Achievements

Dino Santia, Kerry Byrne

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

RRS undergraduate Dino Santia has been awarded an $8,000 NEXTGEN research fellowship from the Agricultural Research Institute to support his independent research project in the Byrne Lab (ESM Dept), entitled "Seed bank Emergence Study." 

Wendy Kornberg, Claudia Alfaro Hernandez

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Undergraduate students Wendy Kornberg and Claudia Alfaro Hernandez were each awarded an $11,000 California State University Agriculture Research Initiative-NEXTGEN in a systemwide competition to conduct independent research related to agricultural resources with Dr. Justin Luong. Wendy Kornberg will evaluate how indigenous microorganisms (IMO) inoculation can be used to benefit regenerative tomato production in south county. Claudia Alfaro Hernandez will evaluate how microhabitats created by solar microgrids shape plant communities and soil properties on local rangelands. The data will be used to inform ecological restoration plant selection for future management goals related to native plant diversity, pollinator habitat, and sheep grazing.   

Rosemary Sherriff and Andrew Stubblefield

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Drs. Andrew Stubblefield and Rosemary Sherriff are Coordinating Leads on California’s Fifth Climate Change Assessment’s Regional Synthesis Report for the North Coast, focusing on how climate change is impacting six counties in northwestern California. The assessment is supported through the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and aims to inform on-the-ground implementation and decision-making at the local, regional, tribal, and state levels, focusing on communities most vulnerable to climate change. Lead authors include Dr. Daniel Lipe, Dr. David Narum, Dr. Keith Parker, and Jennifer Marlow.

Learn more about the assessment here.

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.