Steve Acker Email & Phone Number

I supervise the Vegetation Branch of Olympic National Park's Natural Resource Division, and help lead monitoring and inventory in the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN). We provide information to park leadership and carry out conservation and restoration. We review planned activities and compliance documents. We perform surveys of developed areas to identify trees that pose hazards. To conserve endangered, threatened, sensitive, and endemic vascular plants, we developed a database combining information from the Washington Natural Heritage Program, park records, and the Flora of the Olympic Peninsula, allowing us to quickly generate lists of potential rare plants for project areas and streamline field surveys. Restoration includes prevention and control of invasive, exotic plants, and propagation and installation of native plants. We work with park staff and the Exotic Plant Management Team of the NCCN to prioritize invasive plant control projects. We prevent introduction and spread of invasive plants by training park employees and examining proposed sources of construction materials. We restore native vegetation in wilderness and frontcountry, maintaining genetic characteristics of native plant populations by propagating plants from the immediate vicinity of projects. During my tenure, we constructed a new native plant nursery. We are currently restoring the Elwha watershed following dam removal.I lead long-term forest monitoring for the NCCN, which comprises 45 permanent plots spanning the elevational range of forests in the network (at Lewis and Clark, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks). We record tree mortality annually and have begun to report on trends (including at the 2012 meeting of the Ecological Society of America). I also contribute to other network projects (development of new vegetation classifications and maps, monitoring of landscape change using remote sensing, monitoring of high-elevation, non-forested vegetation).

Seattle, Wa

The primary responsibilities of my position were to provide technical guidance and to facilitate communication within the National Park Service (NPS) and between NPS and cooperating institutions, as NPS began an initiative to make scientifically-credible environmental monitoring a cornerstone of management. I offered guidance based on my experience as a plant ecologist and as an analyst and designer of long-term ecological studies. I facilitated communication within NPS by frequent interactions both with personnel at individual parks and with personnel of the Washington Office. From staff at individual parks I learned of natural resource issues, ecological research and monitoring under way, administrative and logistical challenges, and how the regional and national levels of NPS could be of more assistance. From Washington Office personnel I learned about relevant policies and regulations, software tools under development to aid parks and promote comparability of data across the agency, and technical support available to parks for baseline inventories (e.g., vegetation and soils maps) and monitoring of physical processes (e.g., air and water quality). I promoted collaboration with cooperating institutions through formal and informal contacts. I led workshops for two National Parks to identify key ecological variables for long-term monitoring. In both cases, individuals from other federal agencies, universities, and state and local agencies participated. As lead facilitator, I fostered open communication between all participants, so that the various perspectives could be considered in a constructive way. I also had discussions with individuals in other federal agencies and read publications of those agencies concerning their monitoring efforts. Due to its relevance to parks in Washington, Oregon, and northern California, I focused my study and outreach on the monitoring programs being developed to assess the effectiveness of the Northwest Forest Plan.

My primary responsibility was to provide scientific leadership for studies of forest ecosystem ecology and management, including coordination of the regional program of long-term studies of forest succession associated with the Andrews Forest Long-term Ecological Research Program. The general goal of my research was to understand and explain dynamics of forests in the Pacific Northwest, in order to shed light on basic ecosystem questions and applied management issues. A central focus of my work was changes in forest productivity and structural characteristics during succession from young towards old-growth stands. A primary means to achieve my objectives was development, analysis, and interpretation of data from long-term studies of natural and managed forests. I also exploited and helped to develop other tools including remote sensing, dendroecology, and retrospective studies.Much of my research in this position pertained to the Northwest Forest Plan. Two of my publications addressed the potential implications of green tree retention on timber yield. Another publication addressed development of stand structure associated with old-growth forests, and patterns in timber yield, over the longer periods between forest harvest contained in the Northwest Forest Plan. During this period I analyzed (and eventually published) data on differences in production and tree mortality between young, mature, and old-growth Douglas-fir stands in western Oregon. I also carried out research leading to publications and manuscripts in progress concerning the effects of floods and forest fires on stand structure, composition, and dynamics.My accomplishments in this position included refereed publications and other documents, invited and volunteered presentations at scientific meetings, obtaining funding from several federal agencies, teaching and advising graduate students, and serving the National Science Foundation as a member of a proposal review panel.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Botany/Plant Biology

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Zoology/Animal Biology, With Honors

Activities and Societies: Dean's List, 5 terms Mary Alden Scholarship 1982 Phi Beta Kappa 1982