Fitzgerald, Stephen

Position Type: 
Faculty
Job Title: 
Professor and Extension Specialist and Director of College of Forestry Research Forests
Department: 
Forest Engineering, Resources & Management
Research Forests
Office Location: 

8692 Peavy Arboretum Rd. Arboretum

Phone Number: 
(541) 737-3562
Education: 
MS, Forest Management, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, 1983
BS, Forest Biology, State University of New York, College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, New York, 1979
AAS, Holyoke Community College, Holyoke MA, 1976
Research Areas: 
  • Silviculture, Fire, Forest Health and Biodiversity
Research Interests: 
  • Fire Ecology
  • Forest Health
  • Silviculture
Bio: 
I conduct educational programs to a wide variety of audiences on reforestation, thinning, maintaining healthy forests, backyard woodlands, stand density management, fire and fire management and a variety of other topics. My areas of interest and research include: uneven-aged management of ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forests; fire ecology and fire management; prescribed burning; forest health and resiliency; post-fire regeneration; regeneration processes; and thinning methods.

Advising

Graduate Major Advisor
Graduate Students: 
Courses Taught: 
  • FE/FOR 312
    Forestry Field School
  • FOR 454/554
    Managing in the Wildland Urban Interface
    (last taught 2009)
  • FOR 407
    Wildland Fire Field Trip
    (last taught 2010)
Selected Publications: 
  1. Riddell, A., Fitzgerald, S.A., Qi, C. and Strimbu, B.M. (2020). Classification strategies for unbalanced binary maps: finding Ponderosa Pine (Pinus Ponderosa) in the Willamette Valley. Remote Sensing, 12(20), 3325.
  2. Grand, L., Berger, C. A., Fitzgerald, S. A., Leavell, D. M. (2019). Fire FAQs—Who owns Oregon's forests, and how does that matter when it comes to fire? (EM 9228, pp. 2). Corvallis, OR: Extension and Experiment Station Communications (EESC).
  3. Fitzgerald, S. A., Berger, C. A., Leavell, D. M. (2019). What is forest fuel, and what are fuel treatments? (EM 9230, pp. 2). Corvallis, OR: EESC.
  4. Green, P., Chung, W., Leshchinsky, B. A., Belart, F., Sessions, J., Fitzgerald, S. A., Wimer, J. A., Cushing, T., Garland, J. 2019. Insight into the Productivity, Cost and Soil Impacts of Cable-assisted Harvester- forwarder Thinning in Western Oregon. Forest Science
  5. Garland, J., Belart, F., Crawford, R., W., Cushing, T., Fitzgerald, S. A., Green, P., Kincl, L., Leshchinsky, B. A., Morrissette, B. A., Sessions, J., Wimer, J. A. 2019. Safety in steep slope logging operations. Journal of Agromedicine, 24(2), 138-145.
  6. Woolley, T., Shaw, D. C., Hollingsworth, L. T., Agne, M. C., Fitzgerald, S. A., Eglitis, A., Kurth, L. 2019. Beyond red crowns: complex changes in surface and crown fuels and their interaction 32 years following mountain pine beetle epidemics in south-central Oregon, USA. Springer Open, 15(4), 17.
  7. Oester, P.T., S.A. Fitzgerald, N.A. Strong, B. Parker, L.V. Henderson, T. Deboodt, W.H. Emmingham, G.M Filip, and W.D. Edge. 2018. Ecology and Management of Eastern Oregon Forests. Manual 12. Oregon State University Extension Service, Corvallis, OR. 243 p.
  8. Bennett, M., Fitzgerald, S. A., Jones, A. C., Baylog, K. 2017. EM9184. Keeping Your Home and Property Safe from Wildfire: A Defensible Space and Fuel Reduction Guide for Homeowners and Landowners. Oregon State University Extension Service, Corvallis, OR. 36 p. Online at: https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/em9184
  9. Fitzgerald, S. A., Baylog, K., Bennett, M., Strong, N. A., Simes, R. 2017. Citizen Fire Academy. Curriculum Package for Facilitators and Educators. Oregon State University Extension Service, Corvallis OR. 170 p.
  10. Kline, N., Grant, V., Fitzgerald, S. A. 2017. Managing Woodlands in the Coastal Fog Belt. Oregon State University Extension Service, Corvallis, OR. 9 p.
  11. Leavell, D. M., Berger, C. A., Fitzgerald, S. A., Parker, R. T. 2017. Fire Science Core Curriculum. Oregon State University Extension Service, Corvallis, OR. 197 p.
  12. Agne, M., T. Woolley, and S. Fitzgerald. 2016. Fire severity and cumulative disturbance effects in the post-mountain pine beetle lodgepole pine forests of the Pole Creek Fire. Forest Ecology and Management 366: 73-86.
  13. Cowan, A.D., J. E. Smith and S. A. Fitzgerald. 2016. Recovering lost ground: Effects of soil burn intensity on nutrients and ectomycorrhiza communities of ponderosa pine seedlings. Forest Ecology and Management 378: 160-172.
  14. Ganio, L., T. Woolley, D. Shaw, and S. Fitzgerald. 2015. The discriminatory ability of post-fire tree mortality logistic regression models. Forest Science 61(2): 344-353.
  15. Fitzgerald, S.A. and P. Ries. 2015. Selecting, Planting and Caring for a New Tree, Extension Circular 1438. Oregon State University Extension Service, Corvallis, OR.
  16. Oester, P., and S.A. Fitzgerald. 2015. Enhancing reforestation success in the Inland Northwest, PNW 520.Oregon State University Extension Service, Corvallis, OR. 20 p.
Extension Title: 
Extension Specialist, Silviculture