Contact: Alaina Dismukes

STARKVILLE, Mississippi—An expert in fire and forest ecology is this year’s guest for Mississippi State’s 2018 Carlton N. Owen Lecture Series.

Jeff Kane will lead the Wednesday [Nov. 28] public program. His presentation, titled “Ecological insights of litter flammability traits in southeastern U.S. tree species,” begins at 3 p.m. in Thompson Hall’s Tully Auditorium.

His research focus is on management and restoration of fire prone ecosystems, exploring litter flammability, post fire tree mortality, and vegetation response to fuel treatments.

Kane received a bachelor’s in environmental science at Plattsburgh State University and a master’s in fire ecology and fuels management at Humboldt State University. He earned a Ph.D. at Northern Arizona University in forest ecology.

He is an associate professor of fire ecology and fuels management, and director of Wildland Fire Lab at Humboldt State University.

Kane is chair of the Northern California Prescribed Fire Council and a member of the Association of Fire Ecology Education. He also serves as associate editor of the journal Fire Ecology and contributing author to Fire in California’s Ecosystems, Second Edition. 

The Owen Lecture Series, established nearly two decades ago in MSU’s College of Forest Resources, is named for the the Greenville, South Carolina, resident and 1974 MSU graduate. The program focuses on natural resource conservation issues.

Those who need special assistance related to a disability should contact Ian Munn at imunn@cfr.msstate.edu or call 662-325-1379.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.