Breadcrumb
Achievements
Publications and achievements submitted by our faculty, staff, and students.
Pascal Berrill, Christa Dagley & Yoon Kim
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
Yoon Kim (Mathematics), Christa Dagley & Pascal Berrill (Forestry) coauthored a peer-reviewed article in the journal Restoration Ecology: "Restoration thinning enhances growth and diversity in mixed redwood/Douglas-fir stands in northern California, USA."
Brent Henry, Andrew Mueller, Kaelie Pena, and Mariah Aguilar
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
The Forestry and Wildland Resources Department celebrated its students during the annual Awards Banquet on April 18. This year, the department awarded over $68,000 in scholarships to 56 deserving students. Many scholarships were established by alumnae or in honor of alumnae; the Forestry Pathfinders scholarship was created by the founding forestry class at Humboldt State; and the Gayleen Smith scholarship was created in honor of the “office mom” for the department from 2005 through 2013.
The department also honored outstanding students: Brent Henry (Academic Excellence award in Forestry), Andrew Mueller (Professional Promise award in Forestry), Kaelie Pena (Rangeland Resource Outstanding Student), and Mariah Aguilar (Rangeland Resource Outstanding Student). And the students voted to award three separate honors: to Maurine Nicholson (Administrative Support Coordinator) and George Pease (Stockroom Manager) in recognition of their contributions to the department, and to Dr. Pascal Berrill for Outstanding Faculty member.
Erin Kelly
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
Erin Kelly, Assistant Professor in Forestry, was awarded the Educator of the Year by the California Forestry Association. She received the award at the annual CFA gathering in Napa, California on March 2.
Dr. Kelly also joined the Forest Policy Committee for the Society of American Foresters (SAF), the largest professional society for foresters in the United States. The Forest Policy Committee has 10 members representing academia, industry, and non-profit organizations; members met in Washington, DC from March 6-7 to recommend federal policy priorities for SAF staff and board members to relay to federal legislators and agencies.
Specialist Todd Golder and students Mariah Aguiar, Amanda Albright, Melissa Chase, Axel Sanchez, Eric Garcia, Monica Rodriguez, Steven Gilster, Tess Palmer, Darren Pinnegar and Kaelie Pena.
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
Humboldt State University's Range Plant Identification team placed 5th in a contest that has been described as one of the toughest in recent memory. Deedee Soto, an HSU Botany major with a range minor, placed 5th in the individual category. Coached by lecturer/NRCS Rangeland Specialist Todd Golder, other team members include Mariah Aguiar, Amanda Albright, Melissa Chase, Axel Sanchez, Eric Garcia, Monica Rodriguez, Steven Gilster, Tess Palmer, Darren Pinnegar, and Kaelie Pena. These students were enrolled in RRS 475 Advanced study of Range Plants, offered every semester.
Most plant species on this test were grasses and many consisted of mere fragments of material. We owe much to HSU's exce
Bret McNamara
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
Bret McNamara won an award for best student poster at the Third Southwest Fire Ecology Conference in Tucson, AZ for his research entitled "Post-fire seedling establishment patterns of Hesperocyparis bakeri".
Bret is a graduate student working in the HSU Wildland Fire Lab and conducted this research in collaboration with faculty members: David Greene, Jeff Kane, and Melanie McCavour
Leonard Rios
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
Leonard Rios presented his research on the "Effects of fire season on growth and defense in Pinus lambertiana" at the Third Southwestern Fire Ecology Conference in Tucson, Arizona.
Leonard is graduate student in the HSU Wildland Fire Lab working with Jeff Kane.
Harold Zald
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
Harold Zaid was recently interviewed about his research regarding the relationships between drought, insect outbreaks, and wildlife by the independent digital media Water Deeply.
Link to the article
https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2016/09/14/the-surprising-sci…
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
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.