THE JOURNAL OF THE School of Forestry & Environmental Studies EnvironmentYale Fall 2002 LMS Software Changing the Face of Forest Management Inside: Reflections on the Johannesburg Summit, page 36 letters It is a magnificent production, well balanced I write to express my disappointment with the and with outstanding texts and pictures. I liked tone of the new Yale F&ES journal. Cover particularly Dean Speth’s message: “Did 9/11 headlines, such as “Hidden Dangers,”and its really change everything?” I have circulated the accompanying article that point up risks without journal to our graduate students and to various adequate discussion of the rationale, histories, staff members, ending in the library. I am tradeoffs and contexts for those risks signals that eagerly awaiting the next issue. Thank you for the school has decided to follow the “histrionic your effort. model”of raising environmental awareness (and, GERARDO BUDOWSKI,YC ’56,PH.D.1962 I am sure, funding). This contrasts with the SENIOR PROFESSOR traditional academic model, which seeks DEPARTMENT NATURAL RESOURCES AND PEACE sobriety, balance and accuracy over hysteria. UNIVERSITY FOR PEACE While I agree that there is a place for emotion SAN JOSE,COSTA RICA and metaphor to help generate public concern about environmental issues, I do not want to see academic institutions—and particularly Yale— go down this slippery path. Leave the emotion The first edition of Environment: Yale was very The inaugural issue of Environment: and “necessary” distortions in context to the impressive—congratulations. Yale elicited many responses. Because environmental NGOs. Nonetheless, I found the of space limitations, only a representa- MARK DAMIAN DUDA,M.E.S.’85 coverage of Dr. Wargo’s work on diesel fume EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR tive handful are printed below. exposures of considerable interest. There was no RESPONSIVE MANAGEMENT need to sensationalize it, especially not for the HARRISONBURG,VIRGINIA well-educated Yale alums that read the journal. I was very happy to read the first issue of Thank you very much for sending me your STEVE STRAUSS,M.F.S.’80 Environment: Yale.It is an outstanding and CORVALLIS,OREGON timely magazine. The contents are excellent. We excellent journal’s first issue, which I find very are grateful to you for this service to the security informative and useful.It will be great help to my of the global environment. I look forward to teaching,research and extension activities. Correction: In the April 2002 issue, the reading future issues of this wonderful journal. DR.G.POYYA MOLI article “Certified! Yale-Myers Forest Passes SCHOOL OF ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES M.S.SWAMINATHAN Inspection by Accreditors” misstated the amount PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY, UNESCO COUSTEAU CHAIR IN ECOTECHNOLOGY of board feet of timber that Yale-Myers produces PONDICHERRY,INDIA UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL,SCIENTIFIC annually.It is 500,000,not 500 million. AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION Due to the volume of correspondence, Environment: Yale regrets that it is unable to respond to or publish all mail received. Letters accepted for publication are subject to editing. Unless correspondents request otherwise, e-mail addresses will be published for letters received electronically beginning with the April 2003 issue. THE JOURNAL OF THE School of Forestry & Environmental Studies contents Environment 2 Dean’s Message 3Cover Story: LMS Software— Changing the Face of Yale Forest Management 9 Sustainable Development also a Top Capital 3 Campaign Priority 10 Cullman Family Gift Supports Undergraduate Environmental Studies 12 McCluskey Gift to 10 Endow Visiting Fellowship 14 At the School 18 Book Shelf 20 A New Green Regime 12 24 Fire: A Hot Topic 24 and a Course Environment: Yale 26 Mahogany Trees May Hold The Journal of the School of Clues to Protecting Central Forestry & Environmental Studies Africa’s Biodiversity Fall 2002 • Vol. 1, No. 2 Editor 30 Honor Roll of Supporters David DeFusco Director of Communications 36 Reflections on the Copy Editor Johannesburg Summit Anne Sommer 41 Alumni/ae Liaison to Editor 41 Challenging Reliability of Kathleen Schomaker Director of Alumni/ae Affairs a Research Methodology Design Margaret Hepburn 43 Class Notes Plaza Publicity & Design Editorial Advisory Board 55 Five Alumni/ae Alan Brewster, Jane Coppock, Receive Awards Gordon Geballe, Stephen Kellert, Emly McDiarmid, Peter Otis, 58 Children and the City Frederick Regan Dean 60 Joy Belsky Remembered James Gustave Speth Environment: Yale is published twice a year (April and October) by the Yale School of Forestry 62 Obituaries & Environmental Studies. Editorial offices are located at 205 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511. 203-436-4842 • e-mail: [email protected] 64 64 Commentary www.yale.edu/environment printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks Fall 2002 Issue 1 DEAN’S MESSAGE: 2001-02 A BANNER YEAR FOR F&ES, B UT HUGE CHALLENGES LIE AHEAD come from outside the United States. Our goal is to increase those figures, particularly with students from the developing world. We see the collaboration among our students in their research and organi- zations on a daily basis and look forward to assisting them as they become environmental professionals. The 2001-02 academic year marked the first full year of the new undergraduate major in environmental studies at Yale. There has been growth in the number and range of environmental courses (many taught by F&ES faculty) offered to undergraduates, including non- © Michael Marsland © Michael majors. Since my arrival at F&ES in 1999, President Rick Levin and Dean James Gustave Speth Provost Alison Richard have voiced unequivocal support for environ- he 2001-02 year was a good one for our school mental studies as a top university priority and have backed this— —and for environmental studies at Yale. Our repeatedly—with strong and effective action. Dean Richard Brodhead progress has been especially noteworthy in has been similarly supportive of strengthening environmental four general areas: faculty expansion and education for Yale undergraduates. We are powerfully committed to Tdiversification, internationalization of the student these new directions. Now thanks to a magnificent gift from Edgar M. body, environmental education at Yale College and Cullman, YC ’40 and Edgar M. Cullman Jr.,YC ’68, a substantial part of securing resources for the school’s future. Success our costs of providing undergraduate teaching for Yale College students in these areas bolsters our efforts of becoming a true has been secured “in perpetuity”(see page 10). global school of the environment while continuing This past academic year was also our most successful year at raising to be second to none in preparing new generations funds for the school’s current and future needs. Including pledges, cash of leaders. gifts and foundation grants, the year’s total was $28 million—with $24 million of that targeted for our campaign’s highest priorities: endowment However, we are not in the position of being complacent. There are and our new facility. Included are three gifts establishing new endowed still huge challenges ahead for all of us. The predictions that many chairs and three other gifts totaling $15 million for our new building. To people made 20 years ago regarding threats to the global environment put this in context, the school’s previous best-ever fund-raising year was have often been ignored, and the deterioration continues today. While 2000-01, when $10.4 million was raised—and before that, the 1999-2000 certainly attempts have been made to pursue international agreements, year,when $5.6 million was secured. these have, to date, not been notably successful.We see F&ES as playing As a result, the F&ES campaign today stands at more than $46 a critical role in preparing the next generation of foresters, scientists, million, including some $37 million for endowment and facilities. The resource managers, business and NGO leaders and policy makers who individuals responsible for this are too numerous to mention, but in will work together to address these environmental threats. speaking of campaign progress and momentum I must single out Since 1999, more than a dozen faculty members have joined F&ES Frances Beinecke and Ed Bass.Their support, leadership and friendship along with significant numbers of visiting faculty, all accomplished have made all the difference. professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds and places. These We still have much to do. The World Summit on Sustainable additions have deepened and broadened the range of our school’s Development in Johannesburg in early September pulled world leaders expertise. New F&ES faculty are building our capacity in such areas as together to look at current conditions of the global environment and sustainable development, forestry, environmental economics, hydrology, human development. The summit certainly reiterated the urgent need ecosystems ecology and environmental law and policy.This year we have not only for increased public awareness of critical environmental issues, searches under way for faculty in energy and in environment health. but also for leaders who will remain committed to finding F&ES draws its student population from over 51 different countries. and implementing solutions. We are firmly placed on the front lines of Thirty-three percent of the master’s degree candidates from the Class this effort. of 2002-03 come from outside the United States; this represents nearly 30 percent of the school’s total enrollment and more than double the September 27,2002 number of students in 1998. In addition, 31 doctoral degree students, or more than 41 percent of the total number of doctoral candidates, 2 ENVIRONMENT:YALE The School of Forestry & Environmental Studies © Gale Zucker/www.gzucker.com LMS Software Changing the Face of Forest Management By John Courtmanche The technology that is empowering these wildlife mitigation negotiations lasted seven hen the Washington decision makers in their forest management years, the current process should take less than state Department of planning is called the Landscape Management half that time.