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2006 Herbert Stoddard, Sr. Award
DR. EDWARD R. BUCKNER
Dr. Ed Buckner teaching a fire ecology class at the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. Photo by Dr. Patrick Brose.
Dr. Edward R. Buckner, Professor Emeritus of Forestry, began his career in the wood-processing industry and with the North Carolina Division of Forestry prior to his 41-year career with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In addtion, extended leaves from his academic appointment provided him with experiences in Alaska, Oregon and Montana.
Even during the 1970s and 1980s when the role of fire in the environment was not as widely recognized, Dr. Buckner had the foresight to acknowledge fire’s value and importance and to teach about it. Many of today’s aspiring fire ecologists and foresters have heard him lecture on the evolution of forest types in the South and the role of fire his courses or workshops.
Dr. Buckner was instrumental in bringing attention to Table Mountain Pine and its dependence on fire for regeneration. He advocated for implementation of fire in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in an effort to halt decline of Table Mountain Pine. His efforts, and those of his students, are widely recognized today. In addition, he had a major hand in organizing the benchmark international meeting hosted by the University of Tennessee in 1991 in Knoxville - Fire and the Environment: Ecological and Cultural Perspectives.
Trained as a geologist, Dr. Buckner has exceptional enthusiasm for natural history. His study of the historical documents discussing natural and anthropogenic fire has been inspiring to many other students of fire ecology. Dr. Buckner has showed how important it is to understand the past in order to understand the challenges and possibilities in land management today.
Perhaps Dr. Buckner’s strongest legacy is in the hundreds of students that he taught and mentored. He instilled them with the knowledge of fire’s role in the environment and trained them to see the essential ecological processes behind the forest. He has had a tremendous and wonderful impact on their lives.
But probably the greatest contribution that Dr. Buckner has made to the discipline of Fire Ecology has been his teaching. His lectures and presentations on fire history and fire ecology have been given to well over 100 audiences over the past 25 years. Those audiences range from lay clubs and college sophomores to research conferences, professional organizations, environmental groups, and government agencies. He had great enthusiasm for fire history and the use of prescribed fire and his students were always excited and inspired by his teaching. |
