The NAU Review — Protecting northern Arizona’s forests, creating ceramics in one of the country’s largest wood-fired kilns and spotlighting Olympics-bound Lumberjacks

July 10, 2024

In 1996, John Paul Roccaforte and his colleagues at NAU’s Ecological Research Institute embarked on an ambitious mission to study restoration across more than 5,000 acres of dense ponderosa pine forests in northern Arizona. After two decades of hands-on investigation, they successfully decreased the area’s tree density and vulnerability to wildfire—unlocking the key to revitalizing and protecting our beloved local ecosystem in an era when fires in the West burn hotter and bigger than ever.