Achievements

Steve Martin

Environmental Science & Management

Steve Martin attended the conference of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Honolulu. Dr. Martin is a co-author of a new IUCN publication – ‘Wilderness Protected Areas: Management Guidelines for IUCN Category 1b.’ The publication, released/issued to the public at the IUCN conference, is described by IUCN as Best Practice Guidelines for IUCN Category 1b (Wilderness), the first global management guidelines that provide state of the art information on protecting and enhancing wilderness values in Category 1b protected areas, and in particular clarifying how wilderness areas and people can coexist in a reciprocal and mutually beneficial manner.

Professor Emeritus Rick Botzler, students in the Ecoclub and other collaborators

Wildlife

Professor Emeritus Rick Botzler has been working with local kids aged 4 to 16 to survey for chytrid fungus in Humboldt County frogs. With the Ecoclub kids as first author(s), the research team, which includes ecologist colleagues from the US Forest Service, UC Davis and the Integral Ecology Research Center, has published their findings in the recent issue of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases. A great accomplishment fueled by citizen science.

Amy Livingston

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Amy Livingston, graduate student, lead authored a paper with Erik Jules (Biology) and Jeff Kane (Forestry and Wildland Resources) entitled "Prescribed fire and conifer removal promote positive understory vegetation responses in Quercus garryana woodlands" in the Journal of Applied Ecology this past June

Jeffrey Kane

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Co-authored three new articles related to fire and fuels management:

“The impact of fuelbed aging on laboratory fire behaviour in masticated woody fuels” in the International Journal of Wildland Fire

“Suites of fire-adapted traits in the southeastern USA oaks: multiple strategies for persistence in fire-prone environments” in the journal Fire Ecology

“Duration of fuels reduction following prescribed fire in coniferous forests of U.S. national parks in California and the Colorado plateau” in the journal Forest Ecology and Management

Adam Carter

Computer Science

Adam Carter will be presenting his paper, "With a Little Help from My Friends: An Empirical Study of the Interplay of Students' Social Activities, Programming Activities, and Course Success" at the ICER 2016 computer science education conference this September.

Dr. Steven J. Steinberg

Environmental Science & Management

Dr. Steven Steinberg (Adjunct Professor, Geospatial Science) is speaking at the European Sociological Association, Qualitative Research Summit, Sept. 1- 3 in Cracow, Poland.

He will be presenting in the Mobile and Geospatial Research Technologies session about his recent fish consumption study supported by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, entitled: A Geospatial Survey of Anglers to Assess Fish Consumption from San Diego Bay, California.

More information about the conference is available at: http://www.esa-cracow.pl/

Steven Martin

Environmental Science & Management

Steve Martin had an article published in the August issue of International Journal of Wilderness -- 'Protecting Visitors and the Wilderness through Stewardship Research.' The article was invited by the Editorial Board of the journal in response to Dr. Martin's recent award for excellence in wilderness stewardship research.

Kristin Cooper and Catherine Trimingham

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Two Humboldt State University students passed the rigorous “Fundamentals of Soil Science” exam offered on April 15, 2016, becoming Associate Professional Soil Scientists, according to test results from the Council of Soil Science Examiners.

Kristin Cooper and Catherine Trimingham graduated from Humboldt State University with the Wildland Soils option in Rangeland Resource Science. Kristin has performed range technician duties for the Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming and has volunteered for several California Resource Conservation Districts. She is studying for the GRE exam and plans to apply to a graduate program for Fall 2017. Catt rowed for the HSU Women’s Crew team and is currently working as a forest-wide soils technician on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest in Idaho. She says that “my education is much more well-rounded compared to the people I work with. I am able to understand a majority of the timber jargon, identify most of the plants I come in contact with, and have been told that my notes are too thorough.”

The national pass rate for the Spring 2016 soils exam was 56 percent, with a California pass rate of 87.5 percent. Since 2011, 25 HSU students have attempted this exam, with an overall pass rate of 80 percent, the last two years with 100 percent success. Those who pass the fundamentals exam will be eligible to take the Professional Practice exam after five years of professional experience, an additional step in becoming a Certified Professional Soil Scientist. Recent Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) discussions about program self-certification have included the fundamentals exam as one indicator of program quality. Given that the exam is multiple choice, it does not evaluate students’ field skills per se, but is an exam that is offered nationwide and is therefore ‘portable.’ Humboldt State University Wildland Soils students (under the Rangeland Resource Science major) spend more than 200 hours in field or laboratory learning experiences, honing hands-on skills and field judgment of soil properties, limitations, and capabilities.

William Wood

Chemistry

“Do skunks hate the smell of their own spray?” William Wood, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, was asked this question by Popular Science Magazine (July-August, 2016, p. 102). He said we can never really know the answer to this question. Like humans, skunks should experience olfactory fatigue on prolonged exposure to their defensive spray. The receptors in their nose get clogged up with odor molecules and the smell can no longer be detected. The article is online at www.popsci.com/do-skunks-hate-smell-their-own-spray.

Steven Martin

Environmental Science & Management

Dr. Steven Martin is co-author of a peer-reviewed article recently published in the Journal of Forestry--The Evolution of Wilderness Social Science and Future Research to Protect Experiences, Resources, and Societal Benefits.