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

Zander recently completed a guide to fuel treatment practices in mixed conifer forests for the Joint Fire Sciences Program (JFSP). The guide covers mixed conifer forests in California, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona and aims to provide land managers with information they can use to implement successful fuel treatment projects. Zander is involved in two new JFSP projects: the first is a careful examination of the impact of pile burning and the second is a study to better understand the effectiveness wildfire mitigation measures in the wildland-urban interface. Zander also serves on the executive board of the Southwest Fire Science Consortium and the USDA's Forestry Research Advisory Council.

Publications:

• Evans, A. M., R. T. Perschel, and B. A. Kittler. 2012. Overview of Forest Biomass Harvesting Guidelines. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 32(1-2):89-107. DOI:10.1080/10549811.2011.651786
• Finkral, A. J., A. M. Evans, C. D. Sorensen, and D. L. R. Affleck. 2012. Estimating consumption and remaining carbon in burned slash piles. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 42(9):1744-1749. DOI:10.1139/x2012-112
• Colnes, A., K. Doshi, H. Emick, A. Evans, R. Perschel, T. Robards, D. Saah, and A. Sherman. 2012. Biomass Supply and Carbon Accounting for Southeastern Forests. Biomass Energy Resource Center, Forest Guild, and Spatial Informatics Group, Montpelier, VT.
• Carroll, M., B. Milakovsky, A. Finkral, A. Evans, and M. S. Ashton. 2011. Managing Carbon Sequestration and Storage in Temperate and Boreal Forests. Pages 205-226 in M. S. Ashton, M. L. Tyrrell, D. Spalding, and B. Gentry, editors. Managing Forest Carbon in a Changing Climate. Springer, New York, NY.
• Evans, A. M., R. Everett, S. Stephens, and J. Youtz. 2011. A comprehensive guide to fuels treatment practices for mixed conifer forests: California, Central and Southern Rockies, and the Southwest. The Forest Guild, Santa Fe, NM.
• Evans, A. M. 2011. Ecology of dead wood in the southeast. The Forest Guild, Santa Fe, NM.
• Evans, A. M. and A. J. Finkral. 2010. A New Look at Spread Rates of Exotic Diseases in North American Forests. Forest Science 56(5):453-459. www.ingentaconnect.com
• Trotter III, R. T., and A. M. Evans. 2010. Native communities on an exotic tree: the arthropod community on Tsuga chinensis in New England, a potential ecological surrogate for T. canadensis. Pages 132-138 in B. Onken and R. Reardon, editors. Fifth Symposium on Hemlock Woolly Adelgid in the Eastern United States. USDA Forest Service, Asheville, North Carolina.
• Grant, Z and A.M. Evans. 2010. Placing a Value on New Mexico’s Forest Ecosystem Services. Forest Wisdom 15: 6-12.
• Evans, A.M. and M.J. Kelty. 2010. Ecology of Dead Wood in the Northeast The Forest Guild, Santa Fe, NM.
• Evans, A.M., R.T. Perschel, and B.A. Kittler. 2010. Revised Assessment of Biomass Harvesting and Retention Guidelines. The Forest Guild, Santa Fe, NM.
• 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.1(3):211-219. 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. 96(1-2):167-183. 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 DOI:10.1080/10549810701879735
• 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.