The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Category: Science

  • Fisheries hatches more than fish

    Fisheries hatches more than fish

    During the Great Depression a small college in Humboldt County built a fish hatchery. The hatchery’s popularity among students gave rise to a blossoming natural resources program.

    Today, Humboldt State is known for its natural resource and science programs, according to the California State University website. This wasn’t always the case.

    In Richard Ridenhour’s book “Natural resources at Humboldt State College: the first 30 years” the author wrote that in 1939 Humboldt State College had under 300 students and had no natural resource classes.

    After the construction of the campus fish hatchery in 1940 Humboldt State was the first college in the nation to have a fish hatchery on campus and that success and popularity of hatchery classes led to the expansion of other natural resource and science programs.

    Andrew Kinziger is the current chair of the Department of Fisheries Biology at Humboldt State. According to Kinziger there aren’t many universities that have a fish hatchery that can provide hands on instruction and experience.

    “It’s one of the keystone facilities for the university,” Kinziger said. “It’s a wonderful resource and we’re fortunate to have it.”

    Kinziger said that Fisheries department students and faculty interact with the hatchery on a daily basis.

    Patrick Nero has been the hatchery manager at the facility for about 11 months. Nero said the hatchery raises native steelhead and native coastal cutthroat trout. According to Nero, fish from the hatchery are used purely for research and aren’t eaten or stocked.

    Nero said that the hatchery recently implemented an aquaponics project on the facility. Nero’s goal is to produce something valuable with water discharged from the fish system. The discharged water is full of fish by-product, including lots of nitrogen, and acts as a fertilizer.

    Currently the hatchery is growing lettuce, and marigold to transplant in other areas of the campus with discharged water from the hatchery.

    “We’re finding ways to use the discharge,” Nero said. “It’s been successful so far.”

    Michael Academia, a Fisheries Biology major, is a student employee at the hatchery and has worked there since April. Some of Academia’s responsibilities at the facility include feeding the fish, checking the water quality and back flushing the system, which involves pumping in fresh water to hatchery fish tanks.

    Academia said over the summer Nero had asked him to look into ways to work with the Humboldt Energy Independence Fund to improve the facility’s energy efficiency.

    According to the student run Humboldt Energy Independence Fund website their mission is to create a more sustainable campus by promoting energy independence. Notable projects from the organization include the solar panel array on top of Music A building and the relighting of the Redwood Bowl with efficient bulbs.

    The Humboldt Energy Independence Fund is funded with a small portion of student’s tuition each semester. According to their website, about $13 from each student per semester goes to the organization to be implemented on renewable energy projects on campus.

    Academia said initially he was looking at adding solar panels to the hatchery facility but students from the Humboldt Energy Independence Fund said that the hatchery’s energy costs were too high and that inefficient energy draws on the facility should be addressed first.

    This led Academia to look at alternative ways at maximizing facility energy efficiency. Academia worked with a Building Engineer from Facilities Management, Jeff Robison, to conduct an energy analysis on the facility.

    The analysis concluded that replacing dated facility equipment could reduce energy usage by 50 percent and save over $14,000 per year.

    Academia’s proposed project would replace the existing water pumps and electric motor system with new energy efficient models.

    Currently water flow control for the hatchery system is manually controlled and requires two pump motors to run at full capacity for 24 hours a day. The updated pump motors along with an intelligent variable control system, which will automatically control the flow of water through the system would cut energy usage roughly by half.

    “We’re trying to integrate more than fish,” Academia said.

    Academia’s project is in the beginning stages of the approval process by the Humboldt Energy Independence Fund. The organization is currently looking at the feasibility of the project to see if the project can be done.

    “We’re trying to be green pioneers of raising fish,” Academia said.

  • Room for improvement

    Room for improvement

    University sustainability assessments reveal strengths and weaknesses of Humboldt State University’s campus wide environmental impact

    Humboldt State University’s total energy consumption from clean and renewable resources is .07 percent, according to figures from a 2017 sustainability assessment report.

    In another assessment, HSU ranked 31 out of 269 college institutions as being a sustainable “cool school” according to Sierra Club rankings.

    The ranking was based on unique Sierra Club metrics which the Club said were designed to measure how a university is addressing the climate crisis. The ranking included scores from categories such as research, air & climate, energy, water, and waste.

    According to the Sierra Club website, the organization ranks schools on sustainability in order to serve as a guide for prospective students, and to raise environmental standards on university grounds.

    HSU sociology major Isaiah Hall said he wasn’t aware of the Sierra Club ranking. Hall, who plays on the Lumberjacks football team, said students would benefit if the university focused on sustainability upgrades such as LED lights and more solar panel arrays.

    This was the first year HSU participated in Sierra Club’s annual ranking system. Notable universities that ranked higher than HSU included: UC San Diego, Chico State and UC Irvine. Chico State was ranked 9.

    In order to participate in the Sierra Club “cool school” ranking HSU had to forward data from a separate and more comprehensive university sustainability tracking report which was compiled in 2017.

    The more extensive report, The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System, is an online tool that universities can use to measure their campus-wide sustainability.

    Katie Koscielak works as a Sustainability Analyst for HSU and is responsible for coordinating the campus sustainability report.

    Koscielak said compiling data for participation in the assessment was an expansive project spanning collaboration from 25 university departments.

    Humboldt State has participated in two Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System reports. The first STAR report was in 2013. The latest report in 2017.

    According to Koscielak between the first and latest reports HSU improved by 14 percent and went from a silver to gold rating. The reports are public and specific details about HSU’s score can be found online.

    “This indicates we’re performing well,” Koscielak said.

    In the latest rating HSU received a gold star, which requires a minimum rating score of 65. HSU received a score of 69.28.

    Gold is the second highest rating category currently in place. Platinum, which requires a score of 85 or higher, is the highest. Only four schools have platinum ratings: Colorado State, Stanford, UC Irvine, and the University of New Hampshire.

    Ratings are considered valid by The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education for three years.

    In the 2017 report, HSU scored high in academics, engagement, and the planning and administration credit sections. The school received poor marks in operations.

    The operations credit section includes: air and climate, buildings, energy, food & dining, grounds, purchasing, transportation, waste, and water categories. The university scored lowest in buildings, energy, food & dining, grounds, and transportation.

    HSU strongly promotes social and environmental responsibility in its mission statement as well as commitment to sustainability and environmental economic and social responsibility in its vision and values.

    However, In the report HSU energy received poor scores due considerably to having a total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources of less than 1 percent.

    “We have room for improvement,” Koscielak said.

    Koscielak said that launching renewable energy projects can be extremely expensive and larger universities tend to have advantages in this regard because of more funding opportunities.

    By comparison UC Irvine has a total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources of 2.14 percent. In fall of 2017, Irvine had enrollment of over 35,000.

    Another category HSU received low scores on in the operation category was Grounds. Credit was given to institutions who have official integrated pest management programs or an organic land care standard or landscape management program which uses ecologically preferable materials.

    According to Koscielak HSU uses integrated pest management strategies but does not have an official plan.

    HSU Waste, Recycling, and Grounds Coordinator Megan Tolbert said one of the integrated pest management strategies that the university currently uses is live traps. Poison is never used to control rat pests on campus and using live traps also helps prevent harm to other wildlife.

    HSU masters student Megan Awwad said she wasn’t surprised about the universities low renewable energy statistic. Awwad, who previously attended University of Calif. Riverside, said Riverside promoted itself as being a sustainable school.

    “That’s how universities function,” Awwad said.

  • Fact and Flattery

    Fact and Flattery

    The Academic and Career Advising Center hosted a grad school workshop for science majors in the Humboldt Scholars Lab in the library Sept 5. Career Adviser Kristina Hunt attempted to prepare prospective graduate students for what’s to come when applying to colleges across the country.

    Hunt clicked through slides aimed at arming students with application information and timelines often available, but almost never compiled into one place. The presentation was designed to streamline the process and nuances of applying to grad school.

    The to-do list was lengthy but calculated to optimize time and resources. The tips were varied, but insightful; ranging from hunting for fee waivers, to rationalizing a gap year, to quantifying the social compatibility of prospective new research groups.

    After the last slide faded, two students attending the seminar had mixed reactions to the workload ahead.

    Hannah Atwood, a student of environmental science and management, left convinced her window to apply had already shut.

    “I should have been at this presentation last year,” Atwood said.

    Atwood redrew the blueprints from research to a career in teaching.

    “I started working with a youth program when I moved here last year,” Atwood said. “And as Kristina mentioned experience in research being important, it made me realize that I already know I enjoy working with kids.”

    By shifting gears towards education, Atwood stands to save thousands of dollars and can expect to earn teaching credentials in one year at HSU.

    Though Atwood left the seminar courting other options, one student left with hope for the lengthy process.

    Junior student Matthew Lotakoon, who studies Hydrology in the Forestry department, is looking forward to grad school, and wants to be “at 100 percent.”

    “I want to put together a plan like I did in high school,” Lotakoon said.

    Assembling a plan hasn’t always been easy for Lotakoon. During his first two years at HSU, Lotakoon, like many others, struggled with balancing a full schedule and his part in the many clubs he’s joined. That’s in the past. The weight of what’s ahead isn’t stopping him from attempting to be the first in his family to bring home not only a college degree, but a Ph.D.

    Hunt sees many students in both Atwood and Lotakoon’s position. Building the foundation to implement the dream of grad school or otherwise is what she does daily in the Career Advising Center.

    “I try to pave a path,” Hunt said.

    She deals with many different types of students. Some, Hunt said, come in twice a week. Those students are on their own path to graduate school. It’s Hunt’s job to help put it down on paper. Others, she sees only once and is left to wonder.

    Hunt does have hope for the job prospects surrounding students pursuing careers at any level in science. Though the sciences, especially environmental, have seen public funding slashed, Hunt says there is hope in the private sector.

    With environmental innovations being funded by corporations, there are still research jobs available, with potentially higher pay. Hunt noted that companies like Apple are likely to pay scientists more than the federal government would.

    Science students at HSU have options after graduation. There is research work to be done right here in Humboldt County. There is still more literally everywhere else.

    Regardless of the next big step the seminar reinforced something for Atwood, a senior looking at graduation, that most students can relate to.

    “Applying for school again,” Atwood said. “It stresses me out.”

  • California fights fire with fire

    California fights fire with fire

    California fire season far from over

    As fire crews fighting the Humboldt County Mill Creek Fire wrap up local operations after 100 percent containment, California State officials warn that this year’s record breaking fire season is far from over.

    According to California’s Climate Change Assessment released last week, a study found that by 2100, if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, the frequency of extreme wildfires would increase and the average area burned statewide would increase by 77 percent.

    Locally, firefighters at the Mill Creek Fire, reached 100 percent containment last Thursday Aug. 30. The fire, which has been burning since Aug. 16, is located just north of Hoopa, and has burned over 3,600 acres.

    The wildfire is believed to have been sparked by arson. There is a $10,000 reward offered for information regarding the origins of the fire.

    According to Jeff Knudson of the Great Basin National Incident Management Team 6, no one was harmed by the Mill Creek Fire, and no infrastructure was damaged, but there was significant damage to the Hoopa Tribe’s timber base.

    Knudson, the Deputy Incident Commander, said the team is made up of firefighters from federal, state, and local partners from Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho. He has over 30 years of experience fighting wildfires and says that over the years he has seen some changes in wildfires.

    “We’re seeing longer fire seasons,” Knudson said. “The fires are more intense.”

    On Friday Aug. 31 Great Basin Team 6 was getting ready to head home after returning command of the Mill Creek Fire to the Hoopa Fire Department.

    Meanwhile, last Friday Aug. 31, Cal Fire released a Labor Day Weekend news release warning that wildfire risk remains high. The Director of Cal Fire, Chief Ken Pimlott, said that this year firefighters have been busier than ever with record breaking wildfires.

    “This year, Cal Fire has responded to 4,434 fires that burned 876,428 acres, compared to last year when we responded to 4,170 fires for 228,803 acres,” Pimlott said.

    Cal Fire, with collaboration from the California Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Natural Resources Agency announced earlier this year in their California Forest Carbon Plan that increasing fire treatments through prescribed fires is a California State goal. A recent study has attributed 55 percent of the increase in dry fuels to human-caused climate change.

    By 2020 Cal Fire wants to double the current rate of forest restoration and fuels reduction treatments, including planned fires, to 35,000 acres per year for non-federal forest lands.

    Additionally, findings from the state’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment supported Cal Fire’s goal further with scientific backing that doubling forest restoration and treatments statewide, by 2020 is an important step.

    Jeffrey Kane is an associate professor of Fire Ecology and Fuels Management at HSU and Chair of the Northern California Prescribed Fire Council. Kane said he is encouraged that California is taking steps to scrutinize its legacy of fire suppression. Kane said that the bottom line is California is a fire prone state.

    “California needs fire like it needs water and sunlight,” Kane said.

    Lifelong Hoopa resident Matthew Sylvia said growing up in the area fires weren’t as severe as they are now. He said regular prescribed burning used to be a tribal practice and spoke of some of the benefits they see from routine low intensity fires such as the thinning of the forest from brush and the removal of pests such as ticks and acorn infesting weevils.

    “We also burned for basket weaving materials, and mushrooms,” Sylvia said.

    Sylvia said that after a fire, edible mushrooms and grasses used to make baskets would spring up from the ashes.

    Kane said the integrated pest management and ecological benefits after a prescribed fire that Sylvia described is called traditional ecological knowledge.

    Sylvia, a business major, said being so close to Redding, Calif. and coming off the heels of the Carr fire there was an initial panic in the community from the fire.

    “People were worried about it sweeping up the whole valley,” Sylvia said.

    Kane said that increasing the amount of prescribed fire treatments isn’t a magic solution but it is a step in the right direction.

  • HSU dives deeper into research

    HSU dives deeper into research

    Marine protected areas, or MPA’s, are areas of the ocean set aside for conservation. The new California statewide network of marine protected areas was established between 2007-2012 for a total of 124 MPAs in places along 1,100 miles of California’s coastline.

    The implementation of 20 MPAs and seven special closures along the Northern Coast of California in 2012 completed the statewide network. Since implementation, there has been a series of harmful events that have altered the underwater habitat and are threatening the existence of kelp beds, sea stars and red abalone.

    Sean Craig is a marine biology professor at Humboldt State that studies both MPA’s and non-protected marine environments with his graduate and undergraduate students.

    “Kelp beds are getting decimated, the water temperature has changed, there is a warm water blob along the coast, purple sea urchin populations have increased, sea star wasting disease has come along, harmful algae blooms hit along the Sonoma Coast and El Niño brought warm water right next to shore,” Craig said. “All of these conditions, in multiple ways, could have led to the drop in kelp forests and macroalgae (seaweed).”

    Craig gave a talk on MPA’s at the Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center on Friday, April 27.

    “Protecting areas underwater provides a sanctuary for fishes,” Craig said, “which should enhance the number of fishes, enhancing the number of species in that area and allowing more fish to get larger and reproduce. That leads to a more functional marine web.”

    The addition of MPA’s along the north coast of California has given HSU marine biology and scientific diving students incredible research opportunities. Grants funding base line data surveys are helping undergraduate students and graduate students to get field research and diving experience.

    Richard Alvarez is the HSU diving safety officer who teaches scientific diving. Alvarez sees the potential in North Coast MPA habitat restoration, noting the successful restoration of some Southern California kelp beds and improvements in the Van Dame MPA in Mendocino.

    “Van Dame was the most heavily-hunted abalone area, and it is now robust. Kelp is there and urchin barrens are smaller. There is a chance to get ahead of the urchins eating all of the kelp,” Alvarez said.

    Craig has been a part the research along the North Coast MPA’s since their inception. The North Coast MPA surveys were a combined effort of HSU, UC Santa Cruz, San Francisco State, the Moss Landing Marine Labs and the Smith River Rancheria.

    HSU student scientific divers gathered underwater baseline data on the abundance of kelp and macroalgae and identified fishes, noting their abundance and sizes. Divers also collected data on aquatic macroinvertebrates, such as abalone, sea stars, sea urchins and mussels.

    The Sunflower sea star, Pycnopodia, with 15-24 arms has disappeared due to Sea Star Wasting Syndrome or SSWS.

    “The Sunflower star that feeds on purple urchins is no longer out there,” Craig said.

    There are ecological processes that are occurring with the purple urchin out competing other species in the kelp forest. The disappearance of Pycnopodia that eats purple urchins is having a ripple affect. Abalone are starving because the urchins are eating all of the kelp, additionally sea temperature is also affecting the ability of kelp to grow.

    “Data collected on sea stars in 2014 shows major contractions in their populations,” Craig said. “In the summer of 2014, data collected at Pyramid Point MPA shows a healthy population of the Ocher sea star, and the following survey at Pyramid Point in the winter of 2014 shows populations decimated by Sea Star Wasting Syndrome. And the following summer of 2015, there were practically none left at Pyramid Point.”

    The rocky intertidal region of the North Coast MPA surveys were conducted by UC Santa Cruz, under the direction of Peter Raimondi and Sean Craig. The survey collected data on seaweed and surf grass, as well as mussels, sea stars and other intertidal organisms.

    The North Coast MPA sandy beach surveys were led by San Francisco State, under the direction of Karina Nielsen. Beach surveys collected data on sand crabs that burrow into the sand, surfperch (a family of perciform fish) that eat sand crabs and the wracks of seaweed washed up on the beach containing amphipods that crabs and birds feed upon.

    “The wrack of kelp that washes up on the beach ties into the microinvertebrates that live on the beach, increasing the sand crab population and shore bird population,” Craig said. “This is the sort of data that would make anyone wonder why they would want to rake up the wrack off the beaches in Southern California to make it prettier, which is totally changing the entire ecosystem.”

    After Craig’s presentation, HSU alumnus Gary Bloomfield, who is a renowned wildlife artist, passed out and signed his MPA poster titled “Safeguarding an underwater wilderness.”

    “I hope this poster is educational for people to learn about the ocean and MPA’s,” Bloomfield said.

    “In summation, we know MPA’s aren’t saving us from everything, but we can follow Sea Star Wasting Syndrome and see its devastation,” Craig said. “In addition, we have learned a great deal about sandy beaches and the trophic links between species.”

  • Women thrive in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling

    Women thrive in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling

    The Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) is an international multi-day mathematics competition that has been held annually by the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications within the U.S. since 1985.

    The competition focuses on real world mathematical modeling problems, and the groups of students participating only have a weekend to complete their chosen problem and create the solution paper as their finished product.

    Jessica Solomon is an environmental science major with a minor in oceanography at Humboldt State who is working to go to grad school for atmosphere science.

    “It’s training you to communicate what you’re visualizing in your head, and that was probably the biggest challenge,” Solomon said. “How do we do this model? How do we all get on the same page and be able to communicate it on a paper without our biases being too much attached to it?”

    Solomon worked on the ICM problem E which focused on how climate change influences regional instability.

    “Learning to work with people that you’ve never even communicated with before, on a project that involves a lot of complex decision-making, was a really good learning experience,” Solomon said.

    This year, there were six problems: three MCM questions and three International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) questions. The MCM questions have more of a math base, while the ICM questions are created to be more data-based or interdisciplinary. The various types of questions are meant to make the competition more accessible for a larger variety of students, including non-mathematics majors.

    “Maybe someone else has more of a math background, someone else has a coding background and someone else really loves writing the paper,” Larripa said.

    Kamila Larripa, a mathematics professor here at HSU, was the advisor for the HSU groups participating in the MCM competition.

    “It’s a really beautiful, organic collaboration where you’re seeing people having a chance to do the things they like the best or contribute their own unique gifts,” Larripa said.

    Mathematics professor here at HSU, Kamila Larripa, was the adviser for the HSU groups participating in the MCM competition. Larripa in front of the sculpture at Mathematical Research Institute of Oberwolfach, in Oberwolfach Germany. Photo courtesy of Kamila Larripa.

    At HSU, six groups of three and one group of two competed in the competition, making this the largest group of competitors the school has ever had. The students worked on their chosen problem during the second week of February from Thursday afternoon until Monday night.

    All of the HSU teams received successful participant in the contest, meaning they placed in the top 54 percent for problems 1-C, and top 47 percent for problems D-F, out of a total of 10,339 foreign teams and 331 U.S. teams.

    This year’s competition had the largest proportion of female competitors from HSU.

    “There has been a trend where women are more likely to do this contest than some of the others that are more individually-based,” Larripa said. “So, Stanford has sent some researchers to visit and shadow a team here as part of a larger research project they’re doing that I believe is looking at gender in these math contests.”

    Stanford is conducting a study on what draws women to the MCM competition. The study is being conducted by YouCubed with Jo Boaler, the director of YouCubed and professor of mathematics education at Stanford.

    Jack Dieckmann is the director of research at YouCubed at Stanford and was a researcher who visited HSU to shadow one of the MCM groups.

    “We wanted to understand the features of this contest in comparison to others that makes it so gender-equitable,” Jack Dieckmann said.

    Amanda Hemingway, a pure math major at HSU who is graduating this semester, Briana Ramirez, a HSU mathematics major with a minor in statistics, and Jaime Sanchez, an applied mathematics major at HSU, worked on MCM problem C regarding energy production with the purpose of creating an applicable energy profile. Hemingway, Ramirez and Sanchez made up the team the Stanford group shadowed and observed for the duration of the competition.

    “We are conducting a study across different U.S. universities in order to explain why, over the past 20 years of this competition, women have been not only participating in this contest, but also achieving higher results,” Dieckmann said.

    The MCM competition is swiftly becoming a contest filled with female competitors. However, in many other mathematics contests, such as the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, women participate rates are low.

    “We’ve both taken the Putnam before, we didn’t do well in that. It was awful — miserable,” Hemingway said.

    While both Hemingway and Ramirez hated the Putnam, they enjoyed the MCM. Ramirez plans to compete the MCM again next year. Now that she is more familiar with the competition, she plans to compete by herself.

    “Overall, we all came out realizing it was really nice applying all of the information we’ve learned,” Ramirez said. “It wasn’t just one class’s information going into it like a test. It was like, I learned this from stats and this from logic, so let’s put it all together. It was really nice applying it not in a classroom or test setting.”

    The Stanford researchers reached out to 14 different universities and only ended up sending teams to two of them, one being HSU.

    “We chose this university for a site visit over many other places because this university, especially professor Larripa, has really shown a lot of commitment for what it could mean for all of the students, especially the women competitors, in terms of mentoring, preparing and helping them to be successful,” Dieckmann said. “I see her coming around and bringing snacks and just giving as much support as possible — as much positive energy as she can towards this.”

    Many of the HSU students participating in the MCM competition said they decided to compete, because Larripa encouraged them to do so for the learning experience.

    “My personal experience at the school has lended to women being very involved in math and science, even when you look at the math club,” Hemingway said. “I am the vice president of the math club, and most of the people who attend the math club are female.”

    Hemingway and Ramirez presented their work on problem C at the Northern California Undergraduate Mathematics Conference over spring break. All of the groups that competed presented their findings at an HSU mathematics department seminar on April 12. They also created posters for their solutions that were featured at IdeaFest.

    Jessica Solomon, a HSU environmental science major with emphasis in Climate and Energy with a minor in oceanography, and Amanda Donaldson, a HSU Forestry major with an emphasis in Hydrology, work on the Mathematical Contest in Modeling ICM problem E on how climate change influences regional instability. Photo credit courtesy of Humboldt State University.

    “I wanted to force myself to learn and improve on communicating and working with different types of people,” Solomon said. “Never in life will I be given an assignment and told to write an entire academic paper and solve this massive complex problem in a weekend. But it’s nice know that I can do it — that I have the skills to do it.”

    While the competition was hard the competitors learned valuable lessons in collaboration and real world mathematical modeling.

    “It was encouraging. I’m excited to graduate now,” Hemingway said.

  • Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festival

    Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festival

    Community members gather to watch the mesmerizing flights of shorebirds dancing on the wind at the Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festival.

    The natural habitat of the North Coast includes the Pacific Flyway. The Pacific Flyway spans the Pacific Coast from South America to the Arctic, making Humboldt Bay a stopover for millions of shorebirds on their migration.

    Mark Colwell is a Humboldt State ornithology professor. While watching the spring migration at the Arcata Marsh on Sunday, Colwell describes the multitude of bird populations.

    “Western sandpipers are one of the most spectacular aspects of bird migration in the Pacific Flyway,” Colwell said. “There are over 100,000 western sandpipers going north every day. They will spend three to four days in Humboldt Bay and then fly on.”

    The Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festival is a week-long event. Godwit Days has many ways to explore bird species, field trips, lectures, workshops and boat trips, led by expert local guides. The tours include rivers, bay mudflats, redwood forests and the rocky coast.

    The Arcata Marsh is a great place to bird watch. The marsh is close to HSU and just a few minutes walk from downtown Arcata. There are hundreds of species of birds that visit and live in the marsh that can be seen from the trails that meander through it.

    Samantha Bacon teaches Birding 101 for Godwit Days.

    “The marsh is one of the premiere birding places in California,” Bacon said.

    Bacon spends an hour in class with her group going over the descriptions, habitats and behavior of birds. Bacon pulls apart the bird families, characteristics and names so the group of beginning birders can learn them better.

    Bacon also gave information on bird feeding.

    “Hummingbird liquid is four parts water and one part sugar,” Bacon said. “Make sure to keep the hummingbird and other bird feeders clean. Birds can get conjunctivitis from bird feeders and go blind.”

    Birding 101 then spends a few hours viewing and identifying birds in the Arcata Marsh. Part of the excitement of birding is identifying or confirming rare sightings of bird species that are not frequently found in this region.

    A green heron local to the San Francisco Bay has taken up residence in a tree at the Arcata Marsh.

    “The green herons have been coming to the Arcata Marsh for the last three to four years. There is between one to four green herons a year at the Arcata Marsh,” Bacon said.

    Citizen science helps identify and maintain reviewed listings of bird sightings on eBird, an online collection of sightings, maps and bird migration routes.

    After confirming quite a few bird sightings, the group ends at the Arcata Marsh parking lot. There are numerous tripods mounted with telescopes along the path by the parking lot where people are viewing the tens of thousands of shore birds lifting off, flying back and forth and landing back down on the bay.

    “This is called shuffling the deck,” Bacon said. “A peregrine falcon will fly down upon a flock of shorebirds and try to pick one off.”

    Rob Fowler is a HSU alumnus and local editor for the quarterly ornithological journal North American Birds, and the eBird reviewer for the area.

    While at the marsh parking lot viewing the shorebirds, Fowler refers to the scope of what is visible in the distance.

    “This is a sight you don’t see often in nature — 200,000 shorebirds at once,” Fowler said.

    The Godwit Days keynote speaker Sharon Stiteler is from Minnesota. Stiteler has seen 1 million snow geese at once while in Hardy, Nebraska.

    “Shorebird-wise, this is exceptional,” Stiteler said.

    The Arcata Community Center was “birding headquarters” for Godwit Days on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. At the community center, there were vendors, non-profit groups and government agencies. In addition, there were exhibits, workshops and live birds of prey on display.

    Carson is a 16-year-old peregrine falcon. Carson was out in front of the community center with his handler, Amanda Harwood, a senior at Arcata High School. Carson is the fastest animal on Earth, reaching speeds up to 273 mph.

    “Carson is named after Rachel Carson the conservationist,” Harwood said. “He was found in the Arcata marsh with a broken femur and taken into the Humboldt Wildlife Center.”

    People were fascinated by Carson. Spike Ciotti attends Fuente Nueva Charter School in Arcata and thought Carson looked fast.

    “I think Carson can build a nest in about a minute,” Spike said.

    You can see the shorebird spring migration on Humboldt Bay from the Arcata Marsh until mid-May.

  • Once litter, now art

    Once litter, now art

    Hands gripped ankles, one leg pointed for balance, creating a human bridge. An arm reaches out over a river in the community forest to grab a long forgotten sour cream container. It would have never decomposed, so instead, it was upcycled into art. A collaborative art installation to visualize human influence on our natural world, showing what we leave behind and what will stay behind. The tagline: “you made your bed, now sleep in it.”

    Jonelle Alvarez, a Humboldt State student majoring in environmental science and management, helped collect the trash and turn it into a sleeping student. She was inspired to be participating in the transition from trash to art.

    “There was a lot more trash than I imagined and it would’ve stayed out there forever,” Alvarez said. “We had to get really creative with it. Prove we have no limits.”

    This past Sunday, a group of students from Earth Guardians suited up in their rain gear and headed to the forest, armed with empty sandbags to fill up with trash. It was the first of many community forest clean up days hosted by the club.

    Earth Guardians is a global movement founded and sustained by young people to spread resiliency through direct action activism. They are demanding greener policy from governments and leaders around the world, co-creating our future by empowering youth leaders. They are currently suing the federal government for endangering our generation through excessive fossil fuel consumption.

    Earth Guardians picking up trash in the community forest. Photo by Madeline Bauman.

    The Humboldt State Earth Guardians chapter meets every Monday in the CCAT house at 5 p.m., fostering an all-inclusive, accessible space for local activists to turn their ideas into reality.

    Simone McGowan, an environmental studies student who brought Earth Guardians to Humboldt, struggled to find an accessible outlet for her activism, a space for people to feel good about themselves and what they’re doing.

    “We’re uniting a large group of activists for political and social action on the macro and micro scale,” McGowan said. “Activism should be accessible and everyone should be included in the conversation.”

    Earth Guardians promotes activism for anyone trying to catalyze change. They are bridging the disconnect between social and environmental justice, starting an open dialogue where all voices can be heard.

    Jacob Gellatly, an environmental resource engineering major, believes Earth Guardians’ inclusive, collaborative activism is the answer to the social and environmental problems that plague our planet.

    “Don’t focus on what can’t be done,” Gellatly said. “Instead, figure out what we can do together to make it happen.”

  • Warriors of Rainbow Ridge

    Warriors of Rainbow Ridge

    In between the Humboldt Redwoods State Park and the King Range National Conservation Area lies Rainbow Ridge, a hidden treasure connecting the redwoods to the sea. 

    About an hour south from Humboldt State University lies Rainbow Ridge, a fairy tale forest with 300-foot tall trees covered in lichen and moss. Fungi grows in all shapes, sizes and colors. Rare and endangered animals lurk; the agarikon, the pine marten, the Pacific fisher, the spotted owl, Coho salmon and Sonoma tree vole. The endangered Coho salmon return here to spawn.

    “It is really important that we save the remainder of old growth. It is all that we have left,” conservation consultant for the Lost Coast League, Gabrielle Ward said. “We need to look at how we can help preserve and maintain landscape connectivity so that animals can continue to move across landscapes and not be isolated.”

    Rainbow Ridge is a combination of coastal Douglas fir trees and mixed-hardwood forest along the north fork of the Mattole River. Inside of Rainbow Ridge’s 18,000 acres of forest and meadows lies 1,100 acres of old growth coastal Douglas fir trees.

    Rainbow Ridge is “one of only two old growth Douglas fir forests that have been unentered and untouched, and the only one in California,” Joe Seney, a HSU lecturer in forestry and wildland soils, said.

    “There are very few remaining tracks of old growth Douglas fir anywhere along this part of the California coast,” Seney said.

    The Lost Coast League is a group of citizens from the Mattole watershed and they have been in land acquisition, litigation and conservancy since the early 1970s. The Lost Coast League has acquired and protected thousands of acres of forest since their inception.

    “The goals of the Lost Coast League are to study, survey, understand and preserve and restore this forest,” Ward said.

    The Lost Coast League hopes to acquire and restore Rainbow Ridge. The Rainbow Ridge is privately owned by the Fisher family, who is known for their GAP clothing stores. The Lost Coast League intends to purchase Rainbow Ridge from the Fisher family.

    The east border of Rainbow Ridge is adjacent to Humboldt Redwoods State Park, which holds Rockefeller Forest within it that has the largest contiguous old growth redwood forest in the world.

    The west border of Rainbow Ridge is the King Range National Conservation Area. The purchase and preservation of Rainbow Ridge would connect the world’s largest redwood forest with the ocean, creating a wildlife corridor to remain throughout time.

    “If the Fisher family would recognize the treasure value of Rainbow Ridge and what kind of legacy they could leave, they could create a Fisher Forest standing adjacent to Rockefeller Forest. This is something that could last throughout time,” Michael Evenson, vice president of the Lost Coast League, said.

    The advantages of this biodiverse forest close to HSU provides unique opportunities. The Lost Coast League would like to see the University of California’s nature preserve program or Humboldt State’s College of Natural Resources utilize Rainbow Ridge for research.

    “By looking at what is left we can understand what the rest is supposed to look like,” Ward said.

    There is the potential for new discoveries on Rainbow Ridge, especially in fungi. Agarikon is a fungus found growing on Rainbow Ridge with medicinal properties that can treat antibiotic resistant tuberculosis.

    “There is a vast opportunity for students to be a part of the solution. Looking at fire regimes and restoring portions of the landscape that have been [logged] in the past, and it does have some deep carbon sinks,” Ward said.

    The Cascadia Temperate Rainforest spans from Southern Alaska to Southern Humboldt and is the largest carbon sink on the planet.

    “The only deep carbon sinks left in the United States are along the coastline of this Cascadian Temperate Rainforest,” Ward said. “It’s all that we have left, we can’t continue to fragment this endangered ecosystem.”

    Paulo Sweeney, a forest defender, addresses Humboldt Redwood Company’s inconsistencies in forest practices.

    “Humboldt Redwood Company sets aside high conservation areas that they are not going to log at that time. They aren’t going to log the area now but that does not mean that it is protected from being logged in the future,” Paulo said. “These are key places for restoration.”

    During Earth Week from April 16-22, HSU will be having talks, films, demonstrations and workshops on environmentally sound practices and sustainability.

    Paulo will be having a question and answer period on April 19 after the film “If a Tree Falls” in Forestry Room 201 from 3-4:30 p.m., as part of the documentary day hosted by the Climate Crisis club for Earth Week. Come and learn more on forest defense in the community, climate change, ecological collapse and student involvement in direct action.

  • Salmon and us, tied to the health of the Klamath River

    Salmon and us, tied to the health of the Klamath River

    The We Are the River: Connecting River Health to Community Health panel met to discuss the state of the Klamath River, and the communities whose lives are tied to the health of the river.

    The discussion was held in the Goudi’ni Gallery at Humboldt State during the 32nd Annual California Indian Conference on April 6.

    Dale Ann Sherman, a Yurok Tribe member and retired HSU professor of Native American Studies, was one of the four panelists.

    “I come from the Klamath and Smith Rivers. I belong to those rivers,” Dale Ann Sherman said. “In our blood runs the rivers and with that blood runs the salmon. We were born to go through time together. The salmon and us.”

    There were four panelists for the We Are the River: Connecting River Health to Community Health discussion: Dale Ann Sherman, Louise McCovey, Marlon Sherman and Konrad Fisher.

    Marlon Sherman is a Lakota tribal member, as well as the HSU department chair of Native American Studies.

    “The people on the Klamath River depend upon the salmon, and other fish,” Marlon Sherman said. “That’s their sustenance and their livelihood. That’s their spirituality. It is what their ceremonies are based on. Everything flows around the salmon, and if those salmon don’t have sufficient water, they will not come back any more. It is fairly obvious.”

    The salmon are at their lowest all time in returns due to problems with the river itself.

    “Dams, diversions and pollution sums up what is wrong with the river,” Fisher said.

    Fisher is a water protector who described the factors plaguing the Klamath River.

    “Dams are the biggest source of blue-green toxic algae build up, nasty stuff that will make humans very sick,” Fisher said. “Naturally occurring toxic blue-green algae production is dramatically elevated by dam water restriction. Some of the highest levels [of blue-green algae toxicity] ever recorded on Earth were collected behind the dams on the Klamath River.”

    A few years ago, a decades-long lawsuit by the Klamath tribes of the upper Klamath River went to the United States Supreme Court.

    “They finally were able to get the U.S. Supreme Court to realize that they had water rights to the Klamath River based on as far back as what they called time immemorial,” Marlon Sherman said.

    “Something exciting is happening very soon,” Fisher said. “We are on track for dam removal. Maybe not quite 2020, but 2021. Let’s continue to be hopeful.”

    “The [Klamath River Renewal Corporation] is the entity that will essentially take ownership of the dams, and take them out. Go to one of their meetings if you can. It is on their website,” Fisher said.

    “The salmon right now are at their bottom ebb. What they need now is plenty of clean, cold water,” Marlon Sherman said. “Water allocation is what the salmon need right now. This needs to be approached right now before the salmon are all gone. When the salmon go, who knows what’s next?”

    Water allocation rights and diversions are Fisher’s specialty, and water in the Trinity River that would run into the Klamath River is currently being diverted.

    “Water laws say there is a certain amount of water that should be left in the streams to meet certain needs,” Fisher said. “By and large they [the government] don’t [do their job] unless they are being forced, especially when it comes to telling people to use less water,” Fisher said.

    The needs of the communities most affected by the destruction of the Klamath have gone unheard.

    “The local laws of the people who have always lived there, and know the river, are never acknowledged,” Marlon Sherman said.

    “Ceremony is law. Culture is law. Very few people recognize that fact,” Marlon Sherman said. “The tribal attorneys need to be paying more attention to the tribal imperatives of spirituality, culture and tribal knowledges of their indigenous localities.”

    “Our people are fix-the-world people, that is what we do in our ceremonies,” McCovey said.

    McCovey is the Yurok Tribe environmental director and HSU environmental science alumnus who was on the panel.

    “There has been a rash of suicides in our community,” McCovey said. “For me in my job, I try to eliminate the environmental threats so that people can maintain their identity as river people, and feel safe in it.”

  • Seeing is not believing: hidden disabilities in science students

    Seeing is not believing: hidden disabilities in science students

    Every morning, Humboldt State University senior and cellular molecular biology student Shazi Saboori wakes up next to a stack of pill bottles.

    “Depending on the day, I take between 8-10 pills, including Adderall when I wake up,” Saboori said. “I then eat something small, lay in bed for 30-40 minutes and wait for the Adderall to kick in, and allow me to have access to my brain.”

    Six months ago, Saboori was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS.

    “There’s a part of my brain that cannot regulate blood flow,” Saboori said. “This causes me to get blood pooling, have a sudden drop in blood pressure and almost faint.”

    Saboori’s body attempts to increase the pressure drop through tachycardia, an extremely fast pumping of the heart while it’s at rest.

    “At one point, my resting heart rate was 214 [beats per minute],” Saboori said.

    In addition to tachycardia, POTS inhibits the left side of Saboori’s brain from communicating with the right side.

    “In my classes, I can’t just read the book and understand the material,” Saboori said. “I take a long time to make a master study guide, and to write and rewrite the material. I still get mediocre scores on tests.”

    POTS also causes Saboori to have anemia, or red blood cell deficiency, and gastric distress, which makes eating difficult. Saboori feels frustrated when people do not acknowledge her disorder, because it isn’t visible.

    “Many people have told me, ‘You don’t look like you’re sick,’” Saboori said. “I’m not looking for pity, or for people to lower their expectations for me. I’m looking for people to understand that [POTS] is not something I can control.”

    Michelle Goldberg, another HSU senior cell/molecular biology student, has ankylosing spondilitis (AS).

    AS is a form of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which leads to joint degradation and inflammation of the surrounding membrane. Goldberg was first diagnosed at 12.

    “For awhile, I went to a support group for people with RA,” Goldberg said. “Most of the people there were adults. I was there with my dad.”

    RA causes Goldberg to experience pain in her lower body, center of spine, hips and joints.

    “When I feel good, I go to the gym, and do a little bit of elliptical and weight,” Goldberg said. “If it’s bad, I take some Aleve and put a smile on my face. Some days, I can’t stand up straight. Luckily, this has only happened twice since I’ve been at HSU.”

    Similar to Saboori, Goldberg recognizes that an invisible disability is not taken seriously.

    “Sometimes, I can encounter people who say, ‘You’re fine.’ But really, I’m not,” Goldberg said. “You can’t see what I have until my knees are really inflamed, and turned red.”

    Stephanie Valencia, also an HSU senior cell/molecular biology student, took eight years to finish a bachelor’s degree due to her hidden disorders.

    “I became friends with my microbiology teacher at my community college,” Valencia said. “She told me to get tested for a learning disability. I didn’t always have the best grade, but she believed I was a good scientist.”

    Valencia was diagnosed with a processing disorder, similar to autism and dyslexia. For people with processing disorders, learning new things takes a lot more time.

    “I wanted to know why I didn’t figure this out when I was younger,” Valencia said. “[My psychologist] said that a lot of people who are brown, like me, don’t get diagnosed until they’re in college. Elementary school teachers assume that brown students are dumb. They don’t push for students to go get tested.”

    When Valencia transferred to HSU, she began to suffer from anxiety attacks that caused her to miss classes. She was eventually diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD.

    “There’s a stigma about anxiety and depression in the sciences,” Valencia said. “People think that you don’t have the mental capacity to complete a rigorous program in STEM.”

    Valencia hopes to eventually become a physician-scientist in the field of neuroscience, even though the stigma around GAD could cause her some difficulty in pursuing her dream.

    “Unfortunately, people may not give you the opportunity to show that you could do it when they know of your disability,” Valencia said. “People think, ‘Oh, maybe she can’t.’ It’s the maybe that gets in the way of me being able to prove myself.”

    For more information on individuals with disability in the sciences, check out Dr. Mahadeo Sukhai and his book Creating a Culture of Accessibility in the Sciences.

  • Spring nourishes new growth

    Spring nourishes new growth

    Spring time is here. The days are longer, the weather has warmed up and the sun is shinning. Everything is growing.

    At Flora Organica farm and nursery the greenhouses are getting full. Fields are being weeded and prepared for planting.

    “This is the beginning of the busy season,” Andy Zierer

    Andy and his wife Lisa Zierer own and manage Flora Organica in McKinleyville. Flora Organica starts for your garden are sold at Wildberries, the North Coast Co-op and Ace Hardware in Arcata.

    “Greenhouses are needed on the coast if you are going to grow peppers, tomatoes and basil,” Andy Zierer said.

    The plants in the greenhouse are going to be transplanted into the fields. Peppers that will be planted in the greenhouse now will be ready in June.

    The Zierer’s believe the economical and nutritional benefits of growing your own food are extremely rewarding. Andy Zierer’s goal is to grow healthy plants that taste good.

    “It’s beyond economical. The taste and the food has much more nutrition than stored food,” Zierer said.

    While owner and manager Lisa Zierer has many people to direct and jobs to do, she still has time to say hello and check in to see if anyone needs anything.

    The Zierer’s have employed Humboldt State students over the years. Zierer has noticed there have been more rangeland resource science soil majors working for him than students in any other field.

    “I have two soil science majors working here now,” Andy Zierer said. “The soil science majors are into learning how things work.”

    Jack Horvitz works at Flora Organica and is a soil science major at HSU.

    “I have a big passion for food and agriculture. It is pretty fundamental to our society,” Horvitz said.

    Horvitz explains the policy decisions in agriculture vary widely according to location, apologizing the benefits and struggles of smaller agriculture farms.

    “If we want to have change, we better have more buy-in,” Horvitz said. “Farms in the midwest are thousands of acres. Flora Organica is just four acres. Living in Arcata is nice, but it is living in a bubble inside of a bubble.”

    Horvitz would like to see communities getting together and having potlucks at community gardens. Horvitz calls it, “getting the full cycle.”

    “Getting your hands in the soil and then sitting down and sharing a meal with everyone at the end of the day, with music,” Horvitz said.

    Haley Schmidt is a HSU alumna who really likes her job at Flora Organica.

    “These are great people to work for and I really enjoy the farm,” Schmidt said. “They have a great product and they really care about what they do.”

    Jarrod Lumley is an anthropology major at HSU who works at Flora Organica. On Saturday nights on the Arcata Plaza, Lumley likes to serve food he and his friends make with leftovers from the farmers market earlier that day.

    “There is a lot of upping going on [at Flora Organica],” Lumley said.

    Upping is moving the seedling from the seed house and planting it in a four-inch container. Then the four-inch container goes into a bigger greenhouse. From there, some are planted on the farm and some go to the farmers market to be sold as starters.

    “Springtime at Flora Organica is a time of cleaning,” Lumley said. “This involves making space for more and more plants through deconstruction, reconstruction and organizing the available space.”

    Farmer Eno Riley planting onions at the I and I farm. Photo by Tyrone McDonald.

    Flora Organica is bustling with activity, trying to keep up with spring and their customers at the farmers market.

    Another local farm, I and I farm in McKinleyville, is a regular booth at the farmers market, owned and managed by Eno and Lauren Riley. Planning, according to Eno Riley, is essential when building a garden.

    “There are snails and slugs and birds and pests and bad things you don’t want to have happen,” Eno Riley said.

    I and I farm hires students to pick strawberries as a short-term summer job. Students interested are encouraged to ask Eno or Lauren Riley at their stand during the farmers market.

    Riley explained a garden layering technique called lasgnage that is possible for anyone to create and maintain.

    “You can layer right over your grass on your lawn,” Riley said. “Lay down cardboard, then dirt, and then wood and some more soil, cardboard and soil and you are ready to plant a garden anywhere.”

  • Sharing abundance at the seed exchange

    Sharing abundance at the seed exchange

    Everyone eats. You’re either buying food or you’re growing it. This past weekend, the Humboldt Permaculture Guild hosted their annual Seed and Plant Exchange, a collaborative event that brings together students and members of the community over a share gardening knowledge, materials and resources.

    Organizations on and off campus are working to make growing food more accessible for students and community members.

    Student volunteers at the Humboldt Permaculture Guild’s booth during the Seed and Plant Exchange on March 31. Photo by Emily Owen.

    WRRAP and CCAT tabled at the event, providing information on composting and Humboldt State University’s other zero waste initiatives.

    Isabel Sanchez, a Humboldt State senior and a co-director at CCAT, the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology, recognizes the need for coalition building in gardening and food justice. She thinks this event offers a chance to cultivate an open space for everyone to learn.

    “CCAT is a place to pass down ancestral knowledge,” Sanchez said. “[The seed exchange] creates a space to engage with that information and the community.”

    Karina Coronado, a HSU environmental studies major and librarian at CCAT, wants to provide access to seeds and make gardening available to all people.

    “CCAT is an always active, continuous space to learn, follow up and further knowledge,” Coronado said. “It is the forever seed exchange.”

    Isabelle Sanchez and Karina Coronado explaining CCAT’s mission to community members at the Humboldt Permaculture Guild’s annual Seed Exchange. Photo by Emily Owen.

    Permaculture comes from the concept of permanent agriculture and is based on the belief that we can align ourselves with nature’s own rules.

    It is the idea that we can build sustainable, regenerative human settlements that benefit people and the natural world. Permaculture works to minimize our impact on earth and maximize the efficiency of how we consume natural resources.

    Marlon Gil is a HSU wildlife graduate, gardener, natural builder and self-proclaimed “permie.” He believes permaculture concepts can be applied to all situations.

    “We have a moral obligation to share the excess we have,” Gil said. “Permaculture is a way to do that. It’s about balance. Take the time now to learn it and then live it.”

    Every April, HSU’s Oh Snap! offers a series of gardening workshops hosted in association with WRRAP and CCAT. Irán Ortiz is the sustainability coordinator for Oh Snap! and she has organized the programs to prepare even the most inexperienced gardener to take back their power.

    “It is empowering to grow your own food,” Ortiz said. “There is a big problem with our current food system, mainly in distribution, and this really affects students. So this is a way to take advantage of the resources provided.”

    The gardening workshops will culminate on April 19 from 5-9:30 p.m., with a seed bank on campus.

    The event will feature a banquet and showing of Seed: The Untold Story. It will provide students with almost all of the resources they need to start their own personal gardens.

  • Redwood forests’ response to climate change

    Redwood forests’ response to climate change

    Emily Burns discusses redwood trees and the effects of climate change in her lecture, Restoring Redwood Forests in a Changing Climate, as part of The Sustainable Futures Speaker Series hosted in FH 118 at Humboldt State on March 22.

    Emily Burns is the director of science for the Save the Redwoods League. Save the Redwoods League has been working for 100 years to save and restore the coastal redwood forests in California, ranging from Central California (Big Sur area) to near the Southern Oregon border. On March 22, Burns visited HSU to give a lecture, Restoring Redwood Forests in a Changing Climate,which focused on how to restore redwood forests in a changing climate.

    “The climate conditions are going to change,” Burns said.

    Zachary Erickson, an HSU forestry major, thinks there are plenty of opportunities in restoration.

    “I’m interested in seeing some of the places where redwoods can grow, and some of the redwoods’ genetic diversity,” Erickson said.

    Redwood National Park, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and the Humboldt Redwoods State Park are all within a two-hour drive from HSU, making it an ideal research facility to study the redwood forests.

    The Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative, or RCCI, by Save the Redwoods League shows warming patterns appearing throughout the redwoods. Warm summer nights are the most noticeable change throughout the redwood range.

    “The area that the redwoods occupy now is likely to shift under future climate conditions,” Burns said.

    Santa Cruz and Monterey counties show the most intense departures from normal climate conditions, according to the RCCI. It is anticipated that the conditions of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties will be warmer and drier. The southernmost redwoods in Santa Cruz County are currently experiencing warmer temperatures in all four seasons.

    Current results from the RCCI show climate stability for Humboldt and Del Norte counties.

    “The areas that currently show a stable climate are also predicted to be climate- stable over the next decade,” Burns said.

    The structure and ecology of forests have changed, both in old growth forests, mature second growth forests, new growth and secondary growth forests.

    “Because of environmental changes, some redwoods have grown more since the 70s than they ever have,” Burns said. “One hypothesis is that rising temperatures are lengthening the growing season.”

    Partnered with the Save the Redwoods League to carry out research on redwoods, HSU professor Stephen Sillet determines that the old growth redwood forests of California are growing faster now than they did in the past.

    “Out of all of the old growth forests, only 113,000 acres remain of primary old growth forest,” Burns said. “That represents 7 percent of the existing forest footprint of today.”

    Only amounting to 27,000 acres, mature second growth is the original regrowth of the first old growth redwoods’ that were cut by settlers..

    “This [mature second growth] is even rarer than old growth,” Burns said. “It amounts to just two percent of the current forest footprint. The rest of the current forest is separated into categories of second growth.”

    “It is pretty tragic that so much of the post-virgin redwood forest has been logged, but this gives us many research opportunities,” Burns said.

    Lucy Kerhoulas, an HSU forestry professor, is positive about forest practices.

    “I think it’s really great that there is this restoration work to try to accelerate old growth conditions,” Kerhoulas said.

    The Save the Redwoods League has moved their attention to the Salt Point area of Sonoma County, where there are many remnant patches of old growth scattered throughout the region.

    “We think there are 20,000 patches of remnant old growth forests scattered throughout the entire redwood region,” Burns said.

    During the lecture, Burns addressed whether the remnant patches of old growth are viable habitat.

    “That depends on the species we are talking about,” Burns said. “We think of forest patches as anything smaller than 11 hectares (approximately 27 acres) that do not truly have interior forest and there are species that need that interior forest to thrive.”

    However, these remnant patches serve as incredible anchors for restoration.

    “These isolated trees are important for healing the forest and facilitating the regrowth of younger forest,” Burns said. “It brings islands of diversity into an otherwise depleted landscape.”

    Alex Fitanidies, an HSU forestry major, is passionate about sustainability and restoration.

    “I love that the focus now is going over to sustainability and focusing on the long-term goals,” Fitanidies said. “I just want everybody in 1,000 years to be able to walk through a massive redwood forest, not these one-mile loops that they have now.”

     

  • Community for women in math and sciences

    Community for women in math and sciences

    Paola Rodriguez Hidalgo is a faculty member in the department of physics and astronomy at Humboldt State. She is also the advisor for the Society of Women in Math and Sciences, or SWiMS.

    “Sometimes I feel that people don’t see the scientist inside the woman,” Rodriguez Hidalgo said. “It can get very tiring and erode your confidence and your energy.”

    The group is student-run and acts as a support system for women in science, technology, engineering and math majors. They are working to improve conditions in these fields by making the space diverse and inclusive for all groups of people that are not traditionally represented, not only women.

    Kayleigh Migdol is a sophomore computer science major who is on the leadership board for SWiMS. She runs Codernoon, a coding workshop, for the club every Monday and Wednesday.

    After years of desensitization, Migdol became used to being the only girl in her science classes. Then she came to HSU, where she found the Society for Women in Math and Sciences.

    “By my senior year of high school, I was one of two girls,” Migdol said. “Building this sense of community is really important. It may seem like you are alone, but we want people to know that they are not.”

    McKenna Rayburn, a junior majoring in oceanography, has felt alienated as one of the only women in her program.

    “Women should feel motivated to continue with their careers in math and sciences,” Rayburn said. “We need women in these fields, but it’s hard when you don’t feel that connection with your classmates. It’s even harder when you’re surrounded by just men.”

    Belen Brashears, a sophomore environmental science major, thinks now is the best time to be a woman in the sciences due to our current political climate. She feels a connection with other scientists and enjoys being around likeminded people.

    “At Humboldt State, there’s a really supportive scientific community,” Brashears said. “It’s welcoming to everyone and offers tons of opportunity for anyone to get involved.”

    Rodriguez Hidalgo says she promotes building a safe community space where students won’t feel judged. In addition, students feel comfortable when everybody shares some of the same struggles.

    “We have created a beautiful community where we support each other,” Rodriguez Hidalgo said. “As scientists, we are good problem solvers, but very often it is much easier to solve somebody else’s problems than your own. When you have a community, you help the person next to you and they help you.”

    This article was changed from its original version on March 28 at 2:12 p.m. 

  • Sarah Ray keeps emotions and knowledge together in her teachings

    Sarah Ray keeps emotions and knowledge together in her teachings

    Sarah Ray inspires students and faculty at Humboldt State. During her lecture, “Coming of Age at the End of the World: Eco-Grief, College Students, and Teaching Climate Change,” she inspires community members as well.

    Sarah Ray, environmental studies professor at Humboldt State, spoke as part of the “My Favorite Lecture” series at the Plaza Grill in Arcata on March 8.

    The lecture discussed ways to be empathetic to students’ emotions and the methods Ray uses to inspire her students, all while acknowledging the grim realities of past environmental decisions.

    “Emotions take on a life of their own in the classroom,” Ray said.

    When Ray took the position to lead the environmental studies program at HSU in 2013, there were 11 environmental studies majors in her program. As of 2018, there are 150 environmental studies majors at HSU.

    Ray says that humans emotions play a big role in environmental studies.

    “Not surprisingly, guilt, despair and negative news do not inspire students to [take] action,” Ray said. “It creates apathy and nihilism. There is a lot of research that shows this is not an effective tool.”

    Over time, students’ emotional responses became overwhelming for Ray herself. Out of self-preservation, and for the success of her students, Ray has come up with new teaching strategies for environmental studies.

    Ray believes these strategies will be beneficial to everyone who questions the importance of their own environmental role.

    “Teaching students environmental content is going to have a negative affect on them,” Ray said. “If the affects can be anticipated, the more effective the curriculum will be.”

    As a professor, Ray has watched many environmental studies students learn that their college journey is not what they expected.

    Faced with intractable, unsolvable problems, students become incapacitated. Ray calls this “getting the rug pulled out from underneath you.”

    After watching students repeatedly get the rug pulled out from underneath them, Ray realized these students need emotional support to deal with the curriculum.

    Brooke Holdren, a biology major at HSU, attended Ray’s talk and thinks ethics should be part of science.

    “There needs to be more critical scientists,” Holdren said. “Science is political as fuck.”

    Ray utilizes inclusive pedagogy to promote not only a students academic success, but their social, cultural and physical success.

    Inclusive pedagogy is a way of teaching that uses varying learning techniques, multicultural content and multiple means of assessment.

    Going off of Bell Hooks teachings, Ray said, “We have to make the personal political and we have to make content relevant to students.”

    Ray also uses social movement theory in her teaching.

    “The outcome of social movement theory is to give students a sense of belonging in a larger community. They are not isolated against the tidal wave of society,” Ray said. “Students are involved in a bigger group of people working towards the same goals.”

    Ecopsychology uses both ecological and psychological ideas to study the relationship between human beings and the natural world. Ecopsychology includes theories about emotional responses to climate change and has become useful in Ray’s teaching, showing how environmental change causes emotional distress.

    Last semester, Ray tried a change-vision-action workshop with her students. Ray had students list how they would like to see changes in the world, and make a personal action plan. Students have put these ideas into actions. This has given Ray inspiration to improve and instill greater lessons onto her students.

    Ray doesn’t simply tell her students how to fix the current environmental issues. Instead, she gives them the information and emotional support they need to come to their own conclusions.

    “Efficacy is better than hope,” Ray said.

    Efficacy is the ability to produce a desired result. Students envision new ways of living with their outcomes.

    “Sometimes the outcomes are hopeful and lead to resiliency, while other times outcomes are negative,” Ray said. “These workshops are not monolithic. They can go in many different directions.”

    HSU alumnus Larry Goldberg, who started the Campus Center for Appropriate Technologies at HSU in 1978, attended Ray’s lecture.

    “You can’t get incapacitated by fear and depression. Get off your ass. You got to do something,” Goldberg, said.

    The changes and theories Ray has implemented in her classroom have inspired her to write a book on emotions in the classroom. Ray’s book will look at different aspects to the emotional consequences of climate change. She plans to write the book on her sabbatical next year.

    “You have to come up with your own reasons and solutions to our problems, because self-righteousness is not enough,” Ray said.

  • “If you can’t be rational, at least be real”

    “If you can’t be rational, at least be real”

    A conversation with science and beer.

    Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher and mathematician, died from an angry mob because he refused to cross a field of beans.

    Followers of his cult, the Pythagoraeans, believed all numbers were either whole or ratios of whole numbers, which means they have either terminating or repeating decimals. To a Pythagorean, a number such as 1.1234567891011… did not exist. The Pythagoreans believed this so strongly that they killed Hippasus, a fellow Pythagorean, by throwing him into the ocean when he proved the square root of two is an irrational number.

    The square root of two’s origin story was presented by Jeff Haag, a professor from the math department, as part of his talk, “If You Can’t Be Rational, At Least Be Real,” at Blondie’s Science on Tap event on March 7 in Arcata. This is Haag’s second time presenting at Science on Tap.

    ”My primary goal for coming back is to spread the joy of mathematics,” Haag said. “I want to take every opportunity to help people understand simple things deeply. I also enjoy coming back for the free beer!”

    Science on Tap is a monthly public science talk hosted at Blondies. Attendants can be found drinking beer and munching on snacks while learning about a new science-related topic. C.D. Hoyle from the physics and astronomy department brought Science on Tap to Humboldt State.

    “I first got into Science on Tap because there was one at University of Washington where I went to graduate school,” Hoyle said. “I started the first Science on Tap at HSU in Dec. 2011. There was a huge turnout for the first one. Someone from NOVA the TV show came up to help us promote the event as part of their Cosmic Cafe program.”

    Chris Harmon, a professor from the chemistry department, was fascinated with Science on Tap when he first arrived at HSU.

    “I really thought that Science on Tap is what science [communication] should be — having fun with a broad audience about science topics, and not just learning about these topics in class,” Harmon said. “When [Hoyle] went on sabbatical, I took over with organizing the talks and I enjoyed being involved.”

    Harmon and Hoyle, now co-organizers of these talks, credited Johanna Nagan, the owner of Blondies, for providing the means necessary to make Science on Tap happen.

    “Blondies helped to promote our event on their websites,” Hoyle said. “Johanna installed a projector screen system so we don’t have to bring our equipment over for the talks anymore.”

    Now in its seventh year, Science on Tap continues to receive strong support from students, faculty and community members.

    “Blondies would often get calls from community members who want to know when the next Science on Tap is scheduled. We usually have a full room at every event,” Hoyle said. “When I send out talk invitations to faculty, I get volunteers pretty quickly.”

    Harmon is one of the faculty who has given a few talks at Science on Tap.

    “I think that preparing for a Science on Tap talk is more difficult than preparing for a seminar at a conference or for class,” Harmon said. “I have to engage a broad audience without leaving out the experts in the audience. Even though this is challenging, I find it to be really fun as well.”

    John Rosa, a HSU biology alumnus (‘79) and community member, has regularly attended Science on Tap for the past three years.

    “The talks at Science on Tap do make sense to me, and I feel that I actually learn more when I don’t know anything about the topic to start,” Rosa said. “There was a talk about stem cell biology by Dr. Amy Sprowles that I found really interesting. There was also a political science talk on how science is having a tough time in the current politics that I enjoyed.”

    Hoyle believes public science communication avenues such as Science on Tap are important in today’s political climate.

    “In the past couple years, science has been under attack by politicians,” Hoyle said. “Public exposure to how evidence-based science works and the confidence limits in science will lead to more sound decision-making.”

  • Pi Day pie recipe!

    Pi Day pie recipe!

    An easy pie recipe for all your mathematical celebrations. Happy Pi Day from The Lumberjack!

    Preheat oven to 420 degrees.

    CRUST:

    • 1 1/4 cups of flour
    • 1 stick (½ cup) of COLD butter, cubed
    • Sprinkle of salt
    • 1 tablespoon of sugar
    • ~6 tablespoons of ICE water
    1. Mix flour, salt, and sugar together.
    2. Work in butter cubes by kneading with your hands.
    3. Add in water by the tablespoon until it is all incorporated.
    4. Mold dough into disk and refrigerate in a Tupperware for AT LEAST an hour (up to five.) Don’t skip this step! It is the secret to a flaky crust…
    5. Flatten one disk with a rolling pin (or wine bottle) until even thickness.
    6. Place your rolled dough in pie tin.

    FILLING:

    • 4 cups blackberries (Substitute any berry or 4 sliced apples)
    • ¾ cup sugar
    • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
    • 2 tablespoons of flour

    7. Toss berries in sugar, lemon juice, and flour before filling pie crust.

    TOPPING:

    • ½ stick (¼ cup) of butter, starting to soften
    • ¼ cup sugar
    • ¼ cup flour
    • ¼ cup uncooked oats

    8. Mix all ingredients together until crumbly, then spread across the top of the blackberries.

    9. Put the pie in the oven and bake for about 55 minutes, until browned and bubbly.

    10. Cool slightly, top with ice cream, and munch out!

  • Big trees, small trees, finding strengths in diversity

    Big trees, small trees, finding strengths in diversity

    For Chelsea Obeidy, an environmental science graduate from Humboldt State, a small senior capstone project studying how different factors affect seedling growth became a publication.

    “I approached professor Pascal Berrill with the idea to monitor seedling growths for my senior capstone project,” Obeidy said. “I was interested in seedling monitoring on the variable density retention patches that Berrill and Christa Dagley had developed.”

    Variable-density retention is a method of forest restoration that originated from HSU, according to Dr. Pascal Berrill, a professor in the department of forestry and wildland resources at HSU. In variable-density retention, overpopulated trees are thinned to maintain different densities while underpopulated trees are planted at different densities to encourage a natural-looking restoration. To apply this method, an area of the forest containing these trees can be divided into small regions or patches that receive varying levels of tree thinning and planting.

    Pascal Berrill, Obeidy’s research advisor, applies this method to restore the growth of conifers, specifically Douglas firs, in a forest area that has been dominantly populated by tanoaks.

    “About 50-60 years ago, people came in to harvest wood from the forests in California,” Berrill said. “When they did this, they only harvested Douglas firs and left the smaller hardwood trees, or tanoaks alone. Douglas firs are much more profitable comparing to tanoaks.”

    Alexander Goreman is a forestry senior at HSU on Berrill’s team.

    “Douglas firs are big trees and their trunks are straight, which makes them easier to process into lumber for different usages,” Goreman said. “Tanoaks have twisted trunks, which makes them harder to process and therefore, are only profitable as firewood.”

    Clearing away Douglas firs provides space for tanoaks to thrive and take over the forest. An increase in tanoaks density is a cause for concern.

    “Douglas firs are very fire resistant while tanoaks are not,” Berrill said. “Having a high density of tanoaks pose a greater wildfire threat to the forest comparing to Douglas fir. Introducing Douglas fir back into the population would decrease that risk.”

    In addition to decreasing wildfire, increasing Douglas fir population while decreasing tanoaks population would lead to more tree diversity in the forest system.

    “Increasing tree diversity would allow the forest to better fight off diseases among trees,” Obeidy said.

    “Restoring Douglas fir population to meet the area’s original Douglas fir-to-tanoaks ratio would also encourage populations of animals that are native to the area to come back,” team member Goreman said.

    To test which patch in the variable-density retention treatment produced the best growth for Douglas fir, Douglas fir seedlings were planted in each of the patches, then students collected growth measurement on the seedlings. The students also recorded factors that might affect seedling growth, such as light availability to the plants and resources competition.

    “We found that below-ground competition was the factor that affected seedling growth the most,” Goreman said.

    Below-ground competition occurs when plants decrease one another’s growth by competing for resources within the soil. The team found that when there were more tanoaks surrounding the Douglas firs seedlings, and at closer distances, seedling growth was greatly decreased. This is an indication that below-ground competition may be contributing to the change in growth.

    Conducting research with Berrill was a valuable experience for Goreman.

    “This was a cool opportunity for me to learn how to apply the things I learned in my classes and to collaborate with students from other departments,” Goreman said.

    Obeidy said his experience conducting research benefited his academic career.

    “This project specifically helped me find a beneficial approach to the scientific method, delineate a hypothesis and present the results in a meaningful way,” Obeidy said.

  • Humboldt takes on the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference

    Humboldt takes on the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference

    Students and professors from HSU traveled to the University of Oregon to attend the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference focusing on environmental issues and global sustainability.

    A group of Humboldt State students drove six hours through rain, hail and snow to the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, or PIELC, at the University of Oregon this past weekend.

    The four-day conference featured speakers, panelists, activists and organizers from all over the world. Two of them were Humboldt State professors. This diverse group of people came together in one space to discuss current environmental issues and the legal work fueling their fight to global sustainability.

    Brooke Holdren, a senior at HSU majoring in biology, brought a scientific perspective to the event. She encourages bridging the gap between the sciences and humanities in terms of environmental activism.

    “People from all different facets come here,” Holdren said. “So you have the people practicing law along with the anarchists and the homesteaders. And you see everyone working together in this really unconventional way.”

    This year’s conference pushed the theory of intersectionality, their “buzzword” for the weekend. Intersectionality is a concept that came from the early 1900s feminist movement and is the idea that all aspects of humanity – race, class, sexuality and geographic location – are all interconnected and cannot exist separately.

    Intersectionality is now being applied to environmentalism with the understanding that environmental problems and social injustice are interconnected.

    James Bradas is an environmental studies major at HSU who found a sense of agency in going to the conference.

    “I came cause I give a damn, and that’s half the battle,” Bradas said. “Our major is very activism-based, but you can’t escape the insular bubble, so being here is a real eye opener. To actually see the faces of the names we’ve read is a reminder that you don’t need a whole lot of money to do something and be active.”

    Conference guests ranged from guerrilla tree climbers and food justice-based farmers to representatives from the Center for Biological Diversity and EarthJustice – people pushing for justice and equity for humans, as well as the natural world. The event offered students an opportunity to network with other environmentalists and get more involved in the world of activism.

    Samantha Garcia, an environmental studies senior at HSU, thought the conference brought a welcome shift in the tone of environmental conversations.

    “As an environmental studies major, it can get depressing, and you absorb the negative energy from what we’re learning,” Garcia said. “So, it’s refreshing to be around all of these like-minded people.”

    The weekend provided a wide range of activities for conference attendees to participate in. However, not all came without criticism. Some were pushing a very aggressive version of activism. Holdren was able to take a step back and see the positives, even from this negativity.

    “There were a lot of things within and without of PIELC that were really problematic,” Holdren said. “It’s good to bring a critical lens to something like this and take what you want from it, but also learn from it in the sense of how not to go about things.”

  • Natural History Museum displays amphibians and reptiles

    Natural History Museum displays amphibians and reptiles

    The HSU Natural History Museum in Arcata was the place to be on Saturday. Amphibian and Reptile Discovery Day was full of surprises, knowledge and amusement.

    “It turns me into a kid again,” Humboldt State biology major Victoria Yefremenkova said.

    Violet Cook, a third-grade student at Freshwater Elementary School, was excited and having a blast learning about nature. The HSU Natural History Museum is her favorite place.

    When asked what she liked best at the museum, Cook said, “the fossilized sea shells.”

    Entwined in the festivities with the snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs and salamanders was a scavenger hunt where children of all ages could fill in the names of live reptiles and amphibians.

    “I think they liked the scavenger hunt about the reptile facts the best,” Ann Walance, a community member who brought her grandchildren to the event, said.

    Other activities of Discovery Day included snake and reptile photo button making, coloring and crafting a frog out of paper supplies and having pictures taken while holding a python or a bearded dragon.

    HSU student Aidan Brannney, a wildlife major, was taking the photographs of people holding the pet python or the bearded dragon for his herpetology class.

    “People come out and get exposed to the reptiles and find out they are not as creepy-crawly as they are often made out to be,” Branney said. “Some of them are actually endangered, threatened with extinction. It’s all in conservation, right?”

    The HSU Natural History Museum has internships and work study paid positions for students.

    “It’s a great way to get involved with the community through internships,” Allison Rafferty, HSU biology student and intern at the museum, said.

    Rafferty was wearing an inflatable Tyrannosaurs rex outfit in front of the museum for the event, waving and welcoming visitors to Discovery Day.

    “It’s all about connecting with people,” HSU biology graduate Adrian Macedo said.

    Macedo co-authored one paper that he submitted to be published in Herpetology Review, and co-authored a second paper that has not yet been submitted for publication. Macedo researches red tailed coastal frogs and coastal giant salamanders.

    “We need a baseline description of as many amphibians as we can find before things change and the species are gone,” Macedo said.

    Children who attended Discovery Day wanted to learn and were respectful. Where the tortoises are on display, one child who probably couldn’t read the posted sign politely asked Andrea Ortiz, the worker watching the tortoise, if they could touch the tortoise. The sign said “please do not touch,” but Ortiz allowed the children to touch the tortoise gently and not the head. The children touched the tortoise ever so softly and smiled.

    On another table, a reticulated python is devouring a mouse. Some kids rushed up in excitement, others moved on unaffected and some passed by with a little tear in their eye for the mouse.

    Siblings Quin, Lucy and Jack Biondo stop to watch the reticulated python eating.

    “Why don’t they chew their food? We do,” Quin asked.

    Quin and Lucy are twins in the first grade and Jack is in the sixth grade, all attending Jacoby Creek School.

    “You don’t usually get to pet a 10-foot snake,” Jack said.

    Dean Savieo attends Mistwood School where he is in group three. Group three is equivalent to the fourth grade. Savieo liked the Gila monster the best, because they are poisonous.

    When asked if he liked snakes, Savieo said, “Kind of. Snakes will strangle you, especially the ball python.”

    The reptiles at the museum belong to HSU students and alumni. The amphibians live at HSU where they are cared for by HSU professor Sharyn Marks and the herpetology department students.

    “Some of the axolotl salamanders came to the school 20 years ago as eggs to be part of the animal development course,” Marks said. “We used to give them away. Now they are a restricted species requiring a special permit.”

  • Microgrid is in the works

    Microgrid is in the works

    Schatz Energy Research Center at Humboldt State was awarded a $5 million grant. The money is going to be used to build a microgrid at the Arcata-Eureka Airport in Mckinleyville. Peter Lehman, director of Schatz, said he was overjoyed when the good news broke.

    “Everybody was high-fiving and hugging,” Lehman said. “It is a big deal for us, and a big win.”

    Lehman spent about three months working on a proposal for the grant with his colleagues.

    “It was really competitive,” Lehman said. “The California Energy Commission only funded one proposal out of ten. There was a lot of universities that didn’t get funded, and we did.”

    The microgrid will be composed of a 2.3-megawatt photovoltaic array, or solar power system, and cover nine acres.

    “It is one thing to have an idea, but it’s gotta be based in reality,” Lehman said. “First you have to conceive the idea, flesh out the idea and decide what partners need to be assembled. It’s not easy.”

    Redwood Coast Energy Authority, or RCEA, partnered with Schatz, matching $6 million in funds to help the project. Executive director of the RCEA Matthew Marshall is optimistic about the project.

    “We were waiting to hear back from the Schatz Center to see if they received the grant before submitting the application for the loan, but it’s now in the works,” Marshall said. “I’m optimistic.”

    The RCEA is financing the upfront costs of the project with a low-interest loan from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service.

    “We’ve got a goal to support the development of local solar projects,” Marshall said. “The project is pushing the envelope. It’s exciting being on the forefront.”

    In addition to generating green electricity, the microgrid will create jobs for locals.

    “Somebody has to pour the concrete, drive the post into the ground to mount solar panels and run the wires,” Lehman said.

    In an emergency situation, the airports and United States Coast Guard could run for hours off energy gained from the microgrid .

    “The airport and the Coast Guard are really important,” Lehman said. “The Coast Guard can’t fly if the airport doesn’t have electricity.”

    RCEA owns the solar array and PG&E owns the wires, but who gets paid what for the electricity produced? How do customers get charged for that?

    “It’s all new, its never come up before,” Lehman said. “We are going to be plowing some new ground trying to figure that out.”

    The project is expected to begin this summer. PG&E will do a number of tests after the completion of the first multi-customer microgrid.

    “PG&E is careful about what goes on their grid,” Lehman said. “There are a number of tests we will have to pass with them, looking over our shoulder to make sure that is it safe.”

    PG&E communications representative Ari Vanrenen said PG&E is committed to clean energy.

    “We are a community partner dedicated to building a better, more sustainable future for all Californians,” Vanrenen said. “This includes understanding and responding to the different needs of our customers and communities.”

    Once the microgrid is established, the Schatz Center will spend a year writing reports on how it works and share their findings.

    “Lessons we learn are going to be valuable for other people. That’s how progress happens in technology,” Lehman said . “You do things and try something. You tell people about it. The next time you build it, you are a little smarter and you do a better job.”

  • One man’s trash is another man’s supercomputer

    One man’s trash is another man’s supercomputer

    HSU students Sean Haas and Jack Eicher build a supercomputer to better conduct biophysics research on campus.

    At large research institutions such as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and International Business Machines, or IBM, supercomputers can cost anywhere from $100 million and $250 million to design and assemble (Wagstaff, 2012).

    Sean Haas, an astrophysics student, and Jack Eicher, a biochemistry student, built a supercomputer for nothing.

    “All of the parts we used for the supercomputer came from eWaste and ITS,” Haas said. “Professor Chris Harmon from the chemistry department donated the rack that houses the supercomputer.”

    Eicher said that students also donate computer components.

    Information given to computers is stored in their short-term memory, known as the random access memory, or RAM, and the long-term memory hard drive. Supercomputers have an enormous amount of both storage types.

    “Computers’ storage capacity are measured in bytes. The larger the bytes value, the more memory the computer can store,” Haas said. “A normal computer contains between four and eight gigabytes of RAM. Our supercomputer has 106 gigabytes of RAM.”

    Processors are components that pull information from the RAM and hard drive to perform calculations. A processor is divided into multiple cores. The core amount determines how many calculations a processor can perform at one time.

    “Our supercomputer contains 96 cores, which means that it can perform 96 calculations at one time,” Haas said. “When combined with the computer’s large memory, these 96 cores should allow us to do more calculations in a shorter period of time.”

    Haas is now testing the supercomputer’s capacities using galaxy formation simulations. Galaxies are large collections of gas, dust and various materials that exist in space. By giving these particles different physical properties, computer simulations can change the the particles’ locations until they form galaxies.

    Footage by Surya Gopalan. Edited by Linh Pham.

    “On my normal computer, I can put 8,000 particles under the galaxy simulations, but galaxies are really big, and could contain millions of particles,” Haas said. “8,000 particles isn’t really enough to accurately resemble galaxy formations.”

    Using the supercomputer, Haas has put 30,000 particles through the galaxy simulations.

    “My own computer would melt if I try to do that many particles,” Haas said.

    The supercomputer was born out of Jack Eicher’s wish to study biophysics at Humboldt State.

    “I remember checking out library books about biophysics during my sophomore year and wanting to learn more about this topic in my classes, but there were no classes that teach biophysics,” Eicher said.

    Biophysics is the study of living organisms using math principles and the laws of physics. The lack of resources for biophysics at HSU motivated Eicher to start his own biophysics learning community.

    “I’m currently the president of the biophysics club on campus,” Eicher said. “Our club is very research-focused. We develop [biophysics-related] research projects based on the interests of both faculty and students.”

    In biophysics, computer models are often used to explain how a biological phenomenon may work, especially when the phenomenon cannot be observed with previously existing methods. Some of these models, such as models that describe protein formation, require a supercomputer’s capabilities.

    “Proteins are made from long chains of building blocks, or amino acids. Amino acids have different properties, allowing them to interact with each other. These interactions cause the chains to fold in different ways, eventually forming big proteins,” Eicher said. “Calculating all the ways that amino acids can interact to form a protein really requires a supercomputer’s power.”

    “In the future, we plan on showing the galaxies simulation results to tech companies,” Haas said. “We hope that this would encourage the companies to donate more components for our supercomputer, such as graphics cards. This would allow Jack to start studying protein folding.”

    Haas and Eicher’s supercomputer has already garnered interests from students and faculty, such as Ruth Saunders, a professor in the physics department.

    “In my lab, we study how very small carbon tubes, called carbon nanotubes, are formed,” Saunders said. “We use computers to model these tubes’ formation, but some of our calculations would require two days to do on a normal computer. Using the supercomputer, we may be able to reduce our computing time, and simulate the formation of more nanotubes at the same time.”

    For Eicher, building the supercomputer taught him an important lesson on resourcefulness.

    “I honestly didn’t think that we would be able to build this supercomputer, given that our school has very low funding for research,” Eicher said. “But when we were able to put this project together, it made me realize that even if we have constraints to what we want to do, if we really want to do it, we can make it happen.”

    Illustration by Jen Kelly.