Celeste Melosh, 2015

Thesis:

Modeling runoff levels over impervious surfaces in the Lake Tahoe basin using varying data resolution.

Celeste grew up both in Santa Rosa, CA and moved overseas to Jakarta, Indonesia when she was 11. She got her bachelor?s degree at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts in environmental science with a focus on sustainable agriculture. After moving back to Santa Rosa, she spent 2 years exploring the art of film while working for KRCB public television. She inevitably went back to learning about the environment for a master?s in Watershed Management here at Humboldt. Celeste?s thesis investigated the function of LiDAR data in the modeling of water flow over impervious surfaces in the Lake Tahoe Basin. She looked at how improvements to the estimates of directly connected impervious area through the use of LiDAR data could affect the predicted levels of pollutants and runoff into the lake.

Ivan Medel, 2017

Thesis:

Sedimentation and erosion patterns within anabranching channels in a lowland river restoration project

Ivan graduated from UCLA in December of 2008 with a B.A in Geography. Ivan began his career path in the environmental sciences as a volunteer with the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation (SMBRF) in August 2009 helping implement the baseline monitoring at the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve. At the SMBRF Ivan eventually became the Watershed Program where he implemented and contributed to numerous projects to improve water quality and natural habitats within the Santa Monica Bay and its watersheds. Ivan?s thesis research involves studying depositional response patterns within the Salt River Ecosystem Restoration Project.

Bret McNamara, 2018

Thesis:

Post-fire regeneration and fuel succession patterns in Baker cypress (Hesperocyparis bakeri) forests

Bret is from Olympia, Washington, where he graduated from the Evergreen State College, volunteered as a firefighter and EMT, and worked in a local hospital. Currently, he studies rare Baker cypress ecosystems as a master?s student at Humboldt and research assistant to the Wildland Fire Lab. His research projects include post-fire regeneration, fuel succession, fire behavior modeling, and habitat suitability modeling. In the future Bret hopes to be involved in forest management and restoration projects.

Larry Maurin, 2008

Thesis:

First-year erosion responses following stream channel crossing fill removal in Redwood National and State Parks, Northwestern California. M.S. Thesis, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California.

Larry came to Humboldt in 2005 and completed his Master's degree in August 2008. His thesis was titled, First-year erosion responses following stream channel crossing fill removal in Redwood National and State Parks, Northwestern California. This study examined the effectiveness of a variety of current road removal techniques in Redwood National Park. He grew up in San Marino, California and has a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Larry was employed as a Watershed Technician at Green Diamond Resource Company in 2008 and 2009. As well as serving as an Americorps restoration team member in 2010 in Vancouver, WA, Larry will be serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in forestry and agriculture in Zambia beginning in February 2011.

Caroline Martorano, 2019

Thesis:

Long-term effectiveness of fuel treatments in oak and chaparral stands of Northern California

I graduated from the University of Illinois- Urbana/Champaign in 2012 with a B.S. in Integrative Biology. As an undergrad I was involved in the palynology lab and participated in prescribed burns and other prairie restoration activities. I was a Conservation and Land Management (CLM) intern at BLM offices in Lakeview, OR, Roseburg, OR and Redding, CA for two years following undergrad. The three years prior to starting my Masters at Humboldt, I was the plant biologist for the Quinault Nation on the Olympic Peninsula, WA. My undergrad and work experience has consisted of native plant habitat conservation in the face of natural resource land management. I've worked with natural resources in terms of cattle, timber, recreation, salmon and indigenous use of plants. My research interests stem from my passion for plants, people in the landscape, and the use of fire to manage the land and natural resources. I will be working on a collaborative project in conifer encroached oak woodlands and characterizing spatial variability of surface fuels among different levels of encroachment. I will also be working on the long-term vegetative response to mastication and other fuels treatments in Whiskeytown NRA.

Sungnome Madrone, 2011

Thesis:

Fine sediment sources of coastal watersheds with uplifted marine terraces in Northwest Humboldt County, California.

Trinidad is my Hometown and I received my BS in Natural Resources from Humboldt in 1975. My Master's Thesis was on ?Fine Sediment Sources of Uplifted Marine Terraces in Northwest Humboldt County, California. Data was collected to determine the source and significance of erosion sources and to recommend treatments. Local watershed efforts are currently underway to treat the highest priority sites in cooperation with the local watershed council, local and state government agencies, and local landowners. This project is indicative of a long series of projects that I have been involved with over the past 38 years here in Humboldt County. As a design/builder watershed restorationist my goal has always been to gather the necessary information to plan effective restoration, and then actually implement that work, monitor the work and results, and adapt the treatments based on that information. I am the principal of a restoration firm, Madrone Enterprise (ME). I am currently working to secure funding for implementation of the restoration needs identified as part of my thesis in Luffenholtz Creek. This work is a collaborative effort of ME, Redwood Community Action Agency (RCAA), Green Diamond Resource Company (GD), the City of Trinidad, and the Trinidad Bay Watershed Council.

Sungnome Madrone graduated in 2011 and is currently the director of the Mattole Salmon Group.

Dylan Loudon, 2015

Thesis:

Analysis of coastal wetland geography and policy in Humboldt Bay: adapting wetland policies for a changing climate.

I grew up in rural Sonoma County, California and I graduated with a BA in Environmental Studies from University of California at Santa Cruz, 2008 where I also spent time managing the Social Studies Geographical Information Systems lab. I worked from 2008-2014 with Prunuske Chatham, Inc., an ecosystem services company based out of Sebastopol, California. I worked in project planning, GIS analysis, heavy equipment operation and crew leadership. My interests are improving restoration project success and efficiency, specifically stream and wetland restoration. I am researching wetland restoration and mitigation policy around Humboldt Bay. This has included conducting interviews with regulators, planners and developers and collecting their perspectives on the difficulties in performing wetland work and the successful aspects of current regulatory policies. I am currently processing and analyzing interview data, and preparing to conduct a geospatial analysis of wetland distributions around Humboldt Bay and model their potential migrations under multiple sea level rise scenarios.

Amy Livingston, 2014

Thesis:

Plant community responses to fire exclusion, species invasions, and restoration in California woodlands and grasslands.

My research involves understanding the effects of conifer encroachment on understory plant diversity in fire-dependent Oregon white oak woodlands in Northern California. Additionally I am interested in how vegetation changes caused by encroachment affect current fire regimes. I am working on these questions with Dr. J.M. Varner. I have a B.S. degree from Iowa State University with majors in English and Environmental Studies. I have also completed course work in Botany at Cal Poly Humboldt. My work experience has focused on rare plants, exotic species control, and restoration of terrestrial ecosystems. I can be reached at: acl15@humboldt.edu. To learn more about research at Cal Poly Humboldt?s Wildland Fire Laboratory visit: http://www.humboldt.edu/firelab

Lonyx Landry,

Thesis:

Soil sampling for Phytophthora spp.

Lonyx will be working on soil sampling for Phytophthora spp., an organism that causes Sudden Oak Death and other plant diseases. He is currently an advisor at INRSEP.

Laura B. Lalemand, 2018

Thesis:

Restoration and tree drought resistance in coast redwood-Douglas-fir forests at Redwood National Park, California

Laura Lalemand's research interests lie in forest ecology, ecosystem function and biology, and responsible natural resource management and stewardship. She has worked in forests across California and Oregon in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges, on the California North Coast, and in the Klamath Mountain region, participating in numerous forest monitoring and research projects with the U.S. Geological Survey. Currently, Laura is a graduate student in the Dendroecology Lab of Dr. Rosemary Sherriff at Cal Poly Humboldt. She is conducting research on tree growth response to drought under different management scenarios in Redwood National Park, CA. Laura holds a B.A. in Biology from the University of Maine at Farmington (2007).