Breadcrumb
Achievements
Publications and achievements submitted by our faculty, staff, and students.
Travis DiGennaro and Crystal Welch
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
Rangeland Resources Science majors Travis DiGennaro and Crystal Welch will share the $1,000 Paul Zinke Memorial Scholarship Award for 2013. Travis is an assistant for the introductory soils course, is enrolled in the Wildland Soils option of the range major, and hails from Napa, CA. Crystal Welch is also in the Wildland Soils option and has called Humboldt County and Port Orford, Oregon home. Travis and Crystal will be presenting an undergraduate research poster on actinomycetes found in mushroom compost at the Soil Science Society of America Annual Meetings in Tampa, Florida in November 2013. They join seven 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), co-owner of Dirty Business Consulting of Arcata; Allison Rofe, (‘12) who is a rangeland management specialist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Ukiah, CA; Jasmine Westbrook (‘12), currently enrolled in a M.S. program at Montana State University; and Stephanie Winters (‘13), a seasonal employee with BKS Environmental of Gillette, WY.
Zoe Merrill, Rachelle Dilley, Stephanie Winters, Kyle Garvey, and Braden Pitcher
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
Five Humboldt State University students passed the rigorous “Fundamentals of Soil Science” exam offered on April 15, 2013, becoming Associate Professional Soil Scientists, according to test results from the Council of Soil Science Examiners. Zoe Merrill, Kyle Garvey and Braden Pitcher graduated with degrees in Wildland Soils in the Rangeland Resource Science major. Stephanie Winters graduated with the Rangeland Resources option and completed sufficient soils courses to be a federal Soil Scientist. Rachelle Dilley graduated with a degree in Botany.
The national pass rate for the spring 2013 exam was 63%. 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. Humboldt State University Wildland Soils students (an option 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.
Forestry students
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
The Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources presented 22 of its students with nearly $28,000 in scholarships at its 15th annual Spring Awards banquet in April. Three graduating seniors were recognized at the ceremony: Zachary Carter, Academic Excellence Award; Noah Coonen, Professional Promise Award, and Celina Weeg, Most Outstanding Student Award in Rangeland Resources and Wildland Soils. Department Chair Kenneth (K.O.) Fulgham reported that faculty have gained more than $1.37 million in grant research awards in the past 18 months. He recognized retiring Professor John Stuart for his 30 years of service to the department. For the third year running, Stuart was voted “Outstanding Professor of the Year” by the department’s 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.