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Grant M. Domke

Grant M. Domke
Team Leader, Research Forester
Northern Research Station
Forest Inventory & Analysis
1992 Folwell Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108-1034
United States
Phone
651-649-5138
0000-0003-0485-0355
Email
Current Research
I have leadership responsibilities for forest carbon estimation and reporting within the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the USDA Forest Service. This program is responsible for reporting on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals in the forest land category as part of the United States’ commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This involves working with a team of scientists and staff to compile estimates of carbon stocks and stock changes in forest ecosystems for national and international reporting instruments. It also requires working with scientists from other land use categories to ensure transparency, consistency, completeness, comparability, and accuracy in GHG reporting.
Research Interest
In addition to leadership of the carbon estimation and reporting group, I use strategic-level forest inventory data and auxiliary information (e.g., climate and remotely sensed data) to develop models that estimate carbon stocks and stock changes in forest ecosystem carbon pools for the FIA program and GHG reporting. I am also interested in developing new inventory and monitoring techniques to facilitate carbon estimation and accounting across spatial and temporal scales.
Why This Research Is Important

Forest ecosystems represent the largest terrestrial carbon sink on earth and provide myriad goods and services to society. Improving our understanding of forest carbon dynamics will provide Forest Service partners with a better picture of the forest resource, allowing them to make more informed policy and management decisions.

Education
  • University of Minnesota, Ph.D., Quantitative Silviculture and Forest Ecosystem Health, 2010
  • University of Toronto, M.S., Applied Forest Ecology and Silviculture, 2005
  • University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, B.S., Biology and Forest Ecosystem Restoration and Management, 2003
Professional Experience
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor in Forest Resources,  University of Minnesota,  2011 - Current
Professional Organizations
  • Member,  International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO),  2013 - Current
  • Member,  American Geophysical Union,  2010 - Current
  • Member,  Ecological Society of America,  2004 - Current
  • Member,  Society of American Foresters (SAF),  2001 - 2010
Awards & Recognition
  • NRS Director’s Award – Early Career Scientist, 2014
  • Spot Award, 2012
    In recognition and extra effort to revise substantial portions of the U.S.'s 2012 National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, revisions published in EPA's 2012 NGHGI
Featured Publications
Other Publications
Research Highlights

Field Measurements Confirm Importance of Litter and Soil Carbon in U.S. Forests

Year: 2016
Field measurements of litter and soil attributes in the Forest Inventory and Analysis program were used, for the first time, to develop predictions of litter and soil carbon (C) stocks and stock changes in U.S. forests. This work resulted in substantial increases in the contribution of the soil orga...

Land use conversion to and from forest land has important implications on the National Greenhouse Gas Budget

Year: 2017
Land use and land use change data from the Forest Inventory and Analysis Program makes possible a first-of-its-kind analysis of carbon dynamics associated with forest land conversion in the National Inventory Report of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks in the U.S.

Another Benefit of Reforestation: Soil Carbon Sequestration

Year: 2018
The rate of carbon sequestration in forests is projected to decline in the decades ahead, largely because more forest land will be developed and today’s aging forests sequester less carbon. In a first-of-its-kind analysis, Northern Research Station scientists and University of Michigan partners have...

Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals from Managed Forest Land in Alaska

Year: 2019
Alaska forests represent 10 percent of the total managed forest land area in the United States but store 17 percent of the total carbon in forests. These forests also represent a net carbon sink over the last 27 years but there is considerable interannual variability driven, in large part, by wildfi...

Potential to Increase Carbon Sequestration with Tree Planting

Year: 2020
Almost one-third of Earth’s total land area is comprised of forest, which is also the largest terrestrial carbon sink. A Northern Research Station scientist and his partners have established that fully stocking the Nation’s understocked forests could increase carbon sequestration by about 20 percent...

Better Estimates of Carbon Inventory in Dead Wood Now Available

Year: 2013
Researchers with the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program have sampled downed and dead woody material (DWM) since 2002 so most U.S. states now have a complete cycle of DWM data. As a result, for the first time, researchers used field measurements to obtain estimates of DWM biomass and carbon ...
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/about/people/gmdomke