Brandon Collins

Brandon Collins has strong working relationships with forest managers, which yields a great two-way exchange of knowledge and ideas. Brandon draws from this exchange to shape and ground the research he's involved in. His active areas of investigation include: 1) vegetation and fuel development following fuel reduction treatments and wildfires, 2) landscape-level effects of fuel treatments on wildfire patterns, and 3) fire and vegetation feedbacks in areas managed with natural fire.

Education

Ph.D. Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, 2007

M.S. Forest Sciences, Colorado State University, 2004

B.S. Forestry, University of California, Berkeley, 2001

Recent Teaching

ESPM 105D, Forest Management and Assessment

ESPM 134, Fire, Insects, and Disease in Forest Ecosystems

Guest lectures: ESPM 22AC, ESPM 105C, ESPM 181A, ESPM 15, ESPM 265

Selected Publications

• Levine, J. I., B. M. Collins, M. Coppoletta, and S. L. Stephens. 2025. Extreme weather magnifies the effects of forest structure on wildfire, driving increased severity in industrial forests. Global Change Biology 31:e70400. 

• Collins, B. M. 2025. Decreasing frequency of low and moderate fire weather days may be contributing to large wildfire occurrence in the northern Sierra Nevada. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 372:110688. 

• Jones, G. M., B. M. Collins, L. E. Hankin, R. Hart, M. D. Meyer, J. Regelbrugge, Z. L. Steel, and C. Thompson. 2025. Collapse and restoration of mature forest habitat in California. Biological Conservation 308:111241.

• Hurteau, M. D., M. J. Goodwin, C. Marsh, H. S. J. Zald, B. M. Collins, M. D. Meyer, and M. P. North. 2024. Managing fire-prone forests in a time of decreasing carbon carrying capacity. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment: e2801:1.

• Fossum, C. A., B. M. Collins, C. W. Stephens, J. M. Lydersen, J. Restaino, T. Katuna, and S. L. Stephens. 2024. Trends in prescribed fire weather windows from 2000-2022 in California. Forest Ecology and Management 562: 121966.

• Francis, E. J., P. Pourmohammadi, Z. L. Steel, B. M. Collins, and M. D. Hurteau. 2023. Proportion of forest area burned at high-severity increases with increasing forest cover and connectivity in western US watersheds. Landscape Ecology 38:2501-2518.

• Steel, Z. L., G. M. Jones, B. M. Collins, R. Green, A. Koltunov, K. L. Purcell, S. C. Sawyer, M. R. Slaton, S. L. Stephens, P. Stine, and C. M. Thompson. 2023. Mega-disturbances cause rapid decline of mature conifer forest habitat in California. Ecological Applications: e2763.

• Levine, J. I., B. M. Collins, Z. L. Steel, P. de Valpine, and S. L. Stephens. 2022. High-severity fire incidence higher both on and near industrially managed forests. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 20:397-404.

• Bernal, A. A., S. L. Stephens, B. M. Collins, and J. J. Battles. 2022. Biomass stocks in California’s fire-prone forests: mismatch in ecology and policy. Environmental Research Letters 17:044047.

• Cabiyo, B., J. S. Fried, B. M. Collins, W. Stewart, J. Wong, and D. L. Sanchez. 2021. Innovative wood use can enable carbon-beneficial forest management in California. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118:e2019073118.

• Collins, B. M., A. Bernal, R. A. York, J. T. Stevens, A. Juska, and S. L. Stephens. 2021. Mixed-conifer forest reference conditions for privately owned timberland in the southern Cascade Range. Ecological Applications 31:e02400.

• Schwartz, M. W., J. H. Thorne, B. M. Collins, and P. A. Stine. 2020. "Forest mismanagement" misleads. Science 370:417.

• For a full publication list, see Google Scholar

Selected Honors and Awards

• Clarivate’s “Highly Cited Researcher”, 2025

Notable Outreach

Invited presentations

• Over 20 given in the last three years to various groups, including: California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, World Wildlife Fund, California Licensed Foresters Association, Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition, American Public Works Association

Invited testimony

• 2023, California State Assembly, Joint informational hearing, Committee on Insurance and Select Committee on Wildfire Prevention, Wildfire Insurance: Risk, Resiliency & Recovery, Santa Rosa, CA

• 2022, California State Senate, Environmental Quality Committee Hearing: expert witness in support of AB 267

• 2022, California State Senate, Natural Resources and Water Committee Hearing: expert witness in support of AB 267 

• 2020, Testimony to U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, "Out of Control: The Impact of Wildfires on our Power Sector and the Environment, Washington D.C.