Author: ESPM Web Specialist

Since 2004, the SNAMP Science and Public Participation teams have been working to understand how forest vegetation treatments to prevent wildfire affect fire risk, wildlife, forest health, and water, all while developing a new model for engaging the public on land management issues. Their work was profiled in the spring issue of our College of Natural Resources magazine: “Today, as SNAMP reaches the end of a 10-year run, the project has proven to be a multidisciplinary, multiagency, multimedia success that has the potential to transform not only how we view forest fires, but more intriguingly, how scientists, government agencies, and public stakeholders interact in the pursuit of common goals. …SNAMP’s goals went far beyond simply figuring out the best way to slow a wildfire’s spread. The experiment proceeded along parallel tracks, studying fire, forest health, fishers, owls, water quality issues, and spatial data. And crucially, public participation wasn’t an afterthought or an also-ran, but the key piece of the puzzle.

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As ecologists, we know that there is a never-ending supply of things to learn about the forest. So in recent outreach and education activities, PhD student Stella Cousins has been helping get kids started early. In May, Stella teamed up with other ESPM graduate students to host 3rd graders from Malcolm X Elementary for a lesson about fire frequency and severity. Fire tag is a great way to learn about stand density!

In April for Cal Day, Berkeley’s Student Association for Fire Ecology joined the American Indian Graduate Student Association to host Native American high school students and their families for an intro to the many opportunities at Cal. Graduate students presented hands-on activities about tree rings and drought, cultural use of fire, forest ecology, and even some fire management dress-up!

Photos courtesy of AIGSA

Spring semester has been full of good news in the Battles Lab! We are happy to welcome two PhD students in the fall, Joan Dudney and Carmen Tubessing. Carrie Levine has conquered her qualifying exam and advanced to candidacy. Clayton Sodergren was awarded the Babcock Prize, an award to graduating seniors in the College of Natural Resources who have excelled in the discipline of Environmental Science. Jeneya Fertel, with the mentorship of Stella Cousins and John Sanders, recently completed a undergraduate research project entitled “The effect of spring snow regime on tree growth in the Sierra Nevada”. And last but not least, Natalie van Doorn and Maya Hayden presented outstanding finishing talks at the ESPM Graduate Symposium! Natalie will soon begin at postdoctoral appointment at UC Davis collaborating with the USFS on urban forest dynamics.

This fall our lab group is happy to welcome visiting student researchers Andie Irons and Briana Becerra.

Bri, who is studying forest dynamics using canopy cover, is a junior at CSU Monterey Bay and recently completed an REU at Hubbard Brook. Andi is nearing completion of an MS at SUNY-ESF, where she works with lab alum John Stella. Her research examines changes to the Sacramento River’s riparian forests through time. Andi will soon join the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission as a biologist, focusing on plant and wildlife monitoring in the Tuolumne River watershed.

This fall our lab group is happy to welcome visiting student researchers Andie Irons and Briana Becerra.

Bri, who is studying forest dynamics using canopy cover, is a junior at CSU Monterey Bay and recently completed an REU at Hubbard Brook. Andi is nearing completion of an MS at SUNY-ESF, where she works with lab alum John Stella. Her research examines changes to the Sacramento River’s riparian forests through time. Andi will soon join the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission as a biologist, focusing on plant and wildlife monitoring in the Tuolumne River watershed.

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Congratulations to Stella Cousins who continues to shine as a scientist and communicator. She received an inaugural award in the Graduate Training in Cooperative Extension Program to support her work to bring the forest into the classroom. She also successfully competed for a grant from the Renewable Resources Extension Act to expand her smartphone microscope project. Stella’s work with Cooperative Extension and the Forestry Institute for Teachers was recently featured in ESPM’s departmental blog. Check out Bringing Forests into Focus“.

More information on the Graduate Training in Cooperative Extension Program

Publications abound in the Battles lab this fall! Here are some recent research papers from graduate students:

• From a diverse research team including Carrie Levine, this new paper evaluates uncertainty in hydrologic export of solutes in three watersheds: in the Northeast and Southeast US and in the Gomadansan Experimental Forest, Japan. Read Article

• Natalie van Doorn’s recent participation in a research team examining environmental chemistry using Scots pine has yielded two publications. The first, in Science of Total Environment, examines bioaccumulation of heavy metals from mine soils. The second, in New Forests, uses Scots pine growth to assess productivity of reclaimed forest sites.
  Read Article in Science of Total Environment 
  Read Article in New Forests

• And in new paper Simon Dufour, Maya Hayden and their collaborators ask, “Do abandoned channels host different plant species compared with the surrounding floodplain?” The study, now out in Ecohydrology, investigates vegetation community and disturbance dynamics along riparian forest gradients. Read Article

At the annual symposium of the California Invasive Plant Council in Chico, Joan Dudney presented her research on the lagged effects of rainfall on rangeland plant community composition. Results suggest that native plants may fare better in grazed grasslands under increasing drought conditions, but forage production is apt to suffer. Joan also earned an award for her talk – congrats to Joan!

At the joint meeting of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations and the Society of American Foresters in Salt Lake City, Stella Cousins gave a research presentation entitled “Improving estimates of carbon dynamics for snags in the Sierra Nevada range.” She also gave a lightning talk on ozone impacts in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and enjoyed a bit of fall color, thanks to the aspens and maples in the Wasatch Range.

Congratulations to Stella Cousins who continues to shine as a scientist and communicator. She received an inaugural award in the Graduate Training in Cooperative Extension Program to support her work to bring the forest into the classroom. She also successfully competed for a grant from the Renewable Resources Extension Act to expand her smartphone microscope project. Stella’s work with Cooperative Extension and the Forestry Institute for Teachers was recently featured in ESPM’s departmental blog.

More information can be found on the Graduate Training in Cooperative Extension Program website.

Ecologists past, present, and future descended on Sacramento in August for the 99th meeting of the Ecological Society of America. We were glad to see colleagues from near and far, and also to share our work in progress with lots of talks.  Carrie Levine shared Stand demography as an indicator of ecological resilience in an old-growth mixed conifer forest (ABSTRACT ). Maya Hayden presented Pioneer riparian tree seedling establishment in floodplain refugia is driven by interspecific competition in addition to water availability (ABSTRACT). Meanwhile, on the other side of the convention center, Stella Cousins presented Trees in transition: the role of standing dead trees in forest carbon dynamics with many thanks to incomparable coauthor John Sanders (ABSTRACT). But that’s not all: Joan Dudney also gave a great poster on Precipitation effects on plant composition in California rangelands (ABSTRACT) and John shared his and Natalie’s research in Understanding neighborhood effects on growth and competition in a temperate forest (ABSTRACT). Well done, everyone!

Does the costly work of reducing wildfire risk with fuel treatments have hidden benefits? And can we measure them? Following a series of workshops on forest health and management held at Blodgett Forest Research Station, the Placer County Air Pollution Control District has produced ashort video that summarizes pertinent observations, research, and recommendations. A diverse group of resource professionals, researchers, state/federal agency representatives, utility representatives and elected officials, including our very own Rob York and John Battles, provide thoughtful and candid comments.

Watch the video