Specialist/Associate Professor
Department: MSU Extension/W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation
University System: Montana State University/University of Montana - Missoula
Website(s): https://www.cfc.umt.edu/personnel/details.php?ID=1115
Professional Summary:
Peter F. Kolb is the Montana State University Extension Forestry Specialist and an Associate Professor of Forest Ecology & Management at the University of Montana. He works with the faculty of both Montana State and the University of Montana. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Idaho in plant ecophysiology and forest and range ecology in 2004, his M.S. from Idaho in forest protection/silviculture in 1987, and his B.S. in Forestry from Michigan State University in 1983. He started his career as an arborist in Milwaukee Wisconsin which sparked his interest in basic tree biology and pests, pathogens, soils, and disturbances. Between studies he has worked as a research forester for the Idaho Department of Lands, an applied forester for the Wisconsin DNR and Boise Cascade, a forest nursery assistant for Champion Intl., and fire crew with the USDA Forest Service. For the past 24 years he has studied tree physiology, and forest ecosystem function and dynamics with a specific interest in the role of disturbance processes across Idaho and Montana. Since 1997 he has worked as the MSU Extension Forestry Specialist and extensively with private landowners, loggers and professional foresters in tree care, windbreaks and shelterbelts, forest assessment and management plan development, forest health protection, forest silvicultural practices that emulate natural processes, and post-wildfire rehabilitation.