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Frederick Swanson

Frederick J. Swanson is a research geologist with the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, in Corvallis, Oregon, and a Forest Service lead scientist for the ecosystem research team based at the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest in the Oregon Cascade Range. He has been a leader of the National Science Foundation–sponsored Long-Term Ecological Research program based at the Andrews Forest since 1980.Throughout a thirty year career, Dr. Swanson’s research has focused on interactions of geophysical processes with forest and stream ecosystems in mountain landscapes under both natural conditions and influences of land management, including roads. His interest in interactions of science and policy is reflected in part by his co-editorship of the book Bioregional Assessments: Science at the Crossroads of Management and Policy (Island Press, 1999). He holds a bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, both in geology.

Road Ecology

Science and Solutions

A central goal of transportation is the delivery of safe and efficient services with minimal environmental impact. In practice, though, human mobility has flourished while nature has suffered. Awareness of the environmental impacts of roads is increasing, yet information remains scarce for those interested in studying, understanding, or minimizing the ecological effects of roads and vehicles.

Road Ecology addresses that shortcoming by elevating previously localized and fragmented knowledge into a broad and inclusive framework for understanding and developing solutions.

Bioregional Assessments

Science At The Crossroads Of Management And Policy

In diverse regions around the country, impending crises over dwindling natural resources and conflicts over land use have given birth to a new approach to environmental management and policymaking.