Achievements

Leah Sloan

Biological Sciences

Leah Sloan, graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences, recently tied for first place for the Best Student Poster Award at the recent Western Society of Naturalists meeting held in Vancouver, Washington. The title of her poster was: "The Bane of Bullfrogs: Population Structure of Western Pond Turtles (Emys marmorata) in Lentic Habitats Along the Trinity River."

Morgan Varner, Kenneth Fulgham

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

The Northern California Prescribed Fire Council met in Humboldt County on Nov. 16 and 17. The first day was spent as a field tour looking at prescribed fire use in Redwood National Park for maintaining vegetation structure of grassland and oak woodland ecosystems. The second day was held at River Lodge in Fortuna where Drs. Morgan Varner and Kenneth Fulgham attended. Varner is the Council Chairman and provided the Opening Remarks to about 70 attendees. The mission of the NorCal Prescribed Fire Council is to provide a venue for practitioners, state and federal agencies, academic institutions, tribes, coalitions and interested individuals to work collaboratively to promote, protect, conserve and expand the responsible use of prescribed fire in Northern California’s fire-adapted landscapes. More information can be found at: "norcalrxfirecouncil.org":http://www.norcalrxfirecouncil.org and at "prescribedfire.net":http://www.prescribedfire.net.

Phil Choan, Aaron Spidal, Sam Aguilar, Amy Trost and Brian Fagundas

Wildlife

HSU Wildlife students Phil Chaon, Aaron Spidal, Sam Aguilar, Amy Trost and Brian Fagundas have won the 2011 National Wildlife Quizbowl at the Annual Meeting of The Wildlife Society. Teams from across the nation competed, and the competition was fierce with several "down to the wire" matches. Second place went to Virginia Tech, Purdue captured third, and the University of Montana came in fourth.

HSU is unique at this meeting of 1300 wildlife professionals because it has such a large number of undergraduates attending the meeting.

Kenneth Fulgham

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Humboldt State Professor of Rangeland Resources Kenneth Fulgham, chair of the Forestry & Wildland Resources Department, has been elected director of the board of directors of the Society for Range Management. Fulgham’s three-year term starts in February, 2012. The professional society supports conservation and sustainable management of rangelands, which comprise nearly half of all the lands on earth. Fulgham is also second vice-president of The Buckeye, a local advocacy organization for working landscape. Additional information about the Society for Range Management is posted at "rangelands.org":http://rangelands.org/.

Han-Sup Han

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Two research papers were recently published in Western Journal of Applied Forestry. One paper deals with utilization of small-diameter logs generated as a result of fuel reduction thinning treatments. This topic has been an issue for many rural towns in the US West. The title of this paper is “Financial Feasibility of a Log Sort Yard Handling Small-Diameter Logs: A Preliminary Study.” The other paper addresses a spreadsheet-based tool to estimate road construction costs. The software will be loaded onto the department web site. The title of this paper is “ACCEL: Spreadsheet-Based Cost Estimation for Forest Road Construction”.

William Wood

Chemistry

An article titled “The Triangle in Photographic Composition,” and four of his photographs were published in the October issue of Redwood Snapshots, a publication of the Redwood Camera Club.

The article explores the field of Gestalt psychology for possible reasons why the triangular form enhances photographic composition. Gestalt psychology explains why people perceive visual components as organized patterns or wholes, instead of many different parts. The generation of triangular images where none exist is a major illustration of the Gestalt theory. This helps explain why photographs that contain triangular forms can have higher impact than those that don’t.

Dr. Morgan Varner

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Dr. Morgan Varner was nominated for and accepted an Associate Editor position with the journal, Forest Science. Forest Science is the premiere journal of The Society of American Foresters.

Alexis Ollar

Environmental Science & Management

Alexis Ollar was awarded the 2011-2012 Student Schloarship for applied research in the environmental sector, from the Association of Environmental Professionals (AEP) Bay Area Chapter. The scholarship was awarded for thesis work in the Environment & Community Program and Geospatial Science Graduate Certificate. The thesis was GIS work in sustainable foodsheds, food security analysis and participatory mapping exercises in Humboldt County. You can find Ollar's bio and scholarship information at http://sfbayaep.org/students.htm.

Kenneth O. Fulgham, Gary Rynearson

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Dr. Kenneth O. Fulgham, chair of HSU’s Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources, and Forestry and Wildland lecturer Gary Rynearson have been elected to key posts of the Buckeye Conservancy, a northern California group of family farm, ranch, and forest landowners and resource managers that promotes the ecological health and economic sustainability of natural resources and open space in family ownership. Fulgham, also professor of rangeland resources, is second vice president, and Rynearson is first vice president. The conservancy can be reached at www.buckeyeconservancy.org.

Jasmine Westbrook

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Rangeland Resources Science major Jasmine Westbrook won the $1,000 Paul Zinke Memorial Scholarship Award at this summer’s 30th Anniversary California Forest Soils Council meeting near Mt. Shasta. Westbrook is a double major in molecular and cellular biology and is minoring in chemistry. She was raised on a Napa Valley sheep ranch and has been working the past few summer for Six Rivers National Forest. She joins four past HSU Zinke Award winners: Barbara Witmore (’05), M.S. New Mexico State University, currently employed by the Bureau of Land Management; Rosemary Records (’06) now in a Ph.D. program at Colorado State University; Sarah Schuette (‘09), starting a Ph.D. program at Washington State University Spring 2012; and Allison Rofe, who will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Rangeland Resources Science in 2012.