John W. Coulston
Project Leader/Supervisory Research Forester
Center for Integrated Forest Science and Synthesis
1710 Research Center Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24060-6349
United States
Blacksburg, VA 24060-6349
United States
Phone
540-231-4674
Current Research
Developing and applying quantitative tools and techniques to assess resource conditions and characteristics across broad spatial scales.
Education
- North Carolina State University, Ph.D., Forest Ecology, 2004
- North Carolina State University, M.S., Forest Biometrics, 1999
- North Carolina State University, B.S., Forest Management, 1996
Other Publications
- Koch, Frank H.; Coulston, John. 2022. Drought and moisture surplus patterns in the conterminous United States: 2020, 2018–2020, and 2016–2020
- Domke, Grant M.; Walters, Brian F.; Nowak, David J.; Smith, James ; Nichols, Michael C.; Ogle, Stephen M.; Coulston, J.W. ; Wirth, T.C.. 2021. Greenhouse gas emissions and removals from forest land, woodlands, and urban trees in the United States, 1990–2019
- Hou, Zhengyang ; Domke, Grant M.; Russell, Matthew B.; Coulston, John W.; Nelson, Mark D.; Xu, Qing ; McRoberts, Ronald E.. 2021. Updating annual state- and county-level forest inventory estimates with data assimilation and FIA data
- Koch, Frank H.; Coulston, John W.. 2021. Chapter 4 - Spatial patterns of drought and moisture surplus in the conterminous United States: 2019, and between 2017 to 2019, and 2015 to 2019
- Zhang, Yulong ; Song, Conghe ; Hwang, Taehee ; Novick, Kimberly ; Coulston, John W.; Vose, James ; Dannenberg, Matthew P.; Hakkenberg, Christopher R.; Mao, Jiafu ; Woodcock, Curtis E.. 2021. Land cover change-induced decline in terrestrial gross primary production over the conterminous United States from 2001 to 2016
- Coulston, John ; Green, P Corey; Radtke, Philip ; Prisley, Stephen ; Brooks, Evan ; Thomas, Valerie ; Wynne, Randolph ; Burkhart, Harold E.. 2021. Enhancing the precision of broad-scale forestland removals estimates with small area estimation techniques
- Green, P Corey; Burkhart, Harold ; Coulston, John ; Radtke, Philip ; Thomas, Valerie A.. 2020. Auxiliary information resolution effects on small area estimation in plantation forest inventory
- Zhao, Dehai ; Bullock, Bronson P.; Montes, Cristian R.; Wang, Mingliang ; Westfall, James ; Coulston, John W.. 2020. Long-term dynamics of loblolly pine crown structure and aboveground net primary production as affected by site quality, planting density and cultural intensity
- Coulston, John W.; Edgar, Christopher B.; Westfall, Jim; Taylor, Marcus E.. 2020. Estimation of Forest Disturbance from Retrospective Observations in a Broad-Scale Inventory
- Brooks, Evan B.; Coulston, John W.; Riitters, Kurt H.; Wear, David N.. 2020. Using a hybrid demand-allocation algorithm to enable distributional analysis of land use change patterns
- Derwin, Jill M.; Thomas, Valerie A.; Wynne, Randolph H.; Coulston, John W.; Liknes, Greg C.; Bender, Stacie ; Blinn, Christine E.; Brooks, Evan B.; Ruefenacht, Bonnie ; Benton, Robert ; Finco, Mark V; Megown, Kevin. 2020. Estimating tree canopy cover using harmonic regression coefficients derived from multitemporal Landsat data
- Gorelick, D. E.; Lin, L. ; Zeff, H. B.; Kim, Y. ; Vose, J. M.; Coulston, J. W.; Wear, D. N.; Band, L. E.; Reed, P. M.; Characklis, G. W.. 2020. Accounting for Adaptive Water Supply Management When Quantifying Climate and Land Cover Change Vulnerability
- Koch, Frank H.; Coulston, John W.. 2020. Chapter 4 - Drought and moisture surplus patterns in the conterminous United States: 2018, 2016– 2018, and 2014–2018
- Winn, Matthew F.; Royer, Larry A.; Bentley, James W.; Piva, Ronald J.; Morgan, Todd A.; Berg, Erik C.; Coulston, John W.. 2020. Timber products monitoring: unit of measure conversion factors for roundwood receiving facilities
- Domke, Grant M.; Walters, Brian F.; Nowak, David J.; Smith, James ; Ogle, Stephen M.; Coulston, J.W. ; Wirth, T.C.. 2020. Greenhouse gas emissions and removals from forest land, woodlands, and urban trees in the United States, 1990-2018
- Nelson, Mark D.; Riitters, Kurt H.; Coulston, John W.; Domke, Grant M.; Greenfield, Eric J.; Langner, Linda L.; Nowak, David J.; O'Dea, Claire B.; Oswalt, Sonja N.; Reeves, Matthew C.; Wear, David N.. 2020. Defining the United States land base: a technical document supporting the USDA Forest Service 2020 RPA assessment
- Haight, Robert G.; Bluffstone, Randall ; Kline, Jeffrey D.; Coulston, John W.; Wear, David N.; Zook, Kate. 2020. Estimating the Present Value of Carbon Sequestration in U.S. Forests, 2015–2050, for Evaluating Federal Climate Change Mitigation Policies
- Frank, Jereme ; Weiskittel, Aaron ; Walker, David ; Westfall, James A.; Radtke, Philip J.; Affleck, David L.R.; Coulston, John ; MacFarlane, David W.. 2019. Gaps in available data for modeling tree biomass in the United States
- Domke, Grant M.; Walters, Brian F.; Nowak, David J.; Smith, James ; Ogle, Stephen M.; Coulston, John W.. 2019. Greenhouse gas emissions and removals from forest land and urban trees in the United States, 1990-2017
- Saia, Sheila M.; Suttles, Kelly M.; Cutts, Bethany B.; Emanuel, Ryan E.; Martin, Katherine L.; Wear, David N.; Coulston, John W.; Vose, James M.. 2019. Applying climate change risk management tools to integrate streamflow projections and social vulnerability
- Koch, Frank H.; Coulton. John W.,. 2019. Chapter 4 - Drought and moisture surplus patterns in the conterminous United States: 2017, 2015-2017, and 2013-2017
- Wear, David N.; Coulston, John W.. 2019. Specifying forest sector models for forest carbon projections
- Gopalakrishnan, Ranjith ; Kauffman, Jobriath ; Fagan, Matthew ; Coulston, John ; Thomas, Valerie ; Wynne, Randolph ; Fox, Thomas ; Quirino, Valquiria. 2019. Creating landscape-scale site index maps for the southeastern US is possible with airborne LiDAR and Landsat imagery
- Green, P Corey; Burkhart, Harold ; Coulston, John ; Radtke, Philip J.. 2019. A novel application of small area estimation in loblolly pine forest inventory
- Domke, G. ; Williams, C. A.; Birdsey, R. ; Coulston, J. ; Finzi, A. ; Gough, C. ; Haight, B. ; Hicke, J. ; Janowiak, M. ; de Jong, B. ; Kurz, W. A.; Lucash, M. ; Ogle, S. ; Olguín-Álvarez, M. ; Pan, Y. ; Skutsch, M. ; Smyth, C. ; Swanston, C. ; Templer, P. ; Wear, D. ; Woodall, C. W.. 2018. Chapter 9: Forests
- Coulston, John W.; Westfall, James A.; Wear, David N.; Edgar, Christopher B.; Prisley, Steven P.; Treiman, Thomas B.; Abt, Robert C.; Smith, W. Brad. 2018. Annual monitoring of US timber production: rationale and design
- Zhao, Dehai ; Lynch, Thomas ; Westfall, James ; Coulston, John ; Kane, Michael ; Adams, David E.. 2018. Compatibility, development, and estimation of taper and volume equation systems
- Kim, Taek Joo; Wear, David N.; Coulston, John ; Li, Ruhong. 2018. Forest land use responses to wood product markets
- Suttles, Kelly M.; Singh, Nitin K.; Vose, James M.; Martin, Katherine L.; Emanuel, Ryan E.; Coulston, John W.; Saia, Sheila M.; Crump, Michael T.. 2018. Assessment of hydrologic vulnerability to urbanization and climate change in a rapidly changing watershed in the Southeast U.S.
- Koch, Frank H.; Coulston, John W.. 2018. Chapter 4 - Moisture deficit and surplus in the conterminous United States for three time windows: 2016, 2014-2016, and 2012-2016
- Costanza, Jennifer K.; Faber-Langendoen, Don; Coulston, John W.; Wear, David N.. 2018. Classifying forest inventory data into species-based forest community types at broad extents: exploring tradeoffs among supervised and unsupervised approaches
- Martin, Katherine L.; Hwang, Taehee; Vose, James M.; Coulston, John W.; Wear, David N.; Miles, Brian; Band, Lawrence E.. 2017. Watershed impacts of climate and land use changes depend on magnitude and land use context
- Costanza, Jennifer K.; Coulston, John W.; Wear, David N.. 2017. An empirical, hierarchical typology of tree species assemblages for assessing forest dynamics under global change scenarios
- Bluffstone, R.; Coulston, J.; Haight, R.G.; Kline, J.; Polasky, S.; Wear, D.N.; Zook, K.. 2017. Estimated values of carbon sequestration resulting from forest management scenarios
- Radtke, Philip; Walker, David; Frank, Jereme; Weiskittel, Aaron; DeYoung, Clara; MacFarlane, David; Domke, Grant; Woodall, Christopher; Coulston, John; Westfall, James. 2017. Improved accuracy of aboveground biomass and carbon estimates for live trees in forests of the eastern United States
- Koch, Frank H.; Coulston, John. 2016. Chapter 4: 1-Year (2014 , 3-Year (2012–2014 ) , and 5-Year (2010–2014) Maps of Drought and Moisture Surplus for the Conterminous United States
- Coulston, John W.; Blinn, Christine E.; Thomas, Valerie A.; Wynne, Randolph H.. 2016. Approximating prediction uncertainty for random forest regression models
- Brooks, Evan B.; Coulston, John W.; Wynne, Randolph H.; Thomas, Valerie A.. 2016. Improving the precision of dynamic forest parameter estimates using Landsat
- Coulston, John; Wear, David; Vose, Jim. 2015. Observed and projected C change in the Southeastern US
- Koch, Frank H.; Smith, William D.; Coulston, John W.. 2015. Chapter 4: Drought Patterns in the Conterminous United States, 2012
- Roesch, Francis; Coulston, John; Van Deusen, Paul; Podlaski, Rafal. 2015. Evaluation of image-assisted forest monitoring: A simulation
- Zobel, John M.; Coulston, John W.. 2015. Determining forest carbon stock losses due to wildfire disturbance in the Western United States
- Ruefenacht, Bonnie; Benton, Robert; Johnson, Vicky; Biswas, Tanushree; Baker, Craig; Finco, Mark; Megown, Kevin; Coulston, John; Winterberger, Ken; Riley, Mark. 2015. Forest service contributions to the national land cover database (NLCD): Tree Canopy Cover Production
- Benton, Robert; Ruefenacht, Bonnie; Johnson, Vicky; Biswas, Tanushree; Baker, Craig; Finco, Mark; Megown, Kevin; Coulston, John; Winterberger, Ken; Riley, Mark. 2015. NLCD tree canopy cover (TCC) maps of the contiguous United States and coastal Alaska
- Woodall, Christopher W.; Walters, Brian F.; Coulston, John; D’Amato, A.W.; Domke, Grant M.; Russell, M.B.; Sowers, Paul. 2015. Monitoring network confirms land use change is a substantial component of the forest carbon sink in the eastern United States
- Domke, Grant M.; Coulston, John W.; Woodall, Christopher W.. 2015. The new forest carbon accounting framework for the United States
- Freeman, Elizabeth A.; Moisen, Gretchen G.; Coulston, John W.; Wilson, Barry T. (Ty). 2015. Random forests and stochastic gradient boosting for predicting tree canopy cover: Comparing tuning processes and model performance
- Woodall, Christopher W.; Coulston, John W.; Domke, Grant M.; Walters, Brian F.; Wear, David N.; Smith, James E.; Andersen, Hans-Erik; Clough, Brian J.; Cohen, Warren B.; Griffith, Douglas M.; Hagen, Stephen C.; Hanou, Ian S.; Nichols, Michael C.; Perry, Charles H. (Hobie); Russell, Matthew B.; Westfall, Jim; Wilson, Barry T. (Ty). 2015. The U.S. forest carbon accounting framework: stocks and stock change, 1990-2016
- Wear, Dave; Coulston, John W.. 2015. From sink to source: Regional variation in U.S. forest carbon futures
- Weiskittel, Aaron R.; MacFarlane, David W.; Radtke, Philip J.; Affleck, David L.R.; Temesgen, Hailemariam; Woodall, Christopher W.; Westfall, James A.; Coulston, John W.. 2015. A call to improve methods for estimating tree biomass for regional and national assessments
- Coulston, John W.; Wear, David N.; Vose, James M.. 2015. Complex forest dynamics indicate potential for slowing carbon accumulation in the southeastern United States
- Koch, Frank H.; Smith, William D.; Coulston, John W.. 2014. Chapter4 - Drought patterns in the conterminous United States and Hawaii.
- Wickham, James; Homer, Collin; Vogelmann, James; McKerrow, Alexa; Mueler, Rick; Herold, Nate; Coulston, John. 2014. The multi-resolution land characteristics (MRLC) consortium–20 years of development and integration of USA national land cover data
- Coulston, John W.; Reams, Greg; Wear, Dave N.; Brewer, C. Kenneth. 2014. An analysis of forest land use, forest land cover, and change at policy-relevant scales
- Miller, James H.; Lemke, Dawn; Coulston, John. 2013. The invasion of southern forests by nonnative plants: current and future occupation, with impacts, management strategies, and mitigation approaches
- Riitters, Kurt H.; Coulston, John W.. 2013. Fragmentation of eastern United States forest types
- Koch, Frank H.; Smith, William D.; Coulston, John W.. 2013. Recent drought conditions in the Conterminous United States
- Coulston, John W.; Jacobs, Dennis M.; King, Chris R.; Elmore, Ivey C.. 2013. The influence of multi-season imagery on models of canopy cover: A case study
- Huggett, Robert; Wear, David N.; Li, Ruhong; Coulston, John; Liu, Shan. 2013. Forecasts of forest conditions
- Koch, Frank H.; Smith, William D.; Coulston, John W.. 2013. An improved method for standardized mapping of drought conditions
- Westfall, James A.; Pugh, Scott A.; Coulston, John W.. 2013. Conducting tests for statistically significant differences using forest inventory data
- Coulston, John W.; Nelson, Kellen; Woodall, Christopher W.; Meriwether, David; Reams, Gregory A.. 2012. The climate change performance scorecard and carbon estimates for national forest
- Patterson, Paul L.; Coulston, John W.; Roesch, Francis A.; Westfall, James A.; Hill, Andrew D.. 2012. A primer of nonresponse in the US Forest Inventory and Analysis program
- Koch, Frank H.; Coulston, John W.; Smith, William D.. 2012. Mapping drought conditions using multi-year windows
- Lemke, Dawn; Coulston, John W.; Hulme, Philip; Paterson, Clint; Brown, Jennifer A.. 2012. Invasive potential of invasive plants in the forest of the southern region, United States
- Koch, Frank H.; Coulston, John W.; Smith, William D.. 2012. High-Resolution Mapping of Drought Conditions
- Woodall, Christopher W.; Smith, James E.; Domke, Grant M.; Healey, Sean P.; Coulston, John W.; Gray, Andrew N.. 2012. Technical aspects of the forest carbon inventory of the United States: recent past and near future
- Tipton, John; Moisen, Gretchen; Patterson, Paul; Jackson, Thomas A.; Coulston, John. 2012. Sampling intensity and normalizations: Exploring cost-driving factors in nationwide mapping of tree canopy cover
- Moisen, Gretchen G.; Coulston, John W.; Wilson, Barry T.; Cohen, Warren B.; Finco, Mark V.. 2012. Choosing appropriate subpopulations for modeling tree canopy cover nationwide
- Coulston, John W.; Moisen, Gretchen G.; Wilson, Barry T.; Finco, Mark V.; Cohen, Warren B.; Brewer, C. Kenneth. 2012. Modeling percent tree canopy cover: a pilot study
- Roesch, Francis; Coulston, John; Hill, Andrew D.. 2012. Statistical properties of alternative national forest inventory area estimators
- Westfall, James A.; Patterson, Paul L.; Coulston, John W.. 2011. Post-stratified estimation: with-in strata and total sample size recommendations
- Woodall, Christopher William; Amacher, Michael C.; Bechtold, William A.; Coulston, John W.; Jovan, Sarah, Dr.; Perry, Charles H.; Randolph, KaDonna C.; Schulz, Beth K.; Smith, Gretchen C.; Will-Wolf, Susan. 2011. Status and future of the forest health indicators program of the USA
- Riitters, Kurt; Coulston, John; Wickham, James. 2011. Fragmentation of forest communities in the eastern United States
- Coulston, John W.. 2011. Modeling ozone bioindicator injury with microscale and landscape-scale explanatory variables: A logistic regression approach
- Woodall, Christopher W.; Conkling, Barbara L.; Amacher, Michael C.; Coulston, John W.; Jovan, Sarah, Dr.; Perry, Charles H.; Schulz, Beth; Smith, Gretchen C.; Will Wolf, Susan. 2010. The Forest Inventory and Analysis Database Version 4.0: Database Description and Users Manual for Phase 3
- Koch, Frank H.; Coulston, John W.. 2010. Modeling current climate conditions for forest pest risk assessment
- Rose, Anita K.; Coulston, John W.. 2009. <p>Ozone injury across the Southern United States, 2002–06</p>
- Couston, John W.. 2009. Insects and diseases
- Coulston, John W.. 2009. Air pollution: Tropospheric ozone, and wet deposition of sulfate and inorganic nitrogen
- Coulston, John W.. 2009. Drought
- McCollum, Joseph M.; Gormanson, Dale; Coulston, John. 2009. Correct county areas with sidebars for Virginia
- Oswalt, Sonja; Huang, Chengquan; Shi, Hua; Vogelmann, James; Zhu, Zhiliang; Goward, Samuel N.; Coulston, John. 2009. Integrating Landsat-derived disturbance maps with FIA inventory data: Applications for state-Level forest resource assessments
- Oswalt, Sonja N.; Johnson, Tony G.; Coulston, John W.; Oswalt, Christopher M.. 2009. Mississippi's forests, 2006
- Oswalt, Christopher M.; Oswalt, Sonja N.; Johnson, Tony G.; Chamberlain, James L.; Randolph, KaDonna C.; Coulston, John W.. 2009. Tennessee's Forests, 2004
- Prisley, Stephen P.; Wang, Huei-Jin; Radtke, Philip J; Coulston, John. 2009. Combining FIA plot data with topographic variables: Are precise locations needed?
- Ambrose, Mark J.; Conkling, Barbara L.; Riitters, Kurt H.; Coulston, John W.. 2008. The forest health monitoring national technical reports: examples of analyses and results from 2001-2004
- Coulston, John W.; Koch, Frank H.; Smith, William D.; Sapio, Frank J.. 2008. Invasive forest pest surveillance: survey development and reliability
- Coulston, John. 2008. Forest inventory and stratified estimation: a cautionary note
- Coulston, John W.; Ambrose, Mark J.. 2007. Ozone bioindicator
- Coulston, John W.. 2007. Insect and disease activity (2003)
- Campbell, Sally J.; Wanek, Ron; Coulston, John W.. 2007. Ozone injury in west coast forests: 6 years of monitoring.
- Coulston, John W.. 2007. Fire occurence (2004)
- Coulston, John W.. 2007. Drought occurence
- Coulston, John W.; Riitters, Kurt H.; McRoberts, Ronald E.; Smith, William D.. 2006. True versus perturbed forest inventory plot locations for modeling: a simulation study
- Coulston, John W.; Ambrose, Mark J.; Riitters, Kurt H.; Conkling, Barbara L.. 2005. Forest health monitoring: 2004 national technical report
- Riitters, Kurt H.; Coulston, John W.. 2005. Environmental assessment hot spots of perforated forest in the eastern United States
- Coulston, John W.; Riitters, Kurt H.. 2005. Preserving biodiversity under current and future climates: a case study
- McRoberts, Ronald E.; Holden, Geoffrey R.; Nelson, Mark D.; Liknes, Greg C.; Moser, Warren K.; Lister, Andrew J.; King, Susan L.; LaPoint, Elizabeth B.; Coulston, John W.; Smith, W. Brad; Reams, Gregory A.. 2005. Estimating and circumventing the effects of perturbing and swapping inventory plot locations
- Coulston, John W.; Ambrose, Mark J.; Riitters, Kurt H.; Conkling, Barbara L.. 2005. Forest health monitoring: 2002 national technical report
- Coulston, John W.; Ambrose, Mark J.; Riitters, Kurt H.; Conkling, Barbara L.; Smith, William D.. 2005. Forest health monitoring: 2003 national technical report
- Conkling, Barbara L.; Coulston, John W.; Ambrose, Mark J.. 2005. Forest health monitoring: 2001 national technical report
- Coulston, John W.; Riitters, Kurt H.; Smith, Grethchen C.. 2004. A preliminary assessment of the Montréal process indicators of air pollution for the United States
- Riitters, Kurt H.; Wickham, James D.; Coulston, John W.. 2004. A preliminary assessment of Montreal process indicators of forest fragmentation for the United States
- Riitters, Kurt H.; Wickham, James; Coulston, John. 2004. Use of Road Maps in National Assessments of Forest Fragmentation in the United States
- Coulston, John W.; Riitters, Kurt H.. 2003. Geographic analysis of forest health indicators using spatial scan statistics
- Coulston, John W.; Smith, Gretchen C.; Smith, William D.. 2003. Regional Assessment of Ozone Sensitive Tree Species Using Bioindicator Plants
- Riitters, Kurt H.; Coulston, John W.; Wickham, James D.. 2003. Localizing National Fragmentation Statistics with Forest Type Maps
- Riitters, Kurt H.; Wickham, James D.; O'Neill, Robert V.; Jones, K. Bruce; Smith, Elizabeth R.; Coulston, John W.; Wade, Timothy G.; Smith, Jonathan H.. 2002. Fragmentation of Continental United States Forests
Research Highlights
Carbon Accumulation by U.S. Forests May Slow Over the Next 25 Years
Year: 2016
U.S. forests currently help offset carbon emissions and reduce the overall costs of achieving emission targets but that could change over the next 25 years. The accumulation of carbon stored in U.S. forests may slow in the future, primarily due to land use change and forest aging, according to findi...
New research reveals that mixed land use watersheds are most vulnerable to forest loss
Year: 2017
Forest Service scientists developed a novel land use model and integrated modeling framework that represents a significant advancement for evaluating the potential effects of climate and land use change at scales necessary to inform policy and management decision-making. Their findings indicate that...
Future Drinking Water Supply Depends on Interactions of Climate, Land Use, and Water Management
Year: 2020
Changes in climate and land use strongly shape water resource management, but understanding their joint impacts is extremely challenging. To reliably meet future drinking water demands, water utilities must understand potential impacts of climate and land use changes on water availability.This work ...