Breadcrumb
Achievements
Publications and achievements submitted by our faculty, staff, and students.
Larry Fox
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
Emeritus Forestry Professor Larry Fox has completed a volunteer project investigating the death of more than 1500 people fleeing Libya across the Central Mediterranean using geospatial and remote sensing technology. Fox and researchers from the University of London produced a report on a particular case of migrants’ death involving 63 people, where the military and other actors failed to provide assistance to seafarers in distress.
The report was the basis for a legal case against France and may be used to file cases against other countries that participated in the 2011 military intervention in Libya. The full report is available at: http://www.forensic-architecture.org/homepage/fields/investigations/sea. The project was supported by GISCorps, which coordinates short term, volunteer-based GIS services to underprivileged communities.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
Ken Pimlott
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
Ken Pimlott, 45, of Cameron Park, has been appointed director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). He has served in multiple resource management and fire protection positions with the department since 1993 and has served as acting director since 2010. Pimlott began his career as a seasonal fire fighter in 1987 and is a Registered Professional Forester. Pimlott received an Associate of Arts degree in Fire Technology from American River College, and a Bachelor’s degree in Forest Resource Management from Humboldt State University.
Soil Scientists
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
Five of six Humboldt State University students (83%) passed the rigorous “Fundamentals of Soil Science” exam offered on April 15, 2011, becoming Associate Professional Soil Scientists, according to tests results from the Council of Soil Science Examiners.
Ten Wildland Soils and four Forest Soils students graduated from Humboldt State University in 2011. Five Rangeland Resource Science students also graduated, one of whom had sufficient soil science courses to be qualified for the federal Soil Scientist position. This means that Humboldt State University graduated 15 fully qualified Soil Scientists, more qualified students than most institutions have enrolled at any given time!
Whitney Butler, Whitney Schimke, Alexander Taylor, Ryan Camera and Tyler Hullquist
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
Students and faculty from the HSU’s Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources recently travelled to Albuquerque to take part in professional meetings and compete in the Society of American Foresters (SAF) Quiz Bowl at the society’s annual convention in October.
HSU sent five forestry students, Whitney Butler, Whitney Schimke, Alexander Taylor, Ryan Camera and Tyler Hullquist, to compete. The contest brought together student teams from universities across the country to demonstrate their knowledge in a wide variety of forestry disciplines.
Forestry and Wildland Resources Department Chair Ken Fulgham and Professor Han-Sup Han attended the five day convention, where Fulgham presented a poster titled “Long-term, Post-Fire Dynamics of a Sagebrush Steppe and Western Juniper Community.” It summarized nearly thirty years of post-fire vegetation monitoring of sagebrush rangelands in Modoc County in Northeastern California. Dr. Han participated in the McIntire-Stennis meetings as the HSU-Administrative Technical Representative (AT-R).