PSW In The News

A megafire overwhelmed even some of the best preparations. What’s next?

Yahmo Ahqha thought he was safer than ever in his cabin in the forested Northern California foothills, where the Sierra Nevada meets the Cascades. As safe as he could be, at least. Controlled burns removed dense underbrush across more than a dozen acres around his home over the past year or two. 

"One might think, well, is there any area of California that hasn't burned?" said Eric Knapp, a research ecologist for the U.S. Forest Service in Redding, Calif. "But there are still vast landscapes that have seen far too little fire." 

Hawaiʻi Island’s Biocultural Blitz: Conservation through education

March 2024 marked the seventh annual Puʻuwaʻawaʻa Biocultural Blitz on Hawaiʻi Island, an event where local conservation groups set up activity stations with games, hula dancing, chanting, with plant, wood and rock samples to engage young children. The event included 250 fourth graders, from seven schools, eleven conservation groups, sixty-three volunteers and three government agencies to support the immersive day of learning this year. 

Urban Forestry: From Redlining to Green Lining

Urban areas are known for their blend of cultures, food, entertainment and rich histories, but not necessarily their greenspaces. That’s changing as communities across the country rethink urban planning and what a greener, cooler cityscape might mean for residents. Research Social Scientist Francisco Escobedo talks about the benefits of urban forests, including reducing summer peak temperatures, improving air quality, reducing stormwater run-off, increasing property values, providing wildlife habitat, and strengthening neighborhood social connections. 

Research showcases Indigenous stewardship’s role in forest ecosystem resilience

Oregon State University researchers have teamed with the Karuk Tribe to create a novel computer simulation model that showcases Indigenous fire stewardship’s role in forest ecosystem health. PSW scientist Frank Lake, a Karuk Tribal descendant who earned a doctorate from the OSU College of Forestry, talks about collaboratively integrating western and Indigenous fire science and knowledge systems in this research.

Yes, beavers can help stop wildfires. And more places in California are embracing them

Karen Pope shares PSW's latest research, conducted in the Sierra and Plumas national forests, focusing on how people can rewet meadows in both burned and unburned areas by doing things like building beaver dam analogues. Preliminary results are positive — after these structures were installed, some depleted meadows began storing groundwater. The goals of these interventions are twofold: restore the wetlands, and entice beavers to move in and maintain them.

TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge / Indigenous Ecological Knowledge) with Frank Lake

Frank Lake joins the Golden State Naturalist podcast to discuss mutualistic relationships between Indigenous Californians and the land, traditional burning, oak orchards, the powerful ways Indigenous and Western knowledges can come together. They discuss common misconceptions about pre-colonial California, reciprocity, and how to move from a mental model of scarcity to cultivating a shared abundance that leaves no one behind.

From Flowers to Forests: Research in Practice — Alumni Profile, Jessica Wright ’94

As a researcher for the US Forest Service, Jessica Wright now helps make the nation’s forests more resilient. But her path began more humbly, in a greenhouse overlooking Memorial Hill. As Wright has moved from east to west, and from flower to forest research, her knowledge of plants has only deepened, and her research impacts the work of foresters across the country who work to protect U.S. forest resilience and sustainability.

Can humans be part of healthy ecosystems?

We depend on ecosystems for our survival, so can we play a more sustainable role in them? In California, Karuk Tribe members show us how to restore ecological balance.

Restoring Meadows In Sierra Nevada A Key To Healthy Ecosystems

When you think of a meadow, what comes to mind? Probably a peaceful expanse of grass and flowers straight out of a postcard. A perfect place to have a picnic or read a book. But meadows are also key to the health of forests And in the Sierra Nevada most meadows have been degraded or lost.

In a burn scar along California’s Sierra Nevada, ‘green glaciers’ hold a key to forest health

Pacific Southwest Research Station Research Ecologist Karen Pope explains how recovering meadows sequester carbon, and they can sequester up to six times more than the surrounding forest. Dams, constructed by beaves (or people imitating beavers), and critical because they help make mini wetlands. Filling a meadow with water in this way can raise the water table, slow erosion, support wildlife, and serve as a natural fire break.

What’s machine learning? How Forest Service is reshaping Sierra Nevada in California

Forest Service researchers used a subset of artificial intelligence known as machine learning to identify and map locations of meadows that have disappeared over 150 years due to livestock grazing, mining, road-building and wildfires. Dr. Karen Pope, a forest service ecologist at the Pacific Southwest Research Station, said these new maps “provide a large-scale perspective that helps us think differently about the historical importance of meadows and the positive impact their restoration could have on streamflow and wildfire management.”

Coming Full Circle: How Parks Are Using Conventional Tools in New Ways to Restore Imperiled Forests

Since at least 1968, scientists have recognized that suppressing fires—stopping them once they started—has adverse long-term consequences. In the absence of fire, these forests become unnaturally dense. Coauthor Eric Knapp is a research ecologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. “By reconstructing what old-growth forests used to look like,” said Knapp, “we know that many areas of the Sierra Nevada have two to five times more trees than just 110 years ago.” This excess density has made them vulnerable to wildfires, drought, and insect attacks.