Jodie Pixley, 2017

Thesis:

All-lands management: Convening communities and their lands around fire management

Joanna Di Di Tommaso, 2015

Thesis:

“If someone wants my carbon, let them pay”: examining nonindustrial private forest owner (NIPF) interest in selling forest carbon credits under California’s

Marissa Schmitz, 2015

Thesis:

Analyzing access to California’s regulatory forest offset market

Madeleine Lopez, 2022

Thesis:

Investigating seed maturation and mortality: a mechanism for post-fire regeneration in non-serotinous conifers

I graduated from Cal Poly Humboldt in 2019, with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, anda minor in Botany. An early interest in natural science provided me with a deep appreciation forplant communities and their ecology, of which led to my involvement in two research labs. Priorto graduate studies, I worked to describe an unknown permineralized plant specimen of theDevonian period, in the Tomescu Paleobotanical Lab. Additionally, I completed multiple firerelated research projects in the Wildland Fire lab. My passion to preserve the integrity of nativeplant life and forest ecosystems fueled me to pursue a higher education. My research interestsrevolve around determining the relative impacts of fire on plant persistence and regeneration. Mycurrent research investigates the potential role of fire in the germination of Lassics lupine(Lupinus constancei), an endangered California native lupine (CNPS rank: 1B.1). In addition, Iwill identify the time required by different woody plant species to reach reproductive maturityand contribute to future generations. Furthermore, I am working to characterize a regenerativemechanism utilized by non-serotinous conifers post-fire, by determining the timing of seedmaturation for five different tree species.

Abigail Jones, 2021

Thesis:

Post-fire effects in chaparral and oak ecosystems of northern California

I graduated from State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 2014 with a B.S. in Conservation Biology. Since then I have worked for the U.S. Forest  Service, National Park Service and some non-profit conservation based organizations. I have a background mostly in wildland fire, from fire suppression crews to fire-use modules. Most recently I worked at North Cascades National Park as a Fire Effects Monitor. As a crew we studied the effects of different fuels treatments (thinning, broadcast burns, pile burns, wildfires, etc.) on National Park Service lands throughout Washington State. With Dr. Kane I will be studying the fire effects from the Carr Fire on Whiskeytown National Recreation Area.  We will be looking at areas that received different fuel treatments and how the fire burned through those areas.

Alexander Wick, 2016

Thesis:

Adaptive management of a riparian zone in the lower Klamath River basin, northern California : the effects of riparian harvest on canopy closure, water temperatures and baseflow

My thesis research involved examining riparian canopy covers impacts on water temperature, and the policy and laws governing riparian timber harvest buffers and suitable salmonid habitat. I quantified the effect of riparian canopy cover removal on stream water temperature in the Lower Klamath River watershed in Northern Humboldt County, and examined how the policy which governs these buffer zones both effects and is affected by scientific study. By using a before/after control/impact experimental riparian thinning design, combined with grounded theory methodology, I quantified the impact that riparian management has on water temperatures, and examined how well policy allows for riparian heterogeneity, adapts to new scientific study and consensus, and what steps can be taken to encourage Adaptive Resource Management on private industrial timberland in California.

Ariel Weisgrau, 2020

Thesis:

Intraspecific water exchange via common mycorrhizal networks​

Ariel grew up in North County of San Diego, CA and transferred to Cal Poly Humboldt for their soils program. Having never been further north than Davis, CA, forestry wasn?t something they had spent a lot of time thinking about. They found an unexpected passion for tree physiology and graduated from Humboldt with a B.S. in Forestry (Soils) in 2017. During their time at Humboldt, they spent both summers assisting professors on various research projects. One of those projects culminated in their senior thesis which focused on what types of landowners joined California?s carbon market and why they were motivated to join. They are now a Master?s student in the Tree Physiology and Forest Measurements Lab with Dr. Lucy Kerhoulas as their advisor. First fascinated by the unique properties of water molecules in their sixth-grade classroom, Ariel now uses deuterium isotopes to investigate the mechanisms of water absorption through foliage, bark, and adventitious roots in the canopy in Picea sitchensis (Sitka spruce) and how water absorption and physiological characteristics interact. They are investigating how Sitka spruce in the coastal redwood ecosystem may be using fog water to reduce water tension throughout the canopy, and how that affects foliar physiology.

Hai Vuong, 2014

Thesis:

Using liDAR to estimate the total aboveground live biomass of redwood stands in South Fork Caspar Creek Watershed, Jackson Demonstration State Forest, Mendocino, California.

I have a B.S. in Forestry from Cal Poly Humboldt and a B.S of Forestry from the National Institute of Agriculture at Saigon, South Vietnam. I have worked in the Black Mountain Experimental Forest at the Pacific Southwest Research station's Redding Lab. I also have 15 years of experience on the rain forest focused on the Central High land of South Vietnam, and 6 months in Lao forest. My research is on the integration of mobile torrefaction and pelletization systems for enhanced forest biomass feedstock supply to minimize the transportation cost and facilitate the energy conversion process.

Michael Vernon, 2017

Thesis:

In the face of drought: Do fuel treatments promote resistance to multi-year drought in a mixed-conifer forest of northern California?

Mike graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2008 with a B.A. in Environmental Studies. Prior to arriving at Humboldt, Mike spent several years working as a field botanist with researchers at Oregon State University and the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station. Mike has been involved in a wide range of research projects, from long-term plant community responses to variable forest thinning in the Oregon coast range to the influence of Sudden Oak Death on fire risk in northern California forests. His thesis research investigates the influence of fuel reduction treatments on tree growth responses to drought in northern California.

Andrew Slack, 2016

Thesis:

Large sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) vigor and mortality in a fire-excluded forest of the central Sierra Nevada.

My personal interest in ecology, forestry, and fire originated from my upbringing in Boulder, Colorado, where as a kid I spent hours exploring ponderosa pine forests. I graduated from the University of Colorado in 2010 with degrees in Environmental Studies and History, and spent the next 3 years working on a fire and fuels crew. In that time I experienced catastrophic wildfires, long and brutal droughts, and rapidly developing mountain communities invading forests with no plan for sustainability. These issues encouraged me to go back to school and experience a new region of the western United States. Currently, my research looks into the influence of climate and increased competition related to fire suppression on sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) growth and defense. This project combines my passions for ecology and history by using dendrochronology methods to reconstruct how sugar pine vigor and health change over time and what mechanisms drive that change.