Research Bio
Scott Stephens is a fire ecologist whose research investigates forest ecology, wildfire behavior, and ecosystem management. He is best known for his studies on the ecological role of fire in forested landscapes and for developing strategies to promote fire resilience in California and beyond. Stephens’s research integrates ecology, forestry, and climate science to understand how fire regimes interact with forest structure and management. His work informs policies for sustainable forest management.
Stephens has given testimony on fire and forest policy at the US House of Representatives, the White House, California Assembly and Senate, California Governor’s office, and severed on the 2024 US Wildfire Commission. He is on the Board of Directors of the Climate Wildfire Institute and is one of the leaders of The Stewardship Project which is a partnership of Indigenous people and western science to improve federal fire policy. He was selected in the Top 1% of Researchers Worldwide in 2024 (https://clarivate.com/highly-cited-researchers/)
Research Expertise and Interest
fire, forestry, fire ecology, fire behavior, environmental biology/ecology, forest policy
In the News
Twenty-Year Study Confirms California Forests Are Healthier When Burned — or Thinned
How Wildfire Restored a Yosemite Watershed
100 Million Dead Trees in the Sierra Are a Massive Risk for Unpredictable Wildfires
To drive through parts of the Sierra Nevada these days is to witness a morbid reminder of California’s extreme drought: Vast landscapes of standing dead tree
Wildfire Management vs. Fire Suppression Benefits Forest and Watershed
Let It Burn: Prescribed Fires Pose Little Danger to Forest Ecology, Study Says
UC Berkeley-led research is giving the green light to fighting fire with fire. An analysis of controlled burns and mechanical thinning nationwide did not find substantial ecological harm from fuel-reduction treatments used to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. And with a rise in wildfires predicted in many parts of the country, researchers say more treatments are needed to manage this risk.
Featured in the Media
Teaching
Individual Research [ESPM 299 - 071]
Sierra Nevada Ecology [ESPM 105A - 001]
Fire Ecology [ESPM 181A - 001]
Individual Research [ESPM 299 - 064]
Fire: Past, Present and Future Interactions with the People and Ecosystems of California [ESPM C22AC - 002]
Fire: Past, Present and Future Interactions with the People and Ecosystems of California [NATAMST C22AC - 001]
Individual Research [ESPM 299 - 071]