POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY
Forest Carbon Offsets and Ecosystem Services
in the Willamette River Basin, Oregon
Through: National Research Council – Research Associateship Program
Location: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Western Ecology
Division, Corvallis, OR
The EPA is soliciting applications to the NRC Research Associateship
Program for postdoctoral research at its Western Ecology Division in
Corvallis, OR. A general description of the Research Opportunity in
“Climate Change and Ecosystem Services in the Willamette River Basin,
Oregon” can be found at:
http://nrc58.nas.edu/pgasurvey/data/aobooks/rapbooks.asp?mode=rodetail&roid=54337&pcd=220209
A current focus of EPA’s Global Change Research Program is environmental
effects of greenhouse gas mitigation technologies. One such approach is
managing forests for CO2 sequestration to offset CO2 emissions. Under
potential CO2 cap-and-trade programs, this could lead to marketable C
credits (subject to “baseline”, “additionality”, “permanence”, and
“leakage” constraints). Because of this focus, at this time we are
specifically soliciting proposals related to question 2 in the Research
Opportunity listing: “What would be the impact on other ecosystem
services of programs directed toward carbon [C] sequestration to offset
emissions?” The geographic area of interest is the Willamette River
Basin, Oregon, which is the focus of an EPA “place-based” case study of
ecosystem services. The overall approach will be a spatially explicit,
model-based analysis exploring the impacts of alternative C-based policy
and management strategies on landscape dynamics and provision of
ecosystem services; applications/proposals are encouraged that will
contribute to this effort.
Applicants should be able to effectively work in a multidisciplinary
team environment and should have strong modeling and computational
skills, and background in several of the following areas: forest
ecology; forest management; forest economics; C cycling; GIS; and
modeling of forest dynamics, hydrology (water quantity and quality),
wildlife-habitat relationships, or other areas related to ecosystem
services provided by forests. Applicants will need to submit a proposal
to NRC (for details see
http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/RAP/index.htm ), but should first
contact the Research Adviser (Don Phillips, 541-754-4485,
phillips.don...@epa.gov; or Peter Beedlow, 541-754-4634,
beedlow.pe...@epa.gov) to discuss the mutual interest of the proposed
research. The application deadline to NRC is February 1, 2010.
Applications after this date may be considered in the next review cycle
(applications deadline May 1, 2010) if an award is not made during the
earlier cycle.
The research would take place at the EPA’s Western Ecology Division in
Corvallis, OR. NRC postdoctoral stipends at EPA start at $50,000 per
year for a new Ph.D., with additional allowances for relocation, travel,
and group health insurance. NRC Postdoctoral positions are available
for applicants within 5 years after receiving their Ph.D. The initial
appointment is for 1 year, but can be extended pending research
progress. Funding has already been secured for 2 years and future
funding is anticipated for a possible third year.
Don Phillips, Research Biologist
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Nat'l Health & Envir. Effects Research Lab
200 SW 35th St.
Corvallis, OR 97333
541-754-4485 (voice)
541-754-4799 (fax)
