Donald Field

Professor of Forest Ecology and Management and Sociology
A143 Russell Labs
(608) 263-0853
drfield@wisc.edu

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Research Interest Statement
Donald R. Field’s research examines the interplay of social and demographic systems with bio-physical systems. In recent work, he documented changes in housing density associated with changes in vegetation cover over the past 40 years in northern Wisconsin. The association between the growth of residential units in amenity rich areas such as national forests and lake systems is important to understand the nature of change in forest structure and composition.

Field has had a long interest in the demography of rural society. He has examined effects of changing forestry practices on the size, distribution and growth of forest-based communities. The most recent project of this type maps changes in community social structure and land use planning due to housing development in amenity-rich areas. Field and his colleagues found that almost 70 percent of the dwellings in Wisconsin’s northern recreational areas are owned by seasonal residents. Such landowners are unlikely to contribute to community infrastructure yet have high expectations for cosmopolitan community services.

Selected Publications:
Machlis, Gary M. and Donald R. Field, eds. 2000. National Parks and Rural Development: Practice and Policy in the United States. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Aley, Jennifer, William Burch, Beth Conover, and Donald Field, eds. 1999. Ecoystem Management. Philadelphia: Taylor and Francis.

CDE Research Theme Working Groups
Health and Mortality