Teaching Responsibilities

• FOR 3434 Forest Management Field Lab
• FOR 4424 Forest Resource Management
• FOR 4444 Integrated Forest Management Practicum
• FOR 5415-5416: Advanced Forest Resource Management and Economics

Selected Research Activities

• Bio-energy and forests—Involves understanding the incentives for landowners to adopt various forms of management to produce bio-energy alternatives, and integrating this into a land use model to evaluate the design and targeting of policy instruments to achieve various biotechnology production goals. The importance of risk in emerging markets and risks to biotechnological improvements will also be studied. Another important facet of the research is integrating the microeconomic aspects of landowner behavior with changes in regional economic indicators to estimate welfare changes from bio-energy adoption and application of policy instruments.
• Restoring Sustainable Forests on Appalachian Mined Lands for Wood Products, Renewable Energy, Carbon Sequestration, and Other Ecosystem Services (U.S. Department of Energy)—Examines the financial feasibility of converting previously reclaimed mined lands into productive forests for financial and carbon sequestration purposes.  Incentive differences between mine operators and landowners are considered, and social costs of the current policies are being explored.
• The Forest Bank: Concept to Reality (USDA Fund for Rural America)—Examines the landowner incentives and barriers for enrollment in the Nature Conservancy Forest Bank in Southwest Virginia. The regional economic impacts of the Forest Bank, and the self-financing potential of incentive programs to encourage landowner adoption, also are explored.

Selected Publications

• Sullivan, J., J. Aggett, G. Amacher and J. Burger. 2006. Financial Viability of Reforesting Reclaimed Surface Mined Lands, the Burden of Site Conversion Costs, and Carbon Payments as Reforestation Incentives. Resources Policy.  30(2006):247-258
• Sullivan, J., G.S. Amacher, and S. Chapman. 2005. Forest Banking and Forest Landowners: Forgoing Management Rights for Guaranteed Financial Returns. Forest Policy and Economics. 7(2005):381-392.
• Aggett, J., J. Sullivan, G. Amacher and J. Burger. 2004. Financial Cost to Landowners Associated with Forestland Conversion to Non-Productive Uses in the Process of Surface Mining. Proceedings of a Joint Conference of American Society of Mining and Reclamation, 21st Annual National Conference, and 25th West Virginia Surface Mine Drainage Task Force Symposium, April 18-22, 2004, Morgantown, West Virginia. pp. 9-19
• Conway, M.C., Amacher, G.S., J. Sullivan and D. Wear. 2003. Decisions Nonindustrial Forest Landowners Make: An Empirical Examination.  Journal of Forest Economics. 9(3):181-203.
• Amacher, G.S., M.C. Conway, J. Sullivan. 2003. Econometric analysis of Nonindustrial Forest Landowners:  Is there anything left to study?  Journal of Forest Economics. 9(2):137-164.
• Jenkins, D.H.,  J. Sullivan, G.S. Amacher, N.S. Nicholas, and D.W. Reaves. 2002. Valuing High Altitude Spruce-Fir Forest Improvements: Importance of Forest Condition and Recreation Activity. Journal of Forest Economics. 8(1):77-99.

Professional Achievements

• Gamma Sigma Delta Faculty Teaching Award, Virginia Tech, 2005
• Certificate of Teaching Excellence, College of Natural Resources, Virginia Tech, 2001
• Associate Editor, Forest Science, 2001-2004
• Associate Editor, Journal of Forestry, 1997-2001