13 May 2010
In Memoriam: ARE Alum David Edward Buschena
Last week I lost a dear friend, collaborator, and one of our most beloved alumni as Dave Buschena past away after a valiant struggle with cancer. I first heard about Dave when his professor at University of Minnesota and our alumni, Claudia Parliament, called me to recommend him for our graduate program. She described Dave as “super bright, hard working, and a really nice guy that really cares about agriculture and the world.†This was an apt description. Dave took my first year class and even though he lacked in mathematical training, he caught on really fast and was one of the best students. I was teaching risk at the time and he would always approach me after class to ask me questions about risk management and what the theory implies for trading and farming. Many times I didn’t understand his questions and in most cases I couldn’t answer what he asked. It was clear to me that I was teaching risk, but he was managing risk. And indeed he was a practitioner of risk management, and he was a wonderful advisor to people who were interested in agricultural risk management.
Continue reading "In Memoriam: ARE Alum David Edward Buschena " » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 6:00
13 May 2010
Professor Awarded Prestigious BREAD Grant
The National Science Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have awarded Professor Brian Staskawicz a BREAD Program grant. Staskawicz is the current chair of the department of plant and microbial biology at the College of Natural Resources. He is one of 15 grantees in the US being funded by the NSF-Gates partnership. He will receive a $1.3M grant to support his project on the bacterial blight disease of cassava.
BREAD is a new five-year program jointly funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The two entities are partnering to support innovative scientific research designed to address key constraints to smallholder agriculture in the developing world.
Continue reading "Professor Awarded Prestigious BREAD Grant" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 0:39
06 May 2010
CNR Homecoming 2010
510-642-6707 or donnachan@berkeley.edu.
Friday-Saturday, October 8-9, 2010
Come back to campus and enjoy all the festivities being planned for CNR alumni parents, friends and students.
Join us in the lovely Giannini Hall lobby and enjoy continental breakfast with Peets coffee, fresh pastries, and other refreshments during the State of the College Address by Dean J. Keith Gilless Giannini Hall Lobby 9:30a.m.
CNR Faculty & Alumni Homecoming Lectures
There are a variety of faculty lectures to choose from all across campus, including current CNR Faculty! This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about the wonderful research being done at CNR and the opportunity to ask questions during the interactive Q&A session following each.
Friday, October 8, 2010 11am
Banatao Auditorium,
Sutardja Dai Hall
Professor Peggy Lemaux, Plant & Microbial Biology
“Food, Famine and the Future of Farmingâ€
Friday,October 8 4:00-5:30 pm
Bancroft Hotel
2680 Bancroft Way
Neal Ewald '78, Green Diamond Resource Company
S.J. Hall Lecture
"Declaring Peace in Timber Country: Sustainable Forests in a Perpetual Businessâ€
Saturday, October 9 10:30 am
Alumni House
Professor Andreas Stahl, Nutritional Sciences & Toxicology
“Fat Chance:How exploring the mechanisms of cellular lipid uptake may change the ways we treat obesity related diseasesâ€
Saturday, October 9 1:30 pm
Banatao Auditorium Sutardja Dai Hall
Professor Kimberly Tallbear, Assistant Professor of Science, Technology and Environmental Policy
“'Our DNA is Your Property?' Reconfiguring Ethics in Genome Researchâ€
CNR Alumni Association Picnic
Continue reading "CNR Homecoming 2010" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 5:43
15 March 2010
Professor Honored with Sarlo Award for Graduate Student Mentorship
Professor Louise Fortmann of the department of environmental science, policy, and management is among three UC Berkeley recipients of the 2010 Sarlo Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Awards. The award honors professors for outstanding graduate student mentorship.
Continue reading "Professor Honored with Sarlo Award for Graduate Student Mentorship" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 7:24
18 March 2004
Research Questions Efficacy of Fire Management Strategies in California Shrublands
by Sarah Yang
BERKELEY - The age of vegetation in California's shrublands does not strongly influence the probability of wildfires, finds a new study led by a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. The findings challenge a basic assumption underlying fire management strategies used to prevent wildfires like the ones that swept through southern California in October 2003.
"If the goal is to save people's homes and avoid loss of life, then treating extensive portions of the landscape to create a mixture of young and old vegetation is not money well spent," said lead author Max A. Moritz, wildland fire specialist at the UC Center for Forestry's Fire Program. The center is based at UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources.
Conventional wisdom has been that older shrubs have a higher percentage of dry, dead biomass that can more easily fuel intense wildfires, said Moritz. In addition, decades of fire suppression are believed to have allowed extensive stands of older vegetation to accumulate. As a result, fire management strategies have focused on various techniques to create an "age-patch mosaic" on the landscape because it is assumed that fire will not spread through younger stands of regenerating shrublands.
The findings of the study, reported in the March issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, break from a school of thought in fire management that incorporates treatments of extensive portions of the landscape, such as prescribed burns, to reduce fire risk.
In forested ecosystems that prehistorically experienced frequent, low-intensity surface fires, decades of successful fire suppression are typically blamed for allowing the accumulation of underbrush and medium-sized trees, particularly in the ponderosa pine forests of the southwestern United States. Many researchers believe that fire suppression has led to the formation of "ladder fuels" that now allow high-intensity fires to climb into the canopies of taller trees.
This view of a direct link in an ecosystem between fire hazard and the time since the last fire appears to have been adopted in shrubland fire management without really being tested, said Moritz. The rationale for shrublands was that suppressing smaller fires promoted the accumulation of older, contiguous stands of more flammable vegetation. Fire management strategies therefore included methods such as small, prescribed fires as a way to initiate the growth of new vegetation that, theoretically, is less prone to burning.
"One problem is that the model of fire hazard for some forests is not necessarily appropriate for the shrublands of southern California, which are characterized by periodic, high-intensity fires," said Moritz. "There has been ongoing debate in fire management about whether the age and spatial patterns of fuels are really an important constraint on the development of large shrubland fires. Our study provides evidence that different strategies should be used for the different ecosystems."
Continue reading "Research Questions Efficacy of Fire Management Strategies in California Shrublands" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 0:23
23 November 2009
Tom Graff: A practical environmental visionary
By Professor David Zilberman, Agricultural and Resource Economics
As the world is preparing for a big environmental summit in Copenhagen, knowing that an agreement is very unlikely, it’s become apparent how difficult it is to reach an environmental agreement that can stick and change the course of history. People that can bring about such agreement are really rare, and last week we lost one of them, Tom Graff.
Continue reading "Tom Graff: A practical environmental visionary" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 0:53
05 May 2005
CNR Awards Ceremony and Reception
May 5th, 3:00-5:00
Alumni House (Bechtel and Toll rooms)
Continue reading "CNR Awards Ceremony and Reception" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 1:41
05 May 2005
College Honors Two with CNR Citation
This month, the college honored two individuals for their extraordinary commitment and accomplishments in 2005. The CNR Citation, the highest honor of the college, was awarded for the first time to two deserving recipients, Iona "Rocky" Main and Helen Ullrich.
Rocky Main and her family were instrumental in creating and endowing the William Main Distinguished Visitor Program, an academic program that has made, and continues to make, significant contributions to the study of forest and natural resources management. Main has made her impact elsewhere on campus, as well. She has served as a trustee of the University Library, a leader of her alumni class, and a benefactor of the popular "Lunch Poems" series.
Many of her nominators stressed Main's personal supportiveness of faculty and recognized that, as one supporter put it, she "has sustained a grace and civility that helps us to appreciate the very best in our institution."
Continue reading "College Honors Two with CNR Citation" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 1:37
21 May 2005
Prof. Ignacio Chapela granted tenure
by Barry Bergman
BERKELEY – Putting the final twist in Ignacio Chapela's tortuous road to tenure, a UC Berkeley faculty committee has reversed the university's earlier denial of his bid to become a permanent member of the Berkeley faculty.
Chapela learned of the decision in a call late Tuesday, May 17, from Paul Ludden, dean of the College of Natural Resources. In a statement posted on his website, the controversial microbial biology researcher called the decision "a clear message of vindication," both for himself and for his supporters.
"I know of no other case where the public's role in the conferring of tenure has been more evident," Chapela wrote. "There is no doubt in my mind that I owe this tenure to you, as well as to others beyond yourselves who, without knowing, have been prodigal in support of a place to think and speak freely."
Campus officials attributed the reversal to a re-evaluation of Chapela's record that grew out of his appeal of the original decision to reject him for tenure, and categorically denied charges by Chapela and his supporters that he had been turned down for improper reasons.
"In his appeal of the original decision, Professor Chapela asserted, among other things, that the tenure review process had been improperly influenced by conflict of interest and/or bias on the part of one or more of the faculty committee reviewing the case," read a statement released by the university on Friday.
(The participation on that committee of Jasper Rine, a professor of genetics and developmental biology, had raised concerns among Chapela and others about a perceived conflict of interest on Rine's part, based on his membership on a committee charged with oversight of the controversial UC Berkeley-Novartis agreement and participation in a classroom discussion of Chapela's published research that concluded a key journal article was "flawed.")
"The campus administration believes that the initial review of the case was fair and that there was no conflict of interest. This was a case in which reasonable reviewers can disagree, depending on how different elements of the case are weighed."
An assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management since 1996, Chapela has claimed he was denied tenure in November 2003 largely due to his vocal opposition to "dangerous liaisons with the biotechnology industry," and particularly the campus's 1998 partnership with Novartis, a five-year, $25 million deal that gave the Swiss biotech firm rights to patents by Berkeley researchers and influence over research projects.
But Chapela's own research has been a source of contention as well, frequently cited — together with his admittedly modest publication record — by those who opposed granting him tenure. His highest-profile paper is a disputed 2001 article in Nature, in which he reported that traces of DNA from genetically modified corn in Oaxaca, Mexico, had contaminated the genomes of indigenous maize varieties. The science journal later said it had erred in publishing the paper, an extraordinary step, just short of a formal retraction, that some attributed to a pressure campaign by the biotech industry.
Whatever the impacts of such dust-ups on Chapela's academic career, they conferred a celebrity status rarely seen among junior faculty. The campus's normally secretive tenure process, meanwhile, acquired the trappings of a hotly contested political race, replete with support rallies, whispers of behind-the-scenes intrigue, and protests by members of key committees.
Continue reading "Prof. Ignacio Chapela granted tenure" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 1:26
22 May 2005
Fall 2005 Commencement Address by Chief Oren Lyons
On May 22, Chief Oren Lyons delivered the following commencement address to CNR's class of 2005.
Introduction by Executive Associate Dean Barbara Allen-Diaz
Commencement address by Chief Oren Lyons
INTRODUCTION by Executive Associate Dean Barbara Allen-Diaz
It is a great pleasure for me to introduce Oren Lyons, our Commencement Speaker today. Oren Lyons is Faithkeeper and Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Chief Lyons is Professor of American Studies at State University of New York at Buffalo.
We are honored today to have the opportunity to hear Chief Lyons speak. He was raised in the traditional lifeways of the Iroquois on the Seneca and Onondaga reservations in northern New York State. He served in the U.S. Army. He graduated from Syracuse University of Fine Arts where he immediately began a long career in commercial art and became a well known American Indian artist.
Since returning to the Onondaga in 1970, Professor Lyons has been a leading advocate for American Indian causes, both nationally and internationally. He has participated in meetings of indigenous peoples held in Geneva under the auspices of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations; he serves on the Executive Committee of the Global Forums of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival; and he is a principal leader in the traditional Circle of Indian Elders which is a council of grassroots leadership of major Indian Nations of North America.
Chief Lyons has spoken widely about spirituality, environment, natural laws, human rights and the ethics of authority. He has received numerous honors and awards, including an honorary doctor of law from Syracuse University.
In addition, Chief Lyons has been a lifelong Lacrosse player, a game that was invented by the Iroquois people. He was All-American in Lacrosse and inducted into the Lacrosse National Hall of Fame in 1993.
Oren Lyons perhaps has set the stage best of all for all of you graduating here today when he said, "When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully because we know the faces of our future generations are looking up at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them."
Please join me in welcoming Oren Lyons, professor and Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation.
ADDRESS by Chief Oren Lyons
(Chief Lyons greeted the audience in his native language.)
I said thank you for being well. That’s our greeting. I am Onondaga, I am from the Haudenosaunee, called the Iroquois and I am also of the Family of the Wolf. And so I greet you. In my initial greetings, it is our protocol to extend our first greetings and respect to the original peoples of this land here: Pomos, Yuroks, and Chumash and others. They are the original landholders of where we stand and it is our protocol first to greet them and to honor them.
And my second greeting is to the Graduation Class of 2005, at this great university in the College of Natural Resources. My greetings to you and what you represent. You are like my grandchildren. (When you get to be my age, everybody is your grandchild.) So I greet you.
Then my next greetings are to the Chancellor of this University and to the Dean who has done so well, and to the faculty and staff and all of the visiting colleagues, and to these professors that work so hard for this particular day. This is our day as well as yours. It’s an accomplishment. You are like our children. We want to see you off. To all of my colleagues who are here, I extend my greetings to all of you and to your work. What is our work? Our work is instruction, our work is education, inclusively, large, inspired. And our work is to keep education a passion, as was mentioned by one of the student speakers. Passion, of course, is important and we don’t want to stifle that.
When the Haudesonauee meet, whether it is a large gathering or a small gathering, we have several greetings. I think it is apropos that I tell you what these greetings are. It begins with the people. When we meet, and these are called The Words Before All Words, we give these greetings. We say to all the people gathered, “We are grateful and happy to see you healthy and gathered here.†We also think about all of the people who are not here, who cannot be here for whatever reason, and then we think about the peoples of the world as they go about their business. And we think how wonderful this is. So we put our minds together as one, and we give a big thanksgiving for all the peoples of the world.
Then we look at Mother Earth and we say this is our mother and we give a big thanksgiving for our mother, with all our love, because that is what mothers gather: great love. And we look at Mother Earth and we think of how she supports us, helps us survive and keeps all life going. How wonderful, powerful, all enduring is our Mother the Earth and we give a thanksgiving for the earth itself.
And then we move to everything that grows on the earth, from the grasses to the medicines to the bushes. We think of all of this and what they do for the earth and how they support us. And we put our mind around the world and we try to see all of these places and we give a thanksgiving for all of the growing things of the earth.
Then we move to the trees, our grandfathers. I was so pleased that we came under the shade and shelter of these powerful elders that surround us here. These are our relations. Look how you gather in their shade, how you keep cool. Look how clean the air is and look about. These trees are listening. They hear what we have to say when we have a thanksgiving. They are listening. So we give a big thanksgiving for all of the trees of the world. We acknowledge their work and we acknowledge their leader which is the maple, the great chief of the trees.
Then we move on to everything that moves about and runs about in the forest with four legs. And we think about them and how they sustain us and how they are related to us and how we depend upon them, and how they have supported our life for so long and provided our identities. (I am a wolf.) We give thanksgiving for all of these 4-footed creatures for they sustain us and we are dependent.
And then we move to what lives in the trees and flies above—all of the birds. How powerful they are! How the song of a wren can lift our hearts when we’re down. They wake us in the morning, they plant seeds, they sing to us, they move about. They are messengers. And the leader, the great eagle, flies closest to the Creator and carries our word. We revere his feathers, we revere the hawks, we revere the hummingbird. These are our relatives and we give a big thanksgiving for them.
And then we move on to the waters of the earth, from the very beautiful springs to the seas. Anybody that has seen a spring and looked at that crystal-clear water and can see everything on the bottom knows it’s beautiful and pure. And that’s the way we want your minds to be, as pure as those crystal springs. Do not pollute your minds! Do not throw dirt into that spring. That’s your mind. Keep it clean. Keep it pure so that you can see. From those springs, we go on to thank the streams, the rivers, the lakes and the mighty oceans themselves, these great waters. The first law of life is water. We are water. We are born in water, we are water. Without it, there is no life. So we give a big thanksgiving as we put our minds together for all of the waters of the earth.
Continue reading "Fall 2005 Commencement Address by Chief Oren Lyons" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 1:19
23 May 2005
Conference: California Forest Futures 2005
Forests provide a wealth of public benefits - water, wildlife, wilderness, wood and a well-balanced climate. Yet, many in our state are unaware of how greatly we depend on forest goods and services. Even more are unaware of the dangers facing California's forests today. Losing more and more forests to development is a crisis of historic proportions we must work together to solve.
California Forest Futures 2005 is a two-day conference that will examine the forces dramatically re-shaping our forest landscapes and explore the strategies and actions necessary to secure an economic and ecologically rewarding future.
Topics include:
* making California's forest industry more competitive in a global market while simultaneously protecting forests
* adapting “smart growth†principles to lessen the impact of rural development
* developing new, ecological-based revenue streams from carbon sequestration, water flows and habitat
* expanding the use of working conservation easements to preserve the private forest infrastructure
Continue reading "Conference: California Forest Futures 2005" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 1:10
02 June 2005
CWH now jointly administered by CNR and SPH
A recent celebration announced the partnership between the School of Public Health and the College of Natural Resources as co-directors over the Center for Weight and Health.
On Thursday, June 2, CNR Dean Paul Ludden and Stephen Shortell, dean of the School of Public Health, announced a new partnership between the schools to jointly administer UC Berkeley's Center for Weight and Health.
The Center for Weight and Health co-sponsors the largest nationwide conference on childhood obesity, the California Childhood Obesity Conference, and provides the most comprehensive resource on the subject though its extensive research.
Continue reading "CWH now jointly administered by CNR and SPH" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 1:01
07 June 2005
Recent Awards
In case you missed May's CNR Awards Ceremony, you should know the college honored two friends with the CNR citation, and also recognized several staff and faculty.
* * *
Congratulations to Beth Boyer, Justin Brashares and Per Palsboll, all of whom recently received Junior Faculty Research Grants from the Committee on Research.
* * *
Andy Jackson received the Ruth Allen Award from the American Phytopathological Society for "outstanding, innovative research contributions."
* * *
Bob Buchanan was honored with the Stephen Hales Prize, the highest award of the American Society of Plant Biologists; he also recently received the highest award bestowed by his alma mater, Emory and Henry College.
Continue reading "Recent Awards" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 0:51
05 July 2005
Kent Daane named grape and raisin liaison
by Jeannette Warnert
Kent Daane, Cooperative Extension specialist at UC Berkeley, has been appointed the University’s research liaison with the California Raisin Marketing Board and the California Table Grape Commission effective July 1.
In this role, Daane consults with the commodities’ research advisory boards, which provide guidance on grant requests that have been submitted by researchers. The California Raisin Marketing Board disburses about $200,000 annually and the California Table Grape Commission disburses about $550,000 annually to fund research in the crops grown by their members. Daane’s work as research liaison will be in addition to his current duties.
Daane has studied pest control strategies for California crops since 1990 at the UC Kearney Research and Extension Center in Fresno County. He and his research staff focus on the development of ecologically based pest management systems. Programs are developed to help farmers achieve economic success while farming using environmentally and socially sustainable practices.
Continue reading "Kent Daane named grape and raisin liaison" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 0:48
05 July 2005
ARE Update Quarterly July/August 2005
The latest ARE Update Quarterly Newsletter is now available.
Contents include:
1. "Diamond Walnut Growers."
Continue reading "ARE Update Quarterly July/August 2005" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 0:45
01 August 2005
UC gives tips for coping with heat stress
by Pam Kan-Rice
The heat-related death of a man harvesting peppers in Kern County last month is a tragic reminder of the dangers of heat stress.
To help reduce dangers of becoming overheated, a University of California Cooperative Extension specialist has produced a heat-stress information card for farmworkers that explains in English and Spanish how heat-related illnesses develop and how to avoid them.
Download a fold-up heat stress information card in English and Spanish (PDF)
More references about heat stress are available here.
Although the advice is directed at farmworkers, it is useful to anyone who works in the heat.
UC Berkeley-based agricultural personnel management specialist Howard Rosenberg warns that excess heat can impair the body even before a person feels ill. Symptoms of heat stress may include general discomfort, loss of coordination and stamina, weakness, poor concentration, irritability, muscle pain and cramping, fatigue, blurry vision, headache, dizziness, nausea, confusion, and unconsciousness (see "Heat illness symptoms and first aid" sidebar).
Although some of the heat that people have to deal with at work comes from the sun and ambient air, most heat is generated by their own bodies, Rosenberg says. "At rest the body produces little heat, but at work it demands more energy and faster metabolism, which greatly increases internal heat production," he explains.
To cool itself, the body first increases blood flow toward the body surface. This reduces the flow available to carry oxygen and nutrients to the muscles, brain and other internal organs, which in turn impairs strength, diminishes alertness and accelerates fatigue.
Continue reading "UC gives tips for coping with heat stress" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 0:41
01 August 2005
Student Resource Center gets new computers
The College of Natural Resources’ Student Resource Center located in 260 Mulford recently acquired ten new computers, replacing older computers that did not meet University security standards.
The new computers not only meet security standards, but also provide faster and more powerful computing.
Continue reading "Student Resource Center gets new computers" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 0:40
22 August 2005
Cal Still No. 1 National Public University
by Michelle Maitre
Magazine ranks Berkeley top public university, 20th among all colleges in country
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY has again ranked as the nation's best public university in U.S. News and World Report's annual list of top colleges.
The magazine's "America's Best Colleges" rankings, released today, are based on a formula that includes graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, peer review and other factors. UC Berkeley has held the top public spot for several years, occasionally tying with the University of Virginia.
Continue reading "Cal Still No. 1 National Public University" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 0:37
24 August 2005
Mexican woods offer a look at California forests’ past
by UC Division of Agriculture & Natural Resources
A largely unmanaged forest in Mexico holds lessons for improving the health of California wildlands, according to UC Berkeley fire science professor Scott Stephens.
His twice yearly research expeditions to the unspoiled Sierra de San Pedro Martir have convinced him that the forest management plans in California should be revised to improve the ecosystem’s resilience to insects, diseases, drought and catastrophic fires.
For seven years, Stephens has studied the Jeffrey Pine-mixed conifer forests in the mountainous national park of Baja California, named after the Christian martyr St. Peter. The mountain range is connected to the Laguna and San Jacinto Mountains of southwest California. The flora and fauna are similar to Southern California and eastern Sierra Nevada forests. The greatest difference is the time of the forests’ fire seasons. The majority of fires occur in summer in the Mexican forests, but fires are more common in California forests in the late summer and fall.
“When you are over there, with all the familiar shrubs and soils and trees, sometimes you have to remind yourself you’re in Mexico,†Stephens said.
A large portion of the 100,000-acre Mexican forest has never been harvested and has survived through centuries of natural fire cycles, making it a living example of what many California forests would be without the exploitive logging practices of earlier generations, fragmentation by development and disruption of natural fire cycles.
Fires burned naturally in Sierra San Pedro Martir
Until 1970, there was no fire suppression at all in the Sierra de San Pedro Martir. Today, only eight people are assigned to put out blazes by going in when smoke is spotted and cutting a line around the fire. In contrast, most California forest fires are managed aggressively with armies of firefighters, sophisticated equipment, helicopters and air tankers.
Vacation homes, developed camp grounds, lavish lodges, museums and shopping centers are not to be found in Mexico’s Martir. In California, many mountain areas have become populous tourist destinations. Twelve thousand people live in the vicinity of Big Bear Lake, where a local Web site, http://bigbear.us, claims there are more Mexican restaurants per capita than in the average Baja peninsula city. The population at Mammoth Lakes, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, is nearly 8,000 year round. The average cabin in Lake Arrowhead, known locally as the Alps of Southern California, costs more than $200,000.
Another influence on current California forest ecosystem is historical timber harvesting practices. Some 125 years ago, California and Nevada pioneers began logging the eastern Sierra Nevada and the San Jacinto, San Bernardino and Laguna mountains for mining and development.
“In the late 19th century, most of the trees in the eastern Sierra Nevada were used to support silver mining,†Stephens said. “The logging that took place before early Californians understood sustainable timber harvest practices created huge disturbances in the forest ecosystems that still affect those forests today.â€
Continue reading "Mexican woods offer a look at California forests’ past" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 0:34
05 September 2005
Jobs & Internships
Institute for International Public Policy: Sophomores
California Wilderness Coalition Policy Intern
Institute for International Public Policy (open to underrepresented minority)
The IIPP Fellowship program provides students with specially designed education and training experiences critical to entry and advancement in international affairs careers. Students are recruited from across the nation and apply as sophomores to participate in a multi-year sequence of summer policy institutes, study abroad, intensive language training, internships, and graduate study, complemented by career development services along the way. UNCFSP is aided in the student recruitment effort by its institutional partners and distinguished selection panels comprised of practitioners, academics, graduate school admissions directors, foundation executives, and IIPP alumni.
Applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements: Sophomore student, enrolled full-time at four-year (baccalaureate) institution; U.S. citizen or permanent resident (documentary support required)
Minimum 3.2 grade point average (on 4.0-scale) Strong interest in international affairs
CALIFORNIA WILDERNESS COALITION
Job Announcement
JOB TITLE: Policy Intern
ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND:
Continue reading "Jobs & Internships" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 0:32
30 September 2005
Networking 101: Students mix with alumni in environmental fields
Networking events can really help students with their career choices, and those who attended the Environmental Alumni & Students Mixer on Sept. 30 certainly got their share of information and resources.
Continue reading "Networking 101: Students mix with alumni in environmental fields" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 0:29
30 September 2005
Forestry and Foresters: Changes and Challenges (Lecture, Fri 9/30)
S.J. Hall Lecture in Industrial Forestry
John Helms
Professor, and President of American Foresters
Continue reading "Forestry and Foresters: Changes and Challenges (Lecture, Fri 9/30)" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 9:43
30 September 2005
Environmental Students and Alumni Mixer: 9/30/05
Friday, Sept. 30, 2005
5:00-7:00 PM
114 Morgan Hall (Lounge & Patio)
All students and alumni invited for some fun and information!
Continue reading "Environmental Students and Alumni Mixer: 9/30/05" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 9:40
14 November 2005
In Memoriam: Professor Jenny Lanjouw
Jean O. Lanjouw, associate professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, died of cancer on Nov. 1, within just a few months of learning of her diagnosis. She died in Washington, D.C., where she shared a home with her husband and two children. She was 43.
Continue reading "In Memoriam: Professor Jenny Lanjouw" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 9:36
16 November 2005
Rosemary Gillespie receives Presidential Award for Excellence in Mentoring
by National Science Foundation
Rosemary Gillespie, professor of Insect Biology in ESPM, is one of 10 individuals who were awarded the 2005 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) on Nov. 16. The award includes a $10,000 grant for continued mentoring work.
Continue reading "Rosemary Gillespie receives Presidential Award for Excellence in Mentoring" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 9:33
10 December 2005
Student research: different perspectives, common goals
The first joint undergraduate poster session with CNR and the College of Engineering was a hit with students, faculty, and staff.
Taking on the theme of Natural Bridges: Different Perspectives, Common Goals, the forum gave students in a variety of disciplines to showcase their work, which ranged from projects in progress, to completed honors projects.
Continue reading "Student research: different perspectives, common goals" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 9:26
01 November 2009
A New ARE Study Projects Growth Dividend from Comprehensive National Climate Policy
As the U.S. Senate debates clean energy and climate legislation, a new economic analysis finds that strong federal policy could stimulate both employment and income growth across the national economy. The new study was conducted by the University of California in collaboration with University of Illinois and Yale University and provides an in-depth, state-by-state examination of the impacts of three pillars of federal legislation: energy efficiency, renewable energy and limits on carbon pollution.
“This report shows that stronger federal energy and climate policies are compatible with economic growth,†said the report’s lead author David Roland-Holst, Adjunct Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Berkeley. “Those who say we cannot afford to take action now may not understand the opportunity we stand to lose by not acting. By revenue, energy is the world’s largest industry, yet traditional energy use patterns have created unsustainable carbon liabilities that threaten all of us. The next great knowledge-intensive sector will arise in an emerging multi-billion dollar global clean energy market. To participate in this technology breakout, we need policies that price carbon risk responsibly and create appropriate incentives for investors and innovators.â€
Continue reading "A New ARE Study Projects Growth Dividend from Comprehensive National Climate Policy" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 2:04
17 September 2005
CNR Celebrates 75th Anniversary of the Construction of Giannini Hall
On September 16, 2005, the College of Natural Resources celebrated Amadeo Peter Giannini's foresight and his generosity to the University of California and to agriculture in California and throughout the world.
Continue reading "CNR Celebrates 75th Anniversary of the Construction of Giannini Hall" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 0:34
21 October 2009
Toward a More Integrated Social Science
By Professor David Zilberman
I got a kick out of learning that Eleanor Ostrom and Berkeley’s Oliver Williamson won the Nobel in Economics. I had a similar response when the Psychologist, Dan Kahneman, won the prize. These are important steps in the expansion of economics and establishing an integrated social science based on rigorous logical thinking and empiricism. This integrated new social science will provide insight on how people think and interact and how to improve the human condition.
Continue reading "Toward a More Integrated Social Science" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 8:45
02 September 2009
Homecoming at CNR 2009
Come back to Cal on October 2-4! You can register online and then check out who's coming.
Be sure to check out these fascinating lectures by CNR professors:
Friday, October 2
"Evolutionary Biology of Fungi: Human Pathogens"
John Taylor, Professor of Plant and Microbial Biology
9:30-10:30 am
Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall
Some fungi specialize as parasites of animals, including humans. Two such species, Coccidioides immitis and Coccidioides posadasii, cause valley fever, a potentially fatal flu-like illness that mostly affects rural residents in the Southwest. This seminar will focus on how we have found genes that show evidence of natural selection and might be important to preventing or treating the disease.
"The Buzz on Bees: Why We Need Them for Our Health"
Claire Kremen, Associate Professor, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
Bechtel Engineering Center Sibley Auditorium
2:00 - 3:00 pm
Continue reading "Homecoming at CNR 2009" » | Permalink
Posted by Eva St. Clair at 1:58
07 May 2007
University Medal Finalist Betty Sousa
This year, CNR student Betty Sousa was one of four finalists for the University Medal.
Betty Sousa: Making the connection between public health and the environment
Continue reading "University Medal Finalist Betty Sousa" » | Permalink
Posted by Cyril at 5:55
Categories
Monthly Archives
Recent Posts
Syndication