Chad Hanson

Dr. Chad Hanson is a research ecologist and the director of the John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute, located in Big Bear City, California. He has a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California at Davis, with a research focus on fire ecology in conifer forest ecosystems, and he is the author of the 2021 book, "Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our Climate", as well as the co-editor and co-author of the 2015 book, "The Ecological Importance of Mixed...See more

Dr. Chad Hanson is a research ecologist and the director of the John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute, located in Big Bear City, California. He has a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California at Davis, with a research focus on fire ecology in conifer forest ecosystems, and he is the author of the 2021 book, "Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our Climate", as well as the co-editor and co-author of the 2015 book, "The Ecological Importance of Mixed-Severity Fires: Nature's Phoenix" (Elsevier, Inc.). Research by Chad covers topics such as: natural post-fire forest regrowth and carbon sequestration; carbon flux in wildland fires; current forest fire patterns and trends; fire history; habitat selection of rare wildlife species associated with habitat created by high-intensity fire; and adverse impacts to wildlife caused by logging. See less