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Full Agenda

Monday, October 31
8:00 AM

Registration
8:30

Field Tours

 

Tuesday, November 1
7:45 AM

Welcome
Bill Tietje, Symposium Co-Chair, Cooperative Extension, San Luis Obispo County, Dept. of Environmental, Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley
7:55

Opening Remarks 
Senator John Laird, District 17
Plenary Session I - Climate Change: Challenges & Prospects for Sustaining California Oak Woodland
Moderator: Paul Starrs, University of Nevada, Reno

8:10

 Keynote Address
Setting the Tone: An Overview of Climate Change and Oaks
David Ackerly, Dean and Professor, Rausser College of Natural Resources, UC Berkeley
8:35

The Past:  Blue Oak and the History of Heavy Precipitation in California

David Stahle, Distinguished Professor, Dept. of Geosciences, University of Arkansas
9:00 The Present: Multiple Stressors Create an Inflection Point for Oak Sustainability
Ted Swiecki, Principal Plant Pathologist, Phytosphere Research
Elizabeth Bernhardt, Principal Plant Pathogist, Phytosphere Research 
9:25 The Future: The Uncertain Future of California's Oak Woodlands
Frank Davis, Distinguished Professor, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, UC Santa Barbara
9:50 Question & Answer Session
10:00 Break
Concurrent Session 1
 
  1A: Climate Change I
Moderator: Leander Anderegg, UC Santa Barbara
 1B: Status of Oaks
Moderator: Yana Valachovic, UCCE Humboldt-Del Norte
 1C: Regeneration/Restoration 
Moderator: Claudia Tyler, UC Santa Barbara
10:30 #1 Champion Oaks of California and Where They Are - Matt Ritter, Dept. of Biology, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo #5 Oaks in the 21st Century: A New Way to Map Oak Woodlands and Forests – Tom Gaman, California Wildlife Foundation/California Oaks #9 Part 1: Conifer Encroachment and Removal in a Northern California Oak Woodland: Influences on Ecosystem Physiology and Biodiversity - Lucy Kerhoulas, Dept. of Forestry and Wildland Resources, Cal Poly Humboldt
10:50 #2 The Tree-Ring Record of Seasonal Precipitation Variability and Change from the Blue Oak Woodlands of California – Ian Howard, Dept. of Geosciences, University of Arkansas #6 Structure of the Valley Oak Population at Hastings Reservation - Walter D. Koenig, Hastings Reservation, UC Berkeley #10 Reproduction and Recruitment of Blue Oak in the Sierra Nevada Foothills of California – M.V. Eitzel, Center for Community Science, UC Davis
11:10 #3 Survival and Growth of Blue Oaks Under Power Transmission Lines 10 Years After Tree Topping - Royce Larsen, Area Natural Resource/Water Advisor, UC Cooperative Extension, San Luis Obispo, Monterey and Santa Barbara Counties #7 Coordinating Collaborations to Conserve California Oaks - Amy Byrne, The Morton Arboretum and Christy Powell, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance #11 Substrate Enhancements and Botanical Diversity for Successful Oak Habitat Creation – Richard B. Lewis III, Psomas
11:30 #4 Oak Versus Conifer: Competition, Climate and Drought Effects on Tree Growth in Northern California – Rosemary Sherriff (presenter) and Jill Beckmann, Dept. of Forestry & Wildland Resources, Cal Poly Humboldt #8 Investigating Blue Oak Phenology, Vigor, and Mortality on Central California Rangelands – Rebecca Ozeran, UCCE Fresno County #12 Re-Oaking North Bay: A Strategy for Restoring Native Oak Ecosystems, Focusing on Napa and Sonoma Valleys – Sean Baumgarten, San Francisco Estuary Institute
11:50 Q&A Q&A Q&A
12:00 PM Lunch
Plenary Session II - Climate Change: Challenges & Prospects for Managing Privately-Owned Oak Woodland
Moderator: Chris Dicus, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
1:30 21st Century Management Strategies for Managing California Oak Populations
Victoria Sork, Life Sciences Division Dean and Professor, Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles
1:55

Past, Present, and Future Fire Regimes in California Oak Communities
Jon Keeley, Senior Research Scientist, Western Ecological Research Center, Sequoia-Kings Canyon Field Station, US Geological Survey and Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC Los Angeles
2:20 The Influence of Climate Change on Oak Pests and Pathogens
Richard Cobb, Dept. of Natural Resources Management & Environmental Sciences, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
2:45 Climate Change and the Management of California Oaks in the Urban Environment
Igor Lacan, Bay Area Environmental Horticulture and Urban Forestry Advisor, UC Cooperative Extension, San Mateo-San Francisco Counties
3:10 Question & Answer Session
3:30 Break
Concurrent Session 2
 
  2A: Climate Change II
Moderator: Claudia Tyler, UC Santa Barbara		 2B: Rangelands: Assessment & Management
Moderator: Elizabeth Reikowski, Willow Creek Land and Cattle, LLC		 2C: Oak Pests and Diseases 
Moderator: Kim Corella, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
4:00 #13 New Oaks For A Climate Changing California – David Muffly, Oaktopia #17 Ranchers and Land Managers Responses to an Oak Survey – Devii Rao, UCCE San Benito County #21 The Mediterranean Oak Borer (MOB, Xyleborus monographus Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) a New Invasive Species Infesting Valley and Blue Oak in Northern California – Curtis Ewing, California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention
4:20 #14 Developing a Climate Resilient Native Tree Planting Plan for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area – Rosi , RCD of the Santa Monica Mountains #18 Do Land Ownership Motivations Determine Land Management? Ranchers, Water, and Shallow Wetlands in the Sierra Nevada Foothills - José L. Oviedo, Institute of Marine Sciences of Andalusia (ICMAN), CSIC #22 Long-term Monitoring of Mixed Oak Woodlands for Goldspotted Oak Borer Host Preference and Spatiotemporal Patterns in Host Colonization – Adrian Poloni, Inland Empire Resource Conservation District (IERCD)
4:40 #15 Modeling Climate-Driven Migration and Urban Habitat Connectivity for Valley Oak (Quercus lobata Née) - Brenna Castro Carlson, Atlas Lab Inc., work completed at UC Berkeley #19 Background Total Suspended Solids and Turbidity Conditions in Oak Woodland Headwater Streams - David Lewis, UCCE Marin County #23 A 25-year Retrospective on the Goldspotted Oak Borer (Agrilus auroguttatus) in Southern California - Thomas Scott, Dept. of Environmental Science Policy and Management, UC Berkeley presented by Beatriz Nobua-Behrmann, S. Coast REC, UC ANR 
5:00 #16 Climate Change and Masting After 40 Years of Acorn Surveys at Hastings Reservation – Mario Pesendorfer, Institute of Forest Ecology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna #20 Screening Oak Taxa for Suitability for Producing Acorns as an Animal Feed Crop – Shawn Overstreet, Dept. of Plant Sciences, UC Davis #24 Other Pests of Oaks in California – Thomas Smith, California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention 
5:20  Q&A Q&A   
5:30 Poster Session and strolling dinner with no-host bar (View List of Posters)
8:00 Adjourn

 

Wednesday, November 2
Concurrent Session 3
8:00 AM

3A: Education, Outreach, & Engagement: Lessons from the Field (Special Topic Panel)
Moderator: Greg Ira, Director, UC ANR California Naturalists Program

This panel will explore different forms of educational initiatives related to oaks and oak woodlands. Each program addresses a different audience group (students, adults, teachers, and mixed audiences) and instructional delivery methods. The session will also examine best practices for addressing diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice within these programs and audience segments. 

View panel abstract

3B: Oak Ecology & Conservation
Moderator: David Lewis, Director, Advisor UC Cooperative Extension Marin and Napa Counties

 

 

 

 

3C: Wildlife Ecology & Conservation
Moderator: Melanie Gogol-Prokurat, CA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

 

 

 

 
8:20 K-12 Education - A Case Study of the Learning Among the Oaks (LATO) Program - Beverly Gingg, Learning Among the Oaks, The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County #26 Do Soil Microbes Affect Drought Tolerance in Quercus lobata? A Greenhouse Study on Seedlings and Soil from Tejon Ranch, CA – Laura Bogar, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, UC Santa Barbara; Ronja Keeley, UC Santa Barbara #30 Nest-site Relationships Among Cavity-nesting Birds of Oak Woodlands in California: Identifying the Source of Cavities for Non-excavators – Kathryn Purcell, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station
8:40 Adult Education: Forest Stewardship Education Initiative - Kim Ingram, UC Cooperative Extension, Davis #27 Protecting in situ Engelmann Oak Within a Broad ex situ Collection of Quercus Species – Nicole Cavender, The Huntington #31 Vegetation Associations for Amphibians and Reptiles in Undisturbed California Oak Woodland – Christopher Evelyn, Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley
9:00 Teacher Professional Development: Project Learning Tree - Cyndi Chavez, CA Project Learning Tree, 4-H Program, UC ANR #28 Carbon Sequestration in California Oak Woodlands - Virginia Matzek, Dept. of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Santa Clara University #32 Exploring the Value of California Black Oaks for Fishers in a Landscape Altered by Disturbance – Rebecca Green, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station
9:20 Community Science: Sudden Oak Death (SOD) Blitz Survey Project - Douglas Schmidt, Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley #29 Spheres of Influence: Host Tree Proximity and Soil Chemistry Shape rRNA, but Not DNA, Communities of Symbiotic and Free-Living Soil Fungi in a Mixed Hardwood-Conifer Forest – Gabriel Runte, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, UC Santa Barbara #33 California’s Oaks in the 21st Century: Oak Habitat for Endangered, Threatened and Candidate Species – Angela Moskow, California Wildlife Foundation/California Oaks
9:40 Revitalizing Indigenous Stewardship and Sense of Place: Lessons from Amah Mutsun Land-based Educational Programming - Alexii Sigona, PhD Candidate, Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley Q&A #34 Response of a Keystone Species to the Removal of Downed Wood in a California Oak Woodland- William Tietje, UC Cooperative Extension, Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley
10:00 Break
Concurrent Session 4
  4A: Climate Change III
Moderator: Jessica Wright, USFS Pacific Southwest Research Station		 4B: Fire I
Moderator: Matthew Shapero, UCCE Ventura County		 4C: Sustaining Working Landscapes
Moderator: Sheila Barry, UCCE Santa Clara County
10:30 #35 Participatory Field Gene Banks: A Novel Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for California Oaks – Blair McLaughlin, Hampshire College #39 Post-fire Oak Survival and Regeneration in Oak Woodlands Impacted by the River Fire at Hopland Research and Extension Center – Michael Jones, UCCE Mendocino, Lake, and Sonoma Counties #43 California's Ranch Water Quality Planning Program Revamped and Redeployed - Morgan Doran, UCCE Capitol Corridor
10:50 #25 Monitoring Drought and Beetle Mortality in the Santa Monica Mountains and Implementing an Early Detection-Rapid Response Plan – Rosi Dagit, RCD of the Santa Monica Mountains #40 Identifying Second Order Effects of Fire on California Oaks - Shane Dewees, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, UC Santa Barbara #44 Ranching - The Next Generation: Reflections on Innovative Ways for Young Ranchers to Contribute to the Preservation of Oak Woodlands - Elizabeth Reikowski, Willow Creek Land and Cattle, LLC
11:10 #37 Detecting Introgression and Determining the Potential of Adaptive Gene Flow Between Two Hybridizing Californian White Oaks (Quercus sect. Quercus) – Scott O’Donnell, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC Los Angeles #41 Determining the Long-Term Effects of Wildfire on Goldspotted Oak Borer in Southern California – Kim Corella, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection #45 Challenges Faced by California Ranchers: Environmental, Regulatory, and Encroachment Pressures - Seth Scribner, P.E. Third Generation California Rancher and Grazing Management Strategist
11:30 #38 Plasticity Drives Geographic Variation and Trait Coordination in Blue Oak Drought Physiology – Leander Anderegg, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, UC Santa Barbara #42 Response of Post-wildfire California Black Oak Sprout-clumps to Crown Modification; Early Results – Martin Ritchie, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station #46 California Rancher Sustainability Assessment (CRSA) Tool – Rebecca Ozeran, UCCE Fresno
11:50 Q&A Q&A Q&A
12:00 PM Lunch
Concurrent Session 5
  5A: New Technologies (Special Topic Panel)
Moderator: Maggi Kelly, UC ANR IGIS Statewide Program		 5B: Northern California Regeneration/Restoration Projects
Moderator: Jeff Stackhouse, UCCE Humboldt and Del Norte Counties
1:30 Drones in Oaks: Mapping the River Fire Impact on Oaks at Hopland Research and Extension Center - Sean Hogan and Maggi Kelly (preseter), UC ANR IGIS Statewide Program #47 Drill-seeding Blue Oak Acorns is a New Method for Restoration in California’s Rangelands – Alex Palmerlee, Far View Ranch 
1:50 Conservation Dashboards - Recording, Monitoring, and Reporting Live from the Coast Live Oak Restoration Project at the Dangermond Preserve - Kelly Easterday, The Nature Conservancy #48 North Coast Oak Woodland Restoration: Assessment of Post-treatment Understory Conditions - Jeffrey Stackhouse, UCCE Humboldt County
2:10 The Climate Adapted Seed Tool: Using Provenance Tests to Inform Oak Seed Transfer in a Changing Climate - Joseph Stewart, UC Davis #49 North Coast Oak Woodland Restoration: Oregon White Oak and Black Oak Tree Response to Release from Douglas-fir Encroachment - Yana Valachovic, UCCE Humboldt and Del Norte Counties
2:30 Gradient Nearest Neighbor (GNN) Mapping as Applied to California Oak Woodland - Hans Andersen, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station #50 Resistance to Armillaria in Encroached and Open True Oak Woodlands of the North Coast - Chris Lee, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
2:50 Q&A Q&A
3:00 Break
Concurrent Session 6
  6A: Fire II
Moderator: Michael Jones, UCCE Mendocino, Lake, and Sonoma Counties		 6B: Oak Adaptation & Resilience
Moderator: Devii Rao, UCCE San Benito County		 6C: Sustaining Oak Woodland Resources
Moderator: Julie Finzel, UCCE Kern County
3:30 #51 Can Grazing Reduce Wildfire Risk? - Matthew Shapero, UCCE Ventura County #55 Rescuing Acorns and Wild Seedlings from Legacy Oaks in Urban Areas: Conserving the Genetic Heritage of California’s Original Oak Forests - Timothy Vendlinski, Independent Conservationist #59 Drone-based Remote Sensing of Canopy Thinning to Inform Conservation Management for California Live Oak Communities Facing Insect Pest Invasions and Drought – Marc Mayes, UC Santa Barbara, Earth Research Institute
3:50 #52 Bark Properties and Expected Conferred Resistance to Fire-induced Mortality in Three California Oak Species - Kaili Brande, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, UC Santa Barbara #56 Theoretical Model of Oak Persistence Under Competition and Herbivory – M.V. Eitzel, Center for Community Science, UC Davis #60 Assessing the Contribution of Oak Woodland Habitats to Biodiversity Conservation Using CWHR and ACE – Melanie Gogol-Prokurat, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
4:10 #53 Successional Dynamics in Maritime Vegetation on a Fire-Suppressed Landscape – Brad Anderson, Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UC Santa Barbara #57 Examining Abiotic and Biotic Factors Influencing Specimen Black Oaks (Quercus kellogii) in Northern California to Reimplement Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Promote Ecosystem Resilience Post-wildfire - Cory O'Gorman, Dept. of Biology, Sonoma State University #61 Coordinated Squirrels: Harvesting Acorns for Reforestation Using Community Volunteers, Smartphones and Persistent Chat Applications – Zarah Wyly, Sacramento Tree Foundation
4:30 #54 Post-fire Recovery in the Understory: Woody Fuels Management and Restoration in Oak Forests at Pepperwood – Michelle Halbur, Pepperwood Preserve #58 California Oaks: Evolved for Resilience in California's Changing Climate - Chad Roberts, Retired Conservation Ecologist #62 Context-dependent Effects of Cattle and Wildlife on Floral Resources at Tejon Ranch in Southcentral California – Devyn Orr, USDA Agricultural Research Service
4:50 Q&A Q&A Q&A
5:00 Adjourn
5:30 Optional GCCO/SDZWA Workshop and Networking Meeting

 

Thursday, November 3
Plenary Session III - Maintaining & Managing California's Working Landscapes
Moderator: Leslie Roche, UC ANR Cooperative Extension Specialist, Dept. of Plant Sciences, UC Davis
8:00 AM California’s Working Oak Woodlands in a Changing Environment: Keeping Carbon in the Bank
Lynn Huntsinger, Professor, Rangeland Ecology and Management, Russell L. Rustici Chair in Rangeland Management, UC Berkeley
8:30 Adapting Ranch Management to Prolonged Drought and Changing Plant Species Composition
Royce Larson, Area Natural Resource/Water Advisor, UC Cooperative Extension, San Luis Obispo, Monterey and Santa Barbara Counties
9:00 Working Lands for Conservation: A Vital Step for 30x30
Adina Merenlender, UC ANR Cooperative Extension Specialist and Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Environmental, Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley and UC ANR Hopland Research & Extension Center
9:30

Why Keeping the Ranch in the Family Matters: The Rancher's Perspective
Steve Sinton, California Livestock Producer, Attorney at Law and co-founder, The California Rangeland Trust
Daniel Sinton, Writer and Director, The California Rangeland Trust
10:05 Question & Answer Session
10:20 Break
10:35

Acknowledgments and Introduction to Capstone
Bill Tietje, Symposium Co-Chair, Cooperative Extension, Dept. of Environmental, Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley

Capstone: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?
Paul Starrs, Writer and Regents & Foundation Distinguished Professor, Dept. of Geography, University of Nevada, Reno
11:15 Wrap Up
Symposium Co-Chair: Jessica Wright, Research Geneticist, Pacific Southwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Davis, California
11:35 AM Adjourn