmental threats to the forests of the eastern United States. The Center is jointly funded by the National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, and Research and Development.
Eastern forests are vulnerable to stresses from fire, insect infestation, invasive species, drought, pollution, natural disasters, and land use change. Current information sources are often fragmented or incomplete: the Center will develop and integrate information to provide science-based tools for landowners, managers, and policymakers.
Lee brings to the Center his experience leading the Arcata unit, which studies the effects of forest management on biodiversity, and as a principal team member in broad-scale, integrated assessment and planning efforts in the interior Columbia River Basin, the Sierra Nevada, and the Pacific Northwest.
Lee’s personal research has focused on processes for forest planning and monitoring, specifically in areas of comparative risk assessment, decision analysis, and population viability assessment. He currently leads a study funded by the National Fire Plan and the National Commission for Science in Sustainable Forestry that is developing a Web-based toolset for comparative risk assessment in fire and fuels planning.
“The complex issues the Center will address demand extensive cross-disciplinary integration, collaboration, and creativity,” says Lee. “I see the Center as complementary to many ongoing efforts. I am excited about bringing my skills in ecological risk assessment and analysis to the Center and partnering with many fine individuals and agencies with interests in this arena.”
For more information: Danny Lee at (707-825-9265) or dclee@fs.fed.us
