Five years ago today, CA faced one of its most devastating fire sieges.
Aug. 15, 2020: a rare dry lightning storm ignited hundreds of wildfires—burning 4.2M acres over four months, destroying communities, claiming lives, and changing landscapes forever. (1/3)
#CALFIRE #FireSiege2020
Banana slug feeding on a hypoxylon fungus on the side of a dead tanoak in a lightly burned area of Pescadero Creek Park, San Mateo County, CA.
Thanks Olivia! How’s grad school?!
Hi Pam! All types of forest stewardship practices, from prescribed fire to mastication to timber harvest: More here: ucanr.edu/county-offic...
Field season has begun in the Santa Cruz Mountains! Our crew of 4 will be working across 15 different sites to establish plots for a permanent stewardship monitoring program. Couldn’t be more excited to be working w. this amazing set of early career scientists (my 1st grant funded crew!)
I hope to see many of you at the California Forest Science Symposium in Sacramento next week. I will be leading a moderated session on coast redwood forest fire science and management with an amazing panel including Nadia Hamey, Jared Childress, Tori Norville, and David Cowman. See you there!
These are for the summer of 2025. Crew lead starts in May and tech positions start in mid to late June.
I will be recruiting for one 850 hour forest research crew lead and 4-5 500 hour technicians over the coming month. All positions are located in Santa Cruz Mountains. Official recruitment still going through HR but interested folks can send me their resume and questions at bdwoodward@ucanr.edu.
Time of year of removal seems to be the main driver of whether or not it resprouts rapidly, with Fall being observationally efficacious. A good option to reduce fuels around some amazing trees.
Problem is if the fire comes back before it gets shaded out, like it did in the 2009Lockheed Footprint. Not at all advocating for landscape scale removal of blue blossom, but there are situations where it’s important… like post fire planting, around homes, legacy trees, and other cultural resources.
Great day to burn chemise… when surrounded by green grass and most other fuels are unavailable. #goodfire
Madrone
Maddddrone
Ponderosa pine woodlands make me feel like the future is worth fighting for
Just above Potbelly #Beach in Santa Cruz. Between New Brighton and Rio Del Mar, a little visited hamlet.
I am just getting started! Registration is $70, and includes a delicious lunch by THE GROVE in Felton.
7) Beginner and Advanced Forest inventory, taught by Katie Reidy and Susie Kocher
8) Forest Health, taught by Dr. Mike Jones
9) Nature in Watercolor, taught by Cady DeLay
10) Livestock and Forest Stewardship, taught by Claudio Nuñez
4) The Big Fire In The Big Basin: The Long History And Short Memory Of Wildfire In The Santa Cruz Mountains taught by Dr. @dustinmulvaney.bsky.social
5) Fire Ecology and Its Surrogates taught by Angie Richman
6) From a Basketweaver’s Eyes taught by Alice Lincoln-Cook
Just a few examples of classes I am really looking forward to - remember we have over 25!
1) A primer for wildfire management in CA, taught by Dr. Ashley Grupenhoff
2) Dynamics of Coastal Forests Instructor, taught by Dr. Gregory Gilbert
3) Truffle Fungi of the Sierra Nevada taught by Chris Bivins
Classes are being taught by such an awesome group - true experts in their trade! We have classes on fire, tree ID, forest inventory, basketweaving, art, ecology and more! Check out the course catalog: ucanr.edu/sites/forest...
Registration for CA Tree School in Santa Cruz County is officially OPEN! Reg closes in March and the event is April 5th in Felton! Students get to choose from over 25 classes for a day of forestry education like no other. This event is SO COOL. ucanr.edu/sites/forest...
Host range research is just getting started. To date, box elder trees have been predominantly and severely infested at the Felton site, but a few CA sycamore, coast live oak, arroyo willow, red willow, and black cottonwood individuals have also been attacked.
Unfortunately we know less about this beetle pathogen complex than we do about our other ISHB species in California. UC is racing to understand potential host species through on site research.
A new factsheet has been produced discussing how to identify this novel species, known host species, and what we know now: ucanr.edu/sites/pshb/f...
We currently advise to follow all management and sanitation practices recommended for other invasive shothole borer (ISHB) species that are present in California. Learn more at ISHB.org.
A twist in our invasive shothole borer (ISHB) infestation in Santa Cruz County... the beetle-pathogen complex in Felton has been positively identified as Euwallacea interjectus–Fusarium floridanum. This represents a new shothole borer species introduction in California (and the US west coast).
Great tips - thank you!
