Ph.D. University of Idaho-Forestry, Wildlife and Range Sciences
M.S. Northern Arizona University-Fire Ecology
B.S. Michigan State University-Forestry

Brian Oswald is Professor of Fire Ecology, Silviculture and Range Management, joining the faculty at SFA in 1995. Prior to that, he was Assistant Professor of Forestry at Alabama A&M University, and also taught for 5 years at a Community College on the Navajo Reservation. In 2002, he was presented the Carl A. Schenck Award by the SAF for outstanding forestry education, and in 2004 the University of Idaho’s College of Natural Resources presented him the Mid-Career Alumni Achievement Award.

Research

All research has been driven by his 13 graduate students who have graduated and the 6 he is currently supervising. Research has been performed in Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. General research topics include:

1. Fire Ecology and Management
2. Silviculture
3. Community Ecology and Classification
4. Silvopasture and Agroforestry

Teaching

FOR 337 Introduction to Fire Management
FOR 427 Regional Silviculture
FOR 438 Fire Use in Land Management
FOR 448 Range Management
FOR 545 Forest and Range Ecological Concepts
FOR 546 Fire Ecology

Selected Publications

Bataineh, A.L., B.P. Oswald, H.M. Williams, D.W. Coble. 2006. Changes in understory vegetation of a ponderosa pine forest in Northern Arizona 30 years after the Rattle Burn Wildfire. Forest Ecology and Management. 283-294.

Oswald, B.P., M. Bataineh, and A. Rountree. 2004. First record of Clitoria mariana (Leguminosae) in western Texas. SIDA 21(1): 507-508.

Gardner, S.L., B.P. Oswald, K.W. Farrish, and C. Edminster. 2003. Preliminary community classification within three vegetative zones of the east side of the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico. New Mexico Journal of Science 42(1):25-29.

Rideout, S., B.P. Oswald, and M.H. Legg. 2003. Ecological, political and social ramifications of prescribed fire restoration in East Texas Pineywoods Ecosystems: a case study. Forestry 76(2):261-269.

Rideout, S., and B.P. Oswald. 2002. Effects of prescribed burning on vegetation and fuel loading in three East Texas state parks. Texas Journal of Science 54(3):211-226.

Scott, K., B. Oswald, K. Farrish, and D. Unger. 2002. Fuel loading prediction models developed from aerial photographs of the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez Mountains of New Mexico, U.S.A. International Journal of Wildland Fire 11:85-90.

Oswald, B.P., R.G. Balice, and K.B. Scott. 2000. Fuel loads and overstory conditions at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. Pp 41-45, IN: W. Keith Moser and Cynthia F. Moser (eds.). Fire and Forest Ecology: Innovative Silviculture and Vegetation Management. Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference Proceedings No. 21. Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, FL.

Oswald, B.P., J.T. Fancher, D.L. Kulhavy, and H.C. Reeves. 2000. Classifying fuels with aerial photos in East Texas. International Journal of Wildland Fire 9:109-113.

Oswald, B.P., D. Davenport, and L.F. Neuenschwander. 1999. Effects of slash pile burning on the physical and chemical soil properties of Vassar Soils. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 8(1): 75-86.

Oswald, B.P., K. Wellner, R. Boyce, and L.F. Neuenschwander. 1999. Germination and growth of four coniferous species on varied duff depths in Northern Idaho. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 8(1):11-21.

Zhang, L., B.P. Oswald, and T.H. Green. 1999. Relationships between overstory species and communities of the Sipsey Wilderness, Alabama. Forest Ecology and Management 114(2-3): 377-383.

Oswald, B.P., T.H. Green, L. Zhang, and K. Ward. 1996. Differences in stand characteristics and species composition in the mixed hardwood forests of North Alabama as reflected by the presence of eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana L.). Journal of Sustainable Forestry 3:75-100.

Oswald, B.P., and L.F. Neuenschwander. 1995. Mortality of western larch seedlings in relation to seedbed characteristics at the dry end of its ecological range. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 122(2):101-108.

Oswald, B.P., and L.F. Neuenschwander. 1993. Microsite variability and safe site description for western larch germination and establishment. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 120(2):148-156.

Oswald, B.P., and W. W. Covington. 1984. The effect of a prescribed burn on herbage production in southwestern ponderosa pine on sedimentary soils. Forest Science 30(1):22-25.

Oswald, B.P., and W.W. Covington. 1983. Changes in understory production following a wildfire in southwestern ponderosa pine. Journal of Range Management 36(4):507-509.