Biography:

Melissa Lucash is an academic expert in forest ecology and wildfire. She studies how climate change and disturbances like wildfire, insects, and windstorms affect species composition and carbon cycling of forests and shrub ecosystems. Her research also evaluates the effectiveness of different management strategies to mitigate wildfire risk, promote forest sustainability, and store carbon. She is currently leading studies focused on wildfire and climate change in Alaska and Siberia, forest management in the Coast Range of Oregon and southeastern Alaska, and restoration of sagebrush steppe ecosystems in Oregon and Nevada.

Recent Media:

• Climate change a bigger threat to landscape biodiversity than emerald ash borer (Penn State University, June 7, 2021)
• We know climate change set the conditions for Oregon fires. Did it stoke the flames, too? (Oregon Public Broadcasting, Sept. 21, 2020)