Richard Waring

Richard Waring

Richard Waring is emeritus Distinguished Professor of Forest Science at Oregon State University. In his long career, he has held guest and visiting professorships at leading institutions around the world, and has served as administrator of a NASA program exploring land-atmosphere interactions and as a long-term consultant to NASA on forest modeling projects.

Adjusting to Forests that Won't Stand Still

By Richard Waring, Joe Landsberg / On January 30th, 2017
For a long time we ecologists thought that we could predict not only how forests would grow but also how their composition was likely to change over time.  And we could predict the effects of management actions: for example, If we chose to thin stands of trees in certain ways, we would expect predictable increases in the growth of the remaining trees, with more shrubs, grasses, and seedlings colonizing the gaps below the trees.

We can’t win the climate battle without healthy forests

By Joe Landsberg, Richard Waring / On December 19th, 2016
Most people now accept that the world’s climate is changing rapidly as a result of human activities — mainly the direct emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that trap heat radiating from the earth, causing the temperature of our small blue planet to rise. This is leading to all sorts of political, economic and ecological problems.
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The Wilderness Act at 50: Learning from the Imperfect

By Richard Waring / On August 28th, 2014
Editor's note: September 3 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Wilderness Act. To commemorate the anniversary, we asked a small group of Island Press authors to reflect on the influence of this law to date and how its role may or should change as we move into an uncertain future. We are sharing the series this week and next. This post was written by Richard Waring with assistance from coauthor Joe Landsberg.
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To Kill a Redwood

By Richard Waring / On August 19th, 2014
Bull Creek undercut the bank in many places, causing mature redwood to fall. Photograph courtesy Professor Paul Zinke.