Fire in the Adirondacks - Forester Perspectives

Bob Stegemann leads a panel of forestry experts in discussing fire and its impact on their industry. With him are:

Lizz Schuyler is the Supervisor of Natural Resource Analysis at the Adirondack Park
Agency, where she leads efforts to integrate ecological science into land use planning
and policy. Lizz holds a Ph.D. in Wildlife Science from Oregon State University, where
her doctoral research examined the ecological consequences of wildfire and invasive
species in degraded western landscapes through the lens of landscape species. Her
academic and professional background centers on the role of natural disturbance,
particularly wildfire, in shaping wildlife dynamics and ecosystem recovery. Prior to
joining the Agency, she served as a professor of wildlife ecology at Paul Smith’s
College, where she taught and mentored students in the heart of the Adirondacks.
Driven by a commitment to science-informed policy and a deep connection to her home
region, Lizz brings a cross-regional perspective on fire-adapted ecosystems and land
management strategies.

Justin Waskiewicz is an Associate Professor of Forestry at Paul Smith’s College, where he has been teaching since 2017, with classes including Dendrology Lab, Wood Properties, Forest Mensuration, Forest Ecology, Advanced Silviculture, and Fire Ecology. Prior to Paul Smith’s, Justin has worked at the University of Vermont and the Penobscot Experimental Forest in Maine. His formal education in forestry began with a Bachelor’s degree from Northern Arizona University in 2000, where he studied among the fire-dependent ponderosa pine ecosystems and worked for the Ecological Restoration Institute, continuing there with a Master’s degree in 2003. Justin completed a PhD at the University of Maine in 2011, studying inter-species competition in an oak-pine forest that developed over the decades following a 1947 fire.

Tom Curiale is an Operations Forester at Lyme Adirondack Forest Company (LAFCO), where
he manages day-to-day forest operations on approximately 48,000 acres of industrial
forestland throughout the Champlain Valley. LAFCO is currently the largest private
landowner in New York State, managing 234,000 acres of forestland throughout the
Adirondack region. Tom graduated from Paul Smith’s College in 2022 with a B.S. in
Forest Operations and a minor in Wildland Firefighting. He has also served as a
volunteer firefighter since 2016, where he has worked on both prescribed burns and
unintentionally set wildland fires in Essex and Franklin Counties.

Bob Stegemann’'s career spanned both public and private sectors, including work with the Tug Hill Commission, Empire State Forest Products Association, International Paper and NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. In all of these positions, Bob’s work sought to find solutions to environmental and economic demands. Early in his career Bob worked for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as a smokejumper fighting fires in Alaska and the northwest. Bob holds a BA in Economics from Union College and a MS In Resources Management and Policy from SUNY ESF. Bob and his wife, Eileen, are retired and live near Saranac Lake, NY.