Achievements

Jeff Kane

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

In partnership with Redwood National Park and the United States Geological Survey- Arcata Field Office, Jeff Kane and graduate student Megan Joyce from the Department of Forestry, Fire, and Rangeland Management will be examining the impacts of restoration thinning treatments that burned in the 2023 Lost Fire on surface fuel changes, tree mortality, regeneration, and secondary redwood forests. Information from this study will aid managers in determining the ability of restoration thinning treatments to mitigate impacts from wildfire and will advance our understanding of fire effects in secondary redwood forests.  

Dr. Lucy Kerhoulas

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Lucy Kerhoulas received a $180,000 grant from the Columbia Land Trust to investigate white oak responses to forest restoration thinning treatments aiming to reduce fire fuels, overstory competition, and tree drought vulnerability. This project will measure oak physiology before treatments and two years after treatments; findings will help hone management prescriptions to maximize Oregon white oak resiliency at the eastern edge of the species' range. The project is in collaboration with Oregon State University, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Columbia Land Trust, and the East Cascades Oak Partnership and will support one graduate student and numerous undergraduate students.

Lucy Kerhoulas

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Lucy Kerhoulas received a $50,000 grant from Save the Redwoods League to examine the influences of Redwoods Rising restoration treatments on forest water sources and drought responses in Redwood National and State Parks near Orick, CA. Tree-rings, stable isotopes, and physiological measurements will all be a part of this work. Findings will help foster drought-resilient ecosystems by informing managers about how treatments influence forest water sources and what treatments most effectively maximize water availability for plants. Collaborators include Anthony Ambrose, Andrew Stubblefield, Alana Chin, Phil van Mantgem, Lathrop Leonard, and Jason Teraoka.

Pamela Medina-van Berkum, Eric Schmöckel, Armin Bischoff, Natalia Carrasco-Farias, Jane A. Catford, Reinart Feldmann, Karin Groten, Hugh A. L. Henry, Anna Bucharova, Sabine Hänniger, Justin C. Luong, Julia Meis, Vincensius S. P. Oetama, Meelis Pärtel, Sally A. Power, Jesus Villellas, Erik Welk, Astrid Wingler, Beate Rothe, Jonathan Gershenzon, Michael Reichelt, Christiane Roscher, Sybille B. Unsicker

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Justin Luong (FFRM) and colleagues recently published a paper in Functional Ecology on how plant geographic distribution influences chemical defenses in native and introduced Plantago lanceolata populations. Populations from introduced ranges were characterized by an increase in anti-herbivory chemical defense compounds without compromising plant productivity.  A link to the manuscript is here.  

Kenia Gomez, Gabriel Abundis, Ernesto Chavez-Velasco

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Kenia Gomez, Gabriel Abundis & (graduate student) Ernesto Chavez-Velasco received research grants from the California Native Grassland Association to examine pressing issues on various California rangelands. Kenia will explore how drought and woody debris affect a local threatened species, North Coast Semaphore Grass; Gabriel will explore how local photovoltaic grids affect rangeland plant communities; Ernesto will work to develop field methods for selecting plants that will match with environmental characteristics for context-specific management to promote biodiversity and drought resilience on rangelands.

Justin Luong

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Justin Luong, Assistant Professor of Forestry, Fire and Rangeland Management Department was awarded a grant for assessing solar panel grid impacts on coastal prairies to guide regenerative agrivoltaics. Research in Dr. Luong’s lab focuses on adapting restoration practices for changing climates and integrating socio-economic and management perspectives to understand rangeland ecology. Lab members engage in hands-on learning opportunities that inform real-world rangeland restoration and management projects to cultivate a diverse and inclusive learning environment.

Lucy Kerhoulas, Rosemary Sherriff, Erik Jules, and Michael Kauffmann

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Lucy Kerhoulas, Rosemary Sherriff, Erik Jules, and Michael Kauffmann were awarded a $1.1 million grant to complete extensive vegetation mapping in the Klamath Mountains Ecoregion. Project vegetation surveys will be compared to vegetation surveys from the 1960s, 1980s, and 2010s to evaluate the influences of fire and climate change on high elevation plant communities.

The work will support three graduate students and numerous undergraduate students and will contribute substantially to the Cal Poly Humboldt Vascular Plant Herbarium; Robin Bencie and the California Native Plant Society are also project collaborators. Funding comes from the CA Department of Fish & Wildlife.

Range Plant Identification team

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Cal Poly Humboldt’s Range Plant Identification team placed 5th in a contest during the Society for Range Management Meetings in Sparks, Nevada on January 30. Coached by lecturer/NRCS Rangeland Specialist Todd Golder, team members include: JJ Madrigal Garcia, Celeste Orrick, Jennifer Salguero, Mikhela Aiken, Logan Holey, Forrest Horrobin, Hunter Mortensen, SRM President Barry Perryman. Students practice plant identification skills in RRS 475 Advanced Study of Range Plants. Most plant species on this test were grasses and many consisted of mere fragments of material.  The team owes much to Humboldt’s excellent Range and Botany courses.

Justin Luong and Kerry Byrne

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Drs Justin Luong and Kerry Byrne received a $1.4 million UC Climate Action Grant for several projects supporting climate resiliency in California grasslands and rangelands. Grasslands serve as the foundation for California’s ranching economy, and support ecosystem services like carbon and water storage, flood mitigation, and ecotourism. In light of climate change, innovating ecological restoration that focuses on climate resilience is imperative. Luong and collaborators (CSU-Chico, CalPoly-SLO and PointBlue) will work with land managers across California to establish a Grassland Restoration Action, Science and Stewardship (GRASS) network for coordination and resource sharing, and developing climate-resilient grassland restoration protocols.

Lucy Kerhoulas, Rosemary Sherriff, Erik Jules

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Lucy Kerhoulas (Forestry), Rosemary Sherriff (Geography), Erik Jules (Biology) are co-leading a new project to map the vegetation of the Klamath ecoregion along with undergraduate and graduate students, and collaborators from the California Native Plant Society and Michael Kauffmann (alum; Backcountry Press). The project involves sampling ~ 1600 locations across the 3-year project.