FFRC Staff
Dr. Brett Butler is a national and international expert on forest ownership who has authored over 100 articles and reports on this subject. As part of the U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Forest Inventory and Analysis program, he coordinates the National Woodland Owner Survey and co-directs the Family Forest Research Center. He is an adjunct professor in the University of Massachusetts, Department of Environmental Conservation and the Editor-in-Chief for the journal Small-scale Forestry. He earned his Ph.D. from Oregon State University and his B.S from the University of Connecticut.
70% of Massachusetts’ forests are family forests. As extension faculty, my work integrates research and outreach to family forest owners. The goal of this integrated approach is to learn about family forest owners in order to better inform their decisions. A main focus of my work is to help landowners decide the future of their land through conservation based estate planning. I am also interested in silvicultural approaches to increasing forest resiliency. My outreach methods focus heavily on peer learning, social networks, and internet based tools. I am the co-director of the 
Vance is a Research Fellow at the University of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Conservation/ USDA Forest Service’s Family Forest Research Center (FFRC). He specializes in geospatial data analytics focused on environmental datasets, geospatial programing & automation, and geostatisitics. HIs areas of interests include natural resource modelling and conservation. HIs work focuses on mapping forest ownership patterns across the US and linking it to the National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) in efforts to better understand trends at small scale areal units.
Amanda Robillard is a Research Fellow at the Family Forest Research Center, a collaboration between the USDA Forest Service and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She focuses on the implementation of the NWOS, undergrad wrangling and general operations of the FFRC. She is also working on the minority landowner project and efforts to increase response rate for the NWOS and UNLS.
Graduate Students
Jackie Dias - University of Massachusetts Amherst B.S. 2019
Jackie is a master's student in the Department of Environmental Conservation at UMass Amherst. Her work focuses on the economic and ecosystem contributions of privately owned land held within the Forest Legacy Program.
Jackie graduated from UMass Amherst in 2019 with a BS in Environmental Science. She has been with the Family Forest Research Center since interning as an undergraduate research assistant Summer 2017. In her spare time, Jackie enjoys writing, reading, rock climbing, and hiking. She is also the Ambassador for Latino Outdoors Springfield, an organization whose mission is to rewrite the narrative of outdoor recreation and to encourage Latinx families and community members to comfortably and confidently recreate outside.
Olivia Lukacic - University of Vermont B.S. 2016
Olivia is a native of Massachusetts and excited to continue her work and studies back in the Commonwealth after several years in other New England States. She is working with Paul Catanzaro and his extension work in promoting land conservation through understanding land owner decision making and peer networks. Her work will aim at understanding those networks of female landowners.
Olivia loves exploring whatever neighborhood and protected land that she can call home through running, hiking, biking, paddling and swimming. When not outside she enjoys cooking, painting, and spending time with friends. Before returning back to Massachusetts, Olivia received a dual B.S. from the University of Vermont in Environmental Science and Forestry in 2016. She then moved to Maine to work for an educational non-profit in mid-coast Maine.
Meg Harrington - St. Lawrence University B.S 2014
Meg is a master’s student in the Department of Environmental Conservation at UMass Amherst.
As part of the Family Forest Research Center, her studies focus on the relationship between landowners and wildlife. Through personal interviews, a mail survey, and fieldwork in Vermont, her thesis aims to understand the efficacy of technical assistance programs for family forest owners and wildlife conservation.
Meg received her BS in Conservation Biology from St. Lawrence University in 2014. Before joining the Family Forest Research Center, she spent four years as a field biologist in New Hampshire and California.
Samantha Myers - Washington University in St Louis BA 2019
Samantha is a master’s student in the Department of Environmental Conservation at UMass Amherst. Working with Paul Catanzaro in the FFRC and Malcolm Itter in the Applied Forest Ecology lab at UMass, Sam’s research focuses on how forest landowners can implement forest management strategies to achieve multiple goals including carbon storage and resiliency to climate change.
In her free time, Sam likes to cook, play guitar, and explore New England on foot or bike. Before starting graduate school, Sam studied Environmental Biology at Washington University in St. Louis and then worked with The Nature Conservancy’s land management team back in her home state of Maryland as part of a year-long service program.
