- Author: Kim Ingram
UC scientists with the Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Project (SNAMP) are investigating the uses of Lidar (light detection and ranging) in providing detailed information on how forest habitat is affected by fuels management treatments across a large landscape. Mapping forest structure can illustrate how a forest influences surface hydrology, provides for wildlife and how a forest might burn given certain weather and wind patterns. This research is proving useful in wildlife studies, water quantity and fire modeling and forest planning.
Airborne lidar works by emitting a light pulse from an emitter onboard a plane towards a ground target. A portion of the light is reflected back to...
- Author: Brenda Dawson
While the legality of California’s medical marijuana dispensaries is being debated in courtrooms, a UC Cooperative Extension forestry and wildlands ecology advisor says there are a number of issues related to the unregulated land-use practices of illicit cannabis growing that have not been addressed.
“As a forest ecologist, I spend a lot of time outdoors, and I talk to thousands of people every year about forest-related subject matter,” says Greg Giusti. “And you can’t talk to anybody today on the North Coast without the topic of cannabis growing and cannabis impacts on land coming up.”
In Lake and Mendocino counties, Giusti performs research and shares...
- Posted By: John Stumbos
- Written by: Diane Nelson, denelson@ucdavis.edu, (530) 752-1969
A Forest Biology Research Center has been created at UC Davis, bringing good news for students, researchers, and all of us who like to breathe clean air.
“Trees are as important as agriculture to the landscape of California and the world,” says UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences Professor David Neale, a forest geneticist and the driving force behind the new center. “Creation of the center culminates the work of many people over many years to bring a visible presence to forest biology research and education on the UC Davis campus.”
UC Davis is a prime location for forest biology research and education because of its proximity to the Sierra Nevada and...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
If you are passionate about a forest near you then you may want to tune into the UC Cooperative Extension webinar series on Community Forests. The webinars will begin at 6:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on April 7 with additional programs on April 13, 20 and 27. Participants may also want to take part in related field trips to Arcata Community Forest, Usal Redwood Forest, Tahoe-Donner and Weaverville Community Forest.
Community forests are forested lands that are managed to produce what people value. Forests may be valued as a source of timber for lumber, clean water, wildlife habitat, recreational purposes or for all of these benefits in combination.
The webinar series aims to present an overview of community forestry...
- Author: Kim Ingram
Adult and juvenile California spotted owl
During a Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Project (SNAMP) public meeting, a participant brought up the idea that California spotted owls preferred to nest near forest edges to be closer to foraging habitat and their prey. Principal investigator for the SNAMP Owl Team, Dr. Rocky Gutierrez, charged research fellow Casey Phillips and SNAMP Owl Team project leader Doug Tempel to research this question at SNAMP study sites in the Tahoe and Eldorado National Forests to see if this was...