Powers, Matthew

Position Type:

Faculty

Job Title:

Assistant Professor

Department:

Forest Engineering, Resources & Management

Office Location:

254 Peavy Forest Science Center (PFSC)

Phone Number:

(541) 737-6550

Email:

matthew.powers@oregonstate.edu

CV:

PowersCV_Sept2019.pdf

Education:

PhD, 2008, Forest Science, Michigan Technological University

MS, 2005, Forest Ecology and Management, Michigan Technological University

BS, 2002, Biology, Ball State University

Research Areas:

Silviculture, Fire, Forest Health and Biodiversity

Silviculture is a discipline focused on meeting diverse and shifting management objectives ranging from promoting sustainable wood or biomass production to conserving biodiversity, altering wildfire activity, promoting adaptation to climate change, and increasing carbon storage. My research revolves around understanding how different silvicultural practices influence changes in forest structure and function so we can evaluate potential tradeoffs among these diverse objectives. My specific research interests focus on understanding how processes related to forest growth, productivity, and stand development respond to management activities or disturbances that create different stand structures. I am particularly interested in understanding the mechanisms that drive stand development following management activities and other disturbances that create spatial complexity in forests, but I am generally interested in any research that investigates the impacts of different management activities on basic processes that influence patterns of forest growth and stand dynamics.

Advising

Graduate Major Advisor

Graduate Students:

Selected Publications:

Williams, NG, and Powers, MD. 2019. Medium-term effects of active management on the structure of mature Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) stands. Ecosphere 10(8): 1-31.
Priebe, JE, Powers, MD, and Cole, EC. 2018. Species, tree size, and overstory environment affect likelihood of ice storm damage to understory trees in a mature Douglas-fir forest. Forest Ecology and Management 409: 777-788.
Nagel, LM, Palik, BJ, Battaglia, MA, D’Amato, AW, Guldin, JM, Swanston, CW, Janowiak, MK, Powers, MD, Joyce, LA, Miller, CA, Peterson, DL, Ganio, LM, Kirchbaum, C, Roske, MR. 2017. Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change: A national experiment in manager-scientist partnerships to apply an adaptation framework. Journal of Forestry 115(3): 167-178.
Powers, MD, Kolka, RK, Bradford, JB, Palik, BJ, Fraver, S, and Jurgensen, MF. 2012. Carbon stocks across a chronosequence of thinned and unmanaged red pine (Pinus resinosa) stands. Ecological Applications 22(4): 1297-1307.
Powers, MD, Pregitzer, KS, Palik, BJ, Webster, CR. 2011. The physiological basis for regeneration response to variable retention harvest treatments in three pine species. Forestry. 84(1): 13-22.