1. Home
  2. Scientists & Staff
  3. Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy

Scientists & Staff

Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy

Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy

Acting Project Leader / Research Forester
Ecological and Economic Sustainability of the Appalachian Forest in an Era of Globalization, Sustaining Forests in a Changing Environment
459 Nursery Bottom Rd
Parsons, WV, 26287-0404
Phone: 304-478-2000 x114

Contact Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy


Current Research

  • Fire regimes of the central Appalachians
  • Central Appalachian silviculture
  • Fire as a silvicultural tool
  • Historical records as ecological data
  • Red spruce recovery and restoration

Research Interests

Melissa's research includes stand- and landscape-level projects at both long- and short-term time scales. Most of this work is focused on the restoration and sustainable management of forested ecosystems in the eastern United States. Successful restoration of an ecological system requires that a series of important questions be addressed: 1) what are the restoration goals, 2) what techniques or actions will meet these goals, and 3) how is success measured. Restoration includes reestablishing patterns, processes, and species often in the context of a given space and time frame. To establish and accomplish ecological restoration goals, land managers need information about historical conditions.

Why This Research is Important

As with any forest management, managers need to know what actions accomplish the goals of restoring patterns and processes and need to be able to predict the results of those actions. To help answer these questions, Melissa's work includes stand-level studies involving prescribed fire, browse control, and a variety of silvicultural practices. Some of these studies are long-term studies started on the Fernow Experimental Forest to answer more traditional growth and yield questions but also can be used to provide information on long-term stand dynamics.

Red spruce-dominated ecosystems are considered critically imperiled in the central and southern Appalachians. These generally high-elevation sites are the focus of restoration efforts by federal, state, and private land managers. These forests are considered to be in recovery from the exploitative harvests of the past, but they are slow to recover and are now subject to current threats from climate change, nonnative invasive insects, large deer populations, and changes in land use. To explore the efficacy of active management for restoration at a landscape-scale, spatial models are used to track forest development under different management scenarios. The resulting modeled forest conditions can be compared to either stated restoration goals or investigated for support of assumptions and goals of management.

To address the lack of knowledge about European settlement-era forests in the central Appalachian region, Melissa has developed a GIS-based dataset of witness trees from the Monongahela National Forest. With this dataset, land managers and researchers can discern the relationships of pre-settlement forest composition with environmental variables, compare past species composition to the present, and provide a model that will guide ecosystem restoration efforts in mixed-oak and high-elevation red spruce forests in the Appalachians. This work has expanded to include witness trees on the Allegheny, Finger Lakes, Green Mountain, and White Mountain National Forests, township-level data for New England, and the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. As more data are uncovered or made digital, this work may be expanded further into Ohio and Virginia.

As a research forester assigned to NRS-01, Melissa is involved in on-going, long-term silvicultural and forest management research. This long-term research involves developing silvicultural systems for sustaining forest products, wildlife benefits, species diversity, and for restoring forest ecosystems. This research specifically relates to forest management, in particular studying the many silvicultural tools available to sustainably manage forests for a variety of outcomes. Such guidelines and models are sought after by federal, state, and private land managers. Current studies include artificial regeneration; precommercial thinning; crop-tree release; prescribed fire; herbicide use; and even-aged, two-age, and uneven-aged management.

Education

  • West Virginia University, Ph.D. Forest Resources Sciences, 2011
  • State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, M.S. Resource Management/Silviculture, 1992
  • Davis and Elkins College, B.S. Pre-forestry, 1989

Professional Organizations

  • Society of American Foresters, West Virginia Chapter (2011 - Current)

Featured Publications & Products

Publications & Products

Other Publications

Research Datasets

  • Thomas-Van Gundy, Melissa A.; Schuler, Thomas M.; Wood, Frederica. 2020. Fernow Experimental Forest overstory tree and regeneration data from the "Financial Maturity" study. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2020-0015.
  • Schuler, Thomas M.; Thomas-Van Gundy, Melissa A.; Wood, Frederica. 2017. Fernow Experimental Forest overstory tree and regeneration data from the "Management Intensity Demonstration" study. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2017-0052.
  • Thomas-Van Gundy, Melissa A.; Strager, Michael P. 2014. Witness trees of the Monongahela National Forest: 1752-1899. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2014-0022.

National Research Highlights

The image is an example of canopy gap delineation. On the right is the post-burn, leaf-on imagery from the USDA National Agricultural Imagery Program used to identify the canopy gaps created by prescribed fire. Gap boundaries also superimposed on pre-burn imagery on the left side of the image.

Collaboration makes fire science available and useful to land managers

Year: 2017

Forest Service researchers and foresters are partnering to document the effects of landscape-scale prescribed fire on the George Washington and Jefferson national forests.

The NRS LT visiting the demonstration area via the Zero Grade Trail, which has universal access design features.

Forest management demonstration area highlights working forest

Year: 2017

New research published in 2017 describes the results of a 60-year forest management demonstration area on the Fernow Experimental Forest and the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia.

The figure is the cover of the station publication for the Minnesota work showing the percentage of pyrophilic witness trees across most of Minnesota with photos illustrating typical fire behavior for three areas. U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.

Witness Trees as Indicators of Past Fire

Year: 2016

In ecosystem restoration, the question “What was the forest like back then?” is often difficult to answer. Understanding and mapping forest composition before European settlement is an important basis for ecosystem restoration. To help in returning fire into ecosystems that formerly burned, scientists from the Forest Service’s Northern Research Station used “witness trees,” which are trees indicated in old land surveys to help identify areas where fire likely occurred in the past.

The compound figure shows historic photos of large trees. the first is one that had been used as an example of an American chestnut in the pre-blight forest, the second photo shows a similar tree and setting that is of a redwood in California, the third photo is a documented photo of a large American chestnut before the blight. The figure was published in the journal Chestnut.

Restoration of a Forest Giant

Year: 2016

The blight resistance of a variety of families of hybrid American chestnuts is under study on the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. Early mortality and height growth results show differences between families that will provide useful information for the production of a hybrid with the blight resistance of the Chinese chestnut and the growth form of the American chestnut. As a side effort, the subject in a photo previously reported to be of a large American chestnut in the pre-blight forest was found to be of a redwood tree in California.

A map showing the boundaries of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The outlines of four national forests are also included. The results of calculating the percentage of pyrophilic witness tree species from town-level surveys are displayed as a color gradient from red to green, with red indicating a high percentage of pyrophilic species and green a low percentage. The red starts in the south and grades to green further north. Also displayed is an approximation of the tension zone line between generally wetter forests to the north and drier forests to the south. USDA Forest Service

“Witness Trees” as Indicators of Past Fire

Year: 2015

In ecosystem restoration, the question of “What was it like back then?” is often difficult to answer. Understanding and mapping forest composition from before European settlement is an important basis for ecosystem restoration, helping to ensure the return of fire into ecosystems that formerly burned. Forest Service scientists used “witness trees,” which are trees indicated on old maps and land surveys, to help identify trees that grew in the past.

The figure displays age class in red spruce-dominated forests by alternative and for three time steps (year 0, year 30, and year 100) for a portion of the study area as a result of the models. There are some differences in the alternatives in the amount of red spruce forest by age class and their location on the landscape. USDA Forest Service

A Landscape Model for Planning Red Spruce Restoration in West Virginia

Year: 2015

A Forest Service scientist developed a model to answer specific questions about meeting restoration goals for red spruce while protecting habitat for the Virginia northern flying squirrel. Although the squirrel was recently removed from the Endangered Species List, management of its habitat and potential habitat is still a concern. The harvests modeled shows that hands-off approaches to threatened or endangered species habitat can delay progress on restoration goals in this red spruce-dominated landscape.

Fence line of one of the plots with canopy gaps. The vegetation is noticeably taller and denser inside the fence as compared to outside the fence. USDA Forest Service

Investigating the Roles of Fire, Browse, and Canopy Gaps in the Understory of an Oak-dominated Forest

Year: 2015

Current forests developed under conditions different from original forests, with more deer, less fire, and smaller canopy gaps. This has resulted in understories dominated by trees that are browse-tolerant, shade-tolerant, and fire sensitive, often making it harder for oaks to regenerate in some areas. Forest Service scientists evaluated how three key processes - understory fire, canopy gaps, and browsing - affected tree species in east central West Virginia to help foresters determine management actions.

An example of typical understory conditions in the Summer of 2008 on one of the fenced subplots on the Monongahela National Forest. Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy, USDA Forest Service

Roles of Fire, Browse, and Canopy Gaps in the Understory of an Oak-dominated Forest

Year: 2014

Current forests developed under conditions different from original forests, with more deer, less fire, and smaller canopy gaps. The difference resulted in understories dominated by trees that are browse-tolerant, shade-tolerant, and fire sensitive, and also makes it harder for oaks to regenerate in some areas. To help foresters determine management actions, a Forest Service scientist and research partner evaluated how three key processes, understory fire, canopy gaps, and browsing, affected tree species in east-central West Virginia.

Changes in age classes for red spruce and red spruce-northern hardwood forest types combined for a section of the study area (about 13,000 acres) at three time steps. Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy, USDA Forest Service

Using a Landscape Model for Planning Red Spruce Restoration in West Virginia

Year: 2014

A new Forest Service model was developed to answer specific questions about meeting restoration goals for red spruce while protecting habitat for the Virginia northern flying squirrel. The patch cuts modeled in this experiement were designed to be close to the intended restoration actions. The harvests modeled show that hands-off approaches to threatened or endangered species habitat can delay progress on restoration goals in this red spruce-dominated landscape.

The Monongahela National Forest is classified according to fire influence on species composition. Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy, USDA Forest Service

Witness Trees Reveal Where to Restore Fire

Year: 2013

To help land managers make decisions and plan for restoration of oak-dominated forests, witness trees from early surveys were used by a Forest Service scientist as clues to disturbance history. Tree species were categorized into two categories based on fire ecology and spatial interpolation of point data resulted in a usable picture of past disturbance on a complex landscape.

Last modified: Tuesday, October 26, 2021