- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Even though there has been a deficit of fire in California forests for decades, their future is not hopeless, said UC Berkeley fire science professor and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources researcher Scott Stephens in an interview with Craig Miller on KQED Science.
"The next 25 to 30 years are paramount. If you begin to do restoration, reduce density, make forests more variable in pattern, and less fuel, when you have episodes of drought and fire, it's going to be fine. The...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A study conducted by scientists from UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Cooperative Extension and the U.S. Geological Survey found that since 1930, the density of large trees in California has decreased, reported John Fowler of KTVU News Channel 2.
The story said scientists compared exquisitely detailed tree data collected in the 1920s and 1930s with tree surveys made between 2001 and 2010. They identified significant and rapid changes in basic forest structure. As large tree density fell across the state, and the density of small trees increased.
"The thing that I think is particularly worrisome is how...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
The goldspotted oak borer continues to threaten oak trees, Tom Scott, area natural resource specialist located at UC Riverside, told participants at conference on sustaining native oak woodlands in Los Angeles, the Monrovia Patch reported.
Scott said there is still a quarantine on moving firewood out of San Diego County to prevent the spread of the damaging insect.
Reporter Sandy Gillis wrote that Larry...
- Author: Brenda Dawson
Forest restoration would be one way to improve our economy, writes researcher Tong Wu of the Center for Forestry and UC Berkeley on CNN's Global Public Square news website. He states that human interference has "made many ecosystems unnaturally susceptible to catastrophic wildfires" and that global warming will exacerbate the problem.
"In economic analyses of environmental management projects across the western United States, ecological restoration produced multiplier effects (the economic 'bang for the buck' of every dollar spent) that...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
When UC Cooperative Extension forestry specialist Gary Nakamura retires this summer, he will be "leaving a big hole in our local community," organic farmer Wayne Kessler told the Redding Record-Searchlight.
The article, written by Tim Holt, reviewed Nakamura's nearly 40-year career as a forestry expert, which included stints with private industry and the U.S. Forest Service, before his long-time tenure with UC Cooperative Extension.
Nakamura took on a unique role as a go-between, a soft-spoken and knowledgeable mediator between public and private interests, the article said. In...