Steve Norman joined the EFETAC Threat Assessment team in 2005 as an ecologist. His work on the fire history and vegetation dynamics of coastal redwood forest is changing the way State and federal land managers think, making more clear the tradeoffs associated with wildfire management and prescribed fire. His research is also showing that over the centuries, the interaction of changing cultures and climate has substantially altered the structure and composition of some of the most magnificent forests on Earth. Norman joined the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Station in 2001 to help develop a comparative risk assessment framework (CRAFT) to help planners and managers improve land management decisions. Norman was raised in the northern hardwood forests of Pennsylvania, where he developed a passion for unusual trees, remote places--and an understanding of how forests change through time. In the early 1990s, he spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica where he helped farmers reforest degraded lands and improve forest management practices. He received a Ph.D. in geography from Penn State in 2002.


Contact Steve Norman at stevenorman@fs.fed.us or 828-259-0535.