Zander Evans joined the staff at the Forest Guild to direct the research program after finishing his PhD at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. His dissertation used multiple spatial scales to analyze the invasion an exotic invasive insect that threatens to remove hemlock trees from eastern forests.  Before returning to school for doctoral studies, Zander was a cartographer and spatial analyst with the US Geological Survey. His work there included digital mapping around Lake Tahoe and disaster mitigation in Central America.

Zander's current research includes guidelines for successful and responsible biomass removal projects, the carbon impact of using forest biomass for energy and heat, and climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies for the forestry sector. As research director, Zander’s mission is to continuing the Guild's history of creditable and useful publications. He is also helping to coordinate the Forest Guild's Ecological Forestry Initiative.

Zander is principal investigator on a grant from the Joint Fire Sciences Program to undertake a year long investigation of fuel treatment practices in mixed-conifer forests in California, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona. Our goal is to develop a publication that provides land managers with information they can use to implement successful fuel treatment projects. Read more about the project here.

Publications:

• Evans, A. M., and R. T. Perschel. In Press. Overview of Biomass Harvesting Guidelines. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 29(6-7)
• Evans, A.M. and A. J. Finkral. 2009. From Renewable Energy to Fire Risk Reduction: A Synthesis of Biomass Harvesting and Utilization Case Studies in US Forests. Global Change Biology Bioenergy. DOI:10.1111/j.1757-1707.2009.01013.x
• Evans, A.M., and R. T. Perschel. 2009. A Review of Forestry Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies in the Northeast U.S. Climatic Change. DOI:10.1007/s10584-009-9569-3
• Evans, A.M., and R.T. Perschel. 2009. An Assessment of Biomass Harvesting Guidelines. The Forest Guild, Santa Fe, NM.
• Estrada, V., D. McGrath, E. Krasilovsky, A. Evans. 2009. Assessing the Socioeconomic Benefits of New Mexico's Collaborative Forest Restoration Program:Issues, Indicators, and recommendations. New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute, Las Vegas, NM.
• Derr, T., D. McGrath, Estrada, V., E. Krasilovsky, A. Evans. 2008. Monitoring the long term ecological impacts of New Mexico's Collaborative Forest Restoration Program. New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute, Las Vegas, NM.
• Smith, C.K., J. Youtz, A. Bradley, D. Allen-Reid, A. Evans, M. Johnson, B. Bird, C. Bada, and P. Fulé. 2008. Climate Change and Mixed Conifer/ Aspen Systems in New Mexico: Considerations for Managers. New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute, Las Vegas, NM.
  
• Evans, A.M. 2008. Synthesis of Knowledge from Woody Biomass Removal Case Studies. The Forest Guild, Santa Fe, NM. Summary
• Evans, A.M. (ed) 2008. Managing Forests in the Face of Climate Change: A summary of the New Mexico Forestry and Climate Change Workshop. The Forest Guild, Santa Fe, NM.
• Ojerio, R., K. Lynn, A. Evans, M. DeBonis and W. Gerlitz. Engaging Socially Vulnerable Populations in Community Wildfire Protection Plans. Resource Innovations, University of Oregon
• Finkral, A. J., and Evans, A. M. 2008. The effect of a restoration thinning on carbon stocks in a ponderosa pine forest. Forest Ecology and Management 255(7):2743-2750. DOI:10.1016/j.foreco.2008.01.041
  
• Evans, A. M. 2008. Growth and infestation by hemlock woolly adelgid of two exotic hemlock species in a New England forest. Journal of Sustainable Forestry. 26(3) Abstract
  
• Savage, M., T. Derr, A. M. Evans, E. Krasilovsky, K. Smith, and H. Carey. 2008. Short guide for developing CFRP restoration prescriptions. New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute, Las Vegas, NM.
• Perschel, R.T., A. M. Evans, and M.J. Summers. 2007. Climate change, carbon, and the forests of the Northeast. The Forest Guild, Santa Fe, NM.
• Evans, A. M., M. Tyrrell, A. Camp, C. Riely. 2007. Biotic and abiotic influences on severity of wind disturbance in forests of NW Pennsylvania. Forest Ecology and Management. 245(1-3): 44-53. DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2007.03.024
• Evans, A. M., and T. G. Gregoire. 2007. A Geographically variable model of HWA spread. Biological Invasions. 9(4):369-382. DOI:10.1007/s10530-006-9039-z
• Evans, A. M., and T. G. Gregoire. 2007. The tree crown distribution of hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae (Hem., Adelgidae) from randomized branch sampling. Journal of Applied Entomology 131(1):26–33. DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0418.2006.01121.x
• Evans, A. M. and G. McKinley. 2007. An evaluation of fuel reduction projects and the Healthy Forests Initiative. Forest Guild. Santa Fe, NM
• Evans, A. M. Tyrrell, A. Camp, C. Rielly. 2005. Vulnerability of Northwestern Pennsylvania Forests to Major Windstorms. Yale University Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry, New Haven, CT.
• Evans, A. M. 2005. A randomized branch sampling method for hemlock woolly adelgid. in B. Onken and R. Reardon, editors. Proceedings of the 3rd Symposium on Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. USDA Forest Service, Ashville, NC, USA.
• Evans, A. M. 2004. An anisotropic model of HWA spread. in K. Gottschalk, editor. Proceedings of the 15th USDA Interagency Research Forum on Gypsy Moth and Other Invasive Species. USDA Forest Service, Annapolis, MD, USA. p. 26
• Raumann, C. G., S. Stine, A. M. Evans, J. Wilson. 2002. Digital bathymetric model of Mono Lake, California. Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2393. U.S. Geological Survey.
• Bernknopf, R. L., L. B. Dinitz, S. J. M. Rabinovici, and A. M. Evans. 2001. A portfolio approach to evaluating natural hazard mitigation policies: An application to lateral-Spread ground failure in coastal California. International Geology Review 43:424-440.
• Ashton, M. S., R. Mendelsohn, B. M. P. Singhakumara, C. V. S. Gunatilleke, I. A. U. N. Gunatilleke, and A. M. Evans. 2001. A financial analysis of rain forest silviculture in southwestern Sri Lanka. Forest Ecology and Management 154:431-441.