Perceptible Changes

Persistent weak layers in Northern Utah's snowpack

2012-03-05T09:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was fortunate to participate in the Utah State University's AIARE I course at the Blind Hollow Yurt near Logan, UT. After a few days of classroom work, we put on the skins, turned on the transceivers and went where snow science and avalanche awareness are best taught - outside. Here is the result of our Rutschblock test from Saturday March 3rd, 2012:

I should note that while these upper layers likely still exist, the weather has changed dramatically from powder and wind to sun and high temperatures, shifting the risk to deep slabs. Check out http://utahavalanchecenter.org/ for current conditions.

A big thanks to Brian Shirley and the ORP, Mike Jenkins, Chris, Cory and our faithful YB, Paul, for a great class and all around good times. Stay safe in the mountains with the big heat wave that's pushing through Northern Utah this week!

Passive Soil Manipulation Influences the Successional Trajectories of Forest Communities at a Denuded Former Campsite

2012-02-29T23:03:00.002-07:00

Ecological Restoration
Volume 30, Issue 1

America's original restoration publication, Ecological Restoration, just released their first issue of volume 30. My collaborators in research and restoration, Rodney Pond and Lexine Long, and I had an article run in this issue as a note, following up on our work in North Cascades National Park to examine how passive restoration affects successional trajectories during early forest stand development. As I reported previously on this blog, our main finding was that soil amendments of variable particle sizes and origins had a long-lasting effect on what tree species germinated and persisted in the community. This easy form of propagule introduction takes genetic considerations into account, is low cost and low-impact when working in relatively healthy forest systems.

Pseudotsuga menziesii propagules.

I would summarize our work further, but since it's already a note, I'll just say that it was massively fun to work with Rodney, Lexine and our field guru Dan Owen to get this project together.

A sea of Alnus rubra.

If you were thinking, "Hey, I like forests, restoration and fun!" then you can grab a copy of the article here (for educational and collaboration purposes only*) or check it out on the publications page.

*I'm not trying to get sued here.

"Forest succession in boreal landscapes rules"

2012-02-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

Although it sounds like a line from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, I must agree with the title statement. Forest succession in boreal landscapes does indeed rule, and I appreciate when such search terms redirect to my blog. Big ups to P. mariana, P. glauca and all the Sphagnum spp. that made that search result possible.

-or-

???

Either way, strange things are afoot at the Circle K...

2011: Year of the River

2012-02-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

Last night, a group of Utah State University Watershed Sciences students got together as a part of our monthly topics in watershed restoration group to discuss how much ecosystem restoration is needed to actually increase steelhead and coho salmon smolt production (Roni et al 2010). The conclusion tended towards the usual: we need a large-scale, process-based approach, not just band-aid projects and log jams on third-order streams. We concluded that as a whole, society needs more water, diverse flows, healthier watersheds and better urban and environmental planning to really improve in-stream habitat enough to recover salmon (and other species) abundances to anything resembling their historic levels.

Afterwards, since we already had a projector on hand, we devolved to watching dam removals on Youtube. We watched the Elha, Glines Canyon and Condit dams go away, both slowly and quickly. Rather than just watching clips of the explosive moments as we did yesterday, today I offer a link to the Year of the River by Andy Maser. This video was put together as a part of the Elwha and White Salmon River restoration efforts and the Ecological Society of America just hyped it up via their social media. Year of the River was made possible by American Whitewater and American Rivers and I advise you to give it a click below:

Year of the River from Andy Maser on Vimeo.

Tropical Native Species Reforestation Information Clearinghouse

2012-02-15T09:01:00.002-07:00

The good folks at the Environmental Leadership and Training Initiative (ELTI) have put together a stellar set of resources for land managers and restoration practitioners in tropical Asia and the Neotropics. Users can access information on forest restoration by searching for country, region, resource type, subjects and ecosystems at the new Tropical Native Species Reforestation Information Clearinghouse (TRIC)
website: http://reforestation.elti.org/

The TRIC houses primary literature, reviews, and gray literature on numerous topics from native plant production to understory regeneration an carbon biomass. While the clearinghouse may not solve issues of access to some of their linked journal articles, it does provide a nice (and nicely presented) information hub that links up with ELTI's other programs in tropical regions. It appears that the TRIC could serve as a great starting point for ecological and forestry research, restoration project planning and policy research for local communities and individual nations. For more information on ELTI and TRIC, check out ELTI.org and have a look at their overview video:

ELTI Overview from Yale F&ES on Vimeo.

ELTI is a joint partnership between the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

SWS-PNW 2012: Call for abstracts!

2012-02-06T13:09:00.001-07:00

The call for abstracts to the SWS-Pacific Northwest chapter conference in Boise just went out:

Call for Submissions

2012 SWS PNW Chapter Annual Meeting
East or West, Water Defines Us All

Conference dates: September 19-21, 2012
Venue: The Grove Hotel, Boise, Idaho

Abstracts will be accepted February 3 - March 30, 2012

You are invited to submit abstracts for technical sessions, panel discussions, and/or posters to be presented at the 2012 Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Society of Wetland Scientists conference. We welcome abstracts from all related disciplines and areas of expertise including academics, field practitioners, and government. The meeting is an opportunity for wetland scientists to exchange information and knowledge.

To submit a proposal for a presentation or poster, please visit our Online Submissions Form. Deadline for submissions is March 30, 2012 at 5:00 PM (Pacific Time). Presenters will be notified about acceptance via email in May 2012. Abstracts must be submitted via the online submissions form. If you have questions about abstracts, please email those to sydf@uw.edu

Submit your abstract using the online form here:
https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/sydf/154853

A wide range of wetland topics are welcome. Suggested topics include:

Isolated wetlands and vernal pools
Riparian and fringe wetlands
Spring and seep restoration
Wetland mitigation-start to finish
Regulatory updates
Linear and energy projects
Ecosystem markets and economics
Problematic hydric soils
Arid wetland hydrology and vegetation
Livestock management
Invasive species
Climate Change: Effects on wetlands

I hope to see everyone in Boise this fall!

Idrawalot, Partybots and Addison Karl

2012-01-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

Former Seattle street artist, designer and maniacal bike rider, Karl Addison rolled to Berlin back in 2010 and has been busy ever since. He is now running a shop/studio for Idrawalot and has several fast-moving collaborations im Deutschland in addition to his Partybots clothing label. I'm super proud of the dear fellow and am constantly looking forward to his projects. While Karl writes, sketches and screenprints, be sure to check out his latest collaboration with fellow U.S. ex-pat James Bullough:

Artist Introduction of Karl Addison and James Bullough - JBAK from karl addison on Vimeo.

Yikes, Olympic glaciers are retreating

2012-01-23T18:27:00.001-07:00

Ouch.

Checking in on the Elwha...

2012-01-23T09:55:00.002-07:00

Today a great update on the Elwha Dam in Western Washington ran on KUOW's Earthfix. Ashley Ahearn and Katie Campbell have put together a great page that includes a transcript of the broadcast, interactive maps, photos and the video below. The link to that page is here.

Checking on the Turbid Waters of the Elwha from EarthFix on Vimeo.

Forterra's annual Conservation Awards Breakfast

2012-01-15T19:57:00.001-07:00

The NGO formerly known as the Cascade Land Conservancy (Forterra) will be holding their annual awards breakfast at the Washington Convention Center in Seattle this spring. If you're looking to escape a poor spring snowpack in the intermountain region, visit a world-class city, and/or see what Forterra is all about, then I suggest scheduling your trip in mid-May. Shuksan and Baker will likely hook it up for a nice tour with the current jetstream and Seattle is always great.

Institute for Applied Ecology featured in USFWS estuary restoration video

2012-01-14T08:46:00.003-07:00

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recently released a video highlighting the ongoing restoration of the Coquille River Estuary. This 400-acre project in the Bandon National Wildlife Refuge worked with the Coquille Indian Tribe, Ducks Unlimited, Oregon Fish and Wildlife and of course, the USFWS to restore 5 miles of tidal channel habitat, reconnecting the Pacific Ocean to long diked-off habitat for shorebirds and anadromous fishes (think Salmon). The Institute for Applied Ecology, who also played a role in the project, has a brief write-up, while the USFWS has posted a nice video on their official Youtube channel.

If you're headed along the Oregon Coast, check out the Refuge and this project.

Riparian Ecosystems IV: Advancing Science, Economics and Policy

2012-01-10T23:18:00.002-07:00

It appears that Denver, Colorado is a popular place for ecology-related conferences this year. This June, it's the American Water Resources Association holding a pair of conferences, one of which is an interdisciplinary take on riparia:

Riparian Ecosystems IV: Advancing Science, Economics and Policy

June 27-29, 2012, Denver, CO

Abstract Submittal Deadline: Feb. 6, 2012

http://www.awra.org/meetings/Summer2012/riparian.html

From the AWRA:

The mile high city of Denver, Colorado serves as host to the 4th AWRA Riparian Conference, "Riparian Ecosystems IV: Integrating Science, Economics and Policy". This conference is scheduled back to back with the AWRA specialty conference on “Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Water Resources II: Research, Engineering, and Community Action” June 25-57, 2012. The Riparian Conference will bring together, scientists, policy makers, and economists to discuss the very latest national and global issues concerning the management and sustainability of riparian ecosystems. It will serve as a forum for the exchange of timely topics such as riparian ecosystem responses to flooding, the influence of bio-energy production on riparian function, the impacts of climate change on riparian ecosystem sustainability, and the effects of green house gas emissions in riparian ecosystems. The mix of topics will provide networking opportunities that stimulate discussion regarding the technical, economic and socio-political aspects of riparian systems. The objective of the conference is to improve our understanding of the latest sound science, discuss future scientific needs, and plan for policies to promote riparian sustainability into the future. Cross over between the two conferences will create a week of unprecedented informative exchange among disciplines equally concerned with emerging contaminants that threaten human and environmental health and with the critical riparian and water resources that sustain human and environmental health.

Article Alert: The 2012 H.T. Odum Synthesis Essay

2012-01-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

Since I stumbled across Margaret Palmer's "Reforming watershed restoration: Science in need of application and applications in need of science," I have watched Estuaries and Coasts (formerly Chesapeake Science) for their annual H.T Odum Synthesis Essay.

This year, they ran the Odum Essay early (perhaps due to concerns about the Mayan calendar?) an it is now out. This time around Michael Kemp and Walter Boynton break apart what synthesis is, can be and should be in coastal science and how it's taught. It's a novel approach for the essay, which has commonly focused broadly on disciplinary aspects of estuarine and coastal science. Like many Odum Essays, this year's entry takes a surprisingly accesible tone and reads much shorter than the page length. I also think the authors have really hit on the disciplinary strengths of many urgent applied sciences - not just coastal science - and are continuing a discussion in how to make this science transformative, applicable and teachable across social strata. While I could expound further on this year's essay, I'll forego such discussion for now and encourage you to have a look for yourself.

Citation:

Kemp, W.M. and W.R. Boynton. 2012. Synthesis in Estuarine and Coastal Ecological Research: What Is It, Why Is It Important, and How Do We Teach It? Estuaries and Coasts 35: 1:22.

National Landscape Conservation Cooperative National Workshop

2012-01-09T10:38:00.001-07:00

This March, running parallel with the Northwest Scientific Association conference in Boise, ID, is the National Landscape Conservation Cooperative national workshop in Denver, CO. The conservation cooperative program takes an eco-regional model and work across agencies and organizations to increase the effectiveness of habitat and ecosystem conservation programs nationwide. You can find all of the conference details at http://www.nationallcc2012.com.

SWS-PNW offers student scholarships for 2012 meetings!

2012-01-06T15:27:00.004-07:00

Here's a great conference funding opportunity directly from the Society of Wetland Scientists' Pacific Northwest chapter website:

The Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Society of Wetland Scientists would like to encourage student participation at our regional and national meetings. Currently, the chapter is sponsoring student participation at the International meeting in Orlando, Florida on June 3-8, 2012. The meeting is in conjunction with the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Conference and INTECOL 9. At this time, we would like to announce the availability of funds to assist students with the costs associated with traveling to/from the meeting to present results of their research. The next regional meeting is scheduled in September 2012 in Boise, Idaho. A $500 scholarship will be awarded for that meeting. Stay tuned for additional scholarship information in 2012.

The Award: The PNW Chapter will make one award for the upcoming International meeting. The award includes meeting registration fee and a $1,000 cash stipend to help offset travel and lodging expenses.

Eligibility: This competition is open to all currently registered, graduate and undergraduate students regardless of location. However, preference will be given to students within the PNW Chapter (Washington, Oregon, and Idaho). Students need to submit an abstract with their application. The deadline for abstract submittal for the international meeting is December 16, 2011.

Deadline to receive student scholarship applications for the International meeting is February 29, 2012.

To Apply: Submit proof of current student status (photo copy of a university ID or letter from academic advisor), a copy of your submitted SWS abstract, and a short (1-2 page) letter describing your studies, your career goals and why you would like to receive this award. Applications can be mailed or emailed to Dr. Ralph J. Garono (rgarono@earthdesign.com), c/o Lake Superior NERR, 14 Marina Drive, Superior, WI 54880 (541.757.7896).

Selection: Awards will be made by the selection committee on the basis of the merit of each candidate and the quality of their SWS abstract. Decisions of the selection committee are final. The committee reserves the right to withhold the award if suitable candidates are not found or if funds are not available. The application is simple. This is an opportunity to meet and network with world renowned leaders in wetlands ecology. Don't delay - submit your talk or poster abstract for the International Meeting in Orlando, Florida by December 16, 2011!

As a past recipient of one of these awards, I'm very grateful that the Society's Pacific Northwest chapter continues to raise funds and offer these awards in support of outstanding students of wetland science and practice. Please pass this onto your friends, enemies, students and peers so a competitive applicant pool exists for both awards. If you happen to be in attendance at the 2012 PNW meeting in Boise, ID, you can also pick up an item or two from the silent auction to support this award.

While 2011 has come and gone, I still encourage fellow students and practitioners within the wetlands world to register as SWS members for 2012. Student rates are $55 and include hard copy delivery of Wetlands.

Phragmites at the Inland Sea Shorebird Reserve, UT

Great Basin Native Plant Selection and Increase Project

2011-12-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

This winter the Great Basin Native Plant Selection and Increase Project will hold their annual meeting in lovely Salt Lake City, UT. The meeting has a great list of presenters (Full Schedule) and is put together by the biggest players in the Great Basin Ecoregion - the BLM, the USFS, and the Great Basin Restoration Initiative. This meeting is free, but advanced registration is required, so make a quick stop along the Wasatch Front this February 21st and 22nd to hear some great talks.

Contact Nancy Shaw with questions or Erin Denney to register.

Plant adaptations to stress: a human analog.

2011-12-13T10:53:00.003-07:00

As plants have evolved various strategies to cope with environmental stress, people have also developed traits for environmental stress. Personally, I am a specialist who uses exercise and music to thrive in response to frequent low-intensity perturbations.

(In English: Music helps me relax and stay content in an often crazy, mixed-up world.)

As NPR highlighted in their 5 Artists You Should Know in 2011, I present a nice environmental regulator, Iceland's Of Monsters and Men.

Landsat 5: the end is near

2011-11-27T20:08:00.001-07:00

Word on the USGS's street is that Landsat 5, the earth observation satellite responsible for continuously taking photos of the earth's surface, is nearing the end of its lifespan. Landsat imagery has been recorded since 1972, meaning that I could very easily click on http://landsat.usgs.gov/ and go back and watch the world change every year since my old man was a sophomore in high school. While being able to retroactively watch my native Northeast Ohio be deforested and suburbanized and dead zones grow in Lake Erie and the Gulf of Mexico is impressive, what's more impressive is that Landsat imagery has remained a FREE program. As Adam Ferrand of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said:

"The opening of the Landsat archive to free, web-based access is like giving a library card for the world's best library of Earth conditions to everyone in the world."

Big ups to Landsat 5 for going longer than I've been alive and to the Landsat program for going longer than the Star Wars franchise has persisted (For the record, more people will remember Landsat's imagery than the four most recent Star Wars movies - you heard it here). Even bigger ups to the scientists and engineers who have made the Landsat mission such a massive success over the years.

If you want updates on the history of Landsat as a USGS program, including the timeframe of the Landsat 5 mission, I encourage you to check out http://landsat.usgs.gov/ and read up, download some data and check out the different projects Landsat has enabled over the years.

Paul Stamets gives plenary at Bioneers meeting

2011-11-22T17:49:00.001-07:00

Paul Stamets Plenary at Bioneers 2011 from Bioneers on Vimeo.

Introducing the Society for Ecological Restoration Great Basin Chapter

2011-11-21T19:07:00.001-07:00

The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) has long been responsible for the promotion of ecological restoration across the world and across academic disciplines. SER has long had strong U.S. chapter programs, including the Pacific Northwest, California, Western and Rocky Mountain Chapters. But even with these numerous chapters, there was one glaring ecoregional hole in the Society's chapter structure: the Great Basin. Several years in the making, Nancy Shaw at the United States Forest Service and many others have recently introduced the SER Great Basin Chapter. This chapter is not based on political boundaries, but the entire Great Basin ecoregion.

The Great Basin Chapter has a brochure here and a full-fledged website here. Please consider joingin up if you're interested in restoration and ecology within the Great Basin!

When I'm not doing ecology...

2011-11-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

...I moonlight as Warren Moon:

WATS grad students 21 - WATS faculty 7.

We're coming for the BCS title next year.

Seriously though, the entire WATS community owes Dr. Chris Luecke a debt of gratitude for allowing us all to play football and enjoy a great banquet as one of many annual WATS traditions.

Restoration education: Ecological Restoration special issue (2010)

2011-11-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

In mentioning Bakker and Howell's work reviewing introductory ecological restoration courses earlier this week, I failed to acknowledge that Ecological Restoration also ran an entire special issue on education and outreach in ecological restoration. This issue focuses not on the formal university courses that Bakker and Howell highlight, but numerous community and participatory contexts around the world. If you have an interest in restoration education of all stripes, please look up Volume 28, issue 2 of Ecological Restoration.

Tsuga heterophylla, Union Bay Natural Area, Seattle, WA

The Natural Histories Project

2011-11-10T14:30:00.000-07:00

The Natural Histories Project, the brainchild of the numerous folks affiliated with the University of Washington and associated organizations, has gone public with a cool video and sound bytes from natural historians who range from ecologists to teachers and administrators. Benjamin Drummond and Sara Joy Steele shot the documentary, while the Natural History Network, publisher of the Journal of Natural History Education and Experience, hosted and brought the project together. Contributors consist of such heavy hitting ecologists as David Inouye, Jerry Franklin, Robert Pyle, Josh Tewksbury, Julia Parrish and my friends and former collaborators in ecology at the University of Washington, Gabrielle Roesch, Liam Stacey, and Jon Bakker.

Check out the video and the above links for more information:

The Natural Histories Project from Benjamin Drummond / Sara Steele on Vimeo.

When restoration goes as planned...

2011-11-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

...it looks a lot like the Elwha River dam removals by the NPS, NOAA Fisheries, USGS, University Researchers and many, many others...

Proposed:

Actual:

Keep your eyes here for more news and developments.

Article Alert: Restoration ecology education - a view from the literature.

2011-11-07T22:05:00.001-07:00

Go ahead and type "restoration ecology" into your favorite search engine. Okay, what did that search return?

My Google search returned about 1 million results. A search for "ecological restoration," returned 4.25 million results. I never did this search in 1995 or 2000, or even 2005 when I began to work at the intersection of these fields, but I am confident that these numbers are on the rise. I would wager a fair sum that the number of search results corresponds to a growing interest in the larger ecological restoration field. Ecological restoration is no "Baseball" (549 million hits) or "Jersey Shore" (94 million hits), but to some people, restoration is a pretty big deal. As this general interest in restoration has risen (or so I speculate), people within other fields of disciplinary research - sociology, engineering, botany, zoology, geomorphology, landscape architecture, among others - have also grown their interest in collaborating, doing restoration science and restoring broken ecosystems worldwide.

So, if a lot of people want to fix ecosystem degradation (albeit less people than those who want to watch the World Series or MTV), where is an aspiring restorationist to turn to learn about the field? One could (and really should) go volunteer with his or her local greenspace, conservation non-profit, or land management agency who is actively restoring degraded systems and start asking questions. Although place-based inquiry is fun, illustrative and a great way to meet new people, most of the people performing my little search won't get a job in the field with volunteer experience alone. Professional training and education - admittedly post-recession buzzwords - are thought to be the answer to how one can get in on the ground floor as an employed restoration technician, planner, ecologist or engineer. I have conflicting opinions on how much academic training one should have to have versus how much on-the-ground experience someone should gain (some of the former, more of the latter - they're not necessarily mutually exclusive), but most consulting firms, government agencies and non-profits are going to want to see a degree in hand before they start ceding somebody responsibility and cutting checks.

What would that first step in the journey of a million miles be, that first restoration course? What would you study - would it be applied, basic, a "weedout" course or an overly broad survey?

Enter Jon Bakker and Justin Howell, former collaborators of mine at the University of Washington who recently authored a paper in Restoration Ecology on introductory restoration courses. Bakker and Howell searched for terms "restoration ecology syllabus" and "ecological restoration syllabus," and found 67 institutions of higher education were offering courses in restoration. These universities were largely research universities, and most offered their course through and applied science department or school (forestry, natural resources, etc). Many of the courses had prerequisites in ecology or other disciplinary content.

Bakker and Howell found that most of these courses were content based, with skills being the second objective of introductory restoration courses and attitudes a distant third objective. These learning objectives were commonly assessed through tests, classroom assignments, projects and student participation. Largely, these courses were delivered in conventional classroom settings as advanced courses that focused on theory rather than practice. Basically, these classes were predominantly taught not for someone looking for an introduction to the art and science of restoration, but to advanced students.

The authors conclude, much to my agreement:

"A single introductory course is inadequate preparation for a restoration practitioner. In our opinion, the most signiﬁcant issue raised, but not answered, by this research is how much RE/ER education should be required of restoration practitioners. Should participation be restricted to those students who have taken particular prerequisites? If so, how should those prerequisites be chosen? Is it appropriate that most undergraduate students are nearing completion of their programs before they are able to take an introductory course in RE/ER, or should introductory courses be targeted to earlier
academic levels? How important is formal restoration education compared to practical on-the-job experience? This issue is particularly pertinent in light of SER’s development of a Practitioners’ Certiﬁcation Program.... "

Carex obnupta at a ten-year-old student site on the Union Bay Natural Area, Seattle, Washington

As restoration increases in general popularity, the restoration community will see increasing interest in courses and professional certifications (much like the Professional Wetland Scientist distinction offered through the Society of Wetland Scientists). Accordingly, universities and in academia's absence, for-profit schools like those within the wetland field, will jump at the chance to provide education opportunities. With this in mind, Bakker and Howell clearly delineate the state of introductory restoration education in America and Canada, and raise good questions as to what students should be delivered in such courses.

I suppose this begs the question: does a good restoration ecology theoretician make a good ecological restoration practitioner? What matters most to employers - academic chops or on-the-ground prowess and tangible skills? Are these courses being delivered to appease the academics who created them or to serve the students whose goals range from PhD programs to summer internships and consulting gigs? Are these courses creating knowledgeable restoration designers or paper-citing academics? To use an economic term, are these courses creating "value" e.g. real skills that make a student able to solve a complex problem in a changing environment? Is there a middle between teaching the theory and the practice? If you blend the two, does either camp of students benefit or do all parties lose?

The good news is that these classes will almost certainly increase in number and hopefully, diversity, so some of these answers will work themselves out in real time. I know I look forward to seeing what courses develop to inspire, educate and train future restorationists and ecologists.

Citation (full text linked):
Bakker, J.D. and J.M. Howell. 2011. An assessment of introductory restoration courses in the U.S. and Canada. Restoration Ecology 19: 572-577.