The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Category: Science

  • 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.
  • Forest defense flies high in the Mattole Valley

    Forest defense flies high in the Mattole Valley

    Chunder Dome activists blockade the Long Ridge Road.

    Old-growth forests no longer exist in many places where they once thrived.

    According to National Geographic, the Redwood National Park contains less than five percent of the original two million acres of old-growth forests that once existed in the park.

    “The forest defenders are here, because the trees are here,” Jack Noonan, Earth First! Humboldt and Humboldt State Climate Crisis member, said. “The forest defenders have a stake in preserving old-growth forests. Trees are the best defense against climate change we have.”

    The Mattole Valley is in southern Humboldt County, stretching from Whitethorn to Petrolia along the Mattole River. Since 2014, the Earth First! environmental movement has been holding off the Humboldt Redwood Company from logging old- growth Douglas-fir forests in the North Fork Basin of the Mattole Valley.

    Jene McCovey, HSU anthropology alumnus and present HSU Climate Crisis member, describes forest defense as three influential steps: direct action, lawsuits and media.

    “Earth First! will slap a lawsuit on Humboldt Redwood Company and they will slap back, filling a lawsuit on Earth First!” McCovey said.

    While lawsuits are being issued, direct action is taking place in the forest. Stanton Wood has been involved in protecting the Mattole Valley since 2014 when this defense of the North Fork Basin got underway.

    “We are out here fighting for forestry best management practices,” Wood said.

    Earth First! opposes clear-cutting methods as well as the hack and squirt practice of killing small trees.

    “The hack and squirt method includes a person with a machete hacking several slices into a one foot diameter tree or smaller, [the tree at a persons chest height] and squirting Monsanto herbicide into the cut to kill the tree,” Wood said.

    The success of the forest defense blockade on Long Ridge Road has to do with the ingenious use of giant tripods built in the middle of logging access roads, known to Earth First! as Skypods or Chunder Domes.

    These Chunder Dome tripods are built from three trees that are tied together at the top. Woody debris, or chunder, is placed inside the tripod. At the top of the tripod legs, a rope is attached. This rope stretches out across the valley and connects to a platform suspended in space, which is connected to a second rope that is attached to another Chunder Dome on the other side of the valley.

    “If someone were to disturb the Chunder Dome or cut the rope, the people on the platform would fall to their death,” Wood said.

    The Humboldt Redwood Company can’t move a Chunder Dome, so they are denied access to the road used to get to the trees.

    Long Ridge, located within the Mattole Valley, had been fought for and won by Earth First! and the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) in the early 2000s.

    “Long Ridge was set aside when the EPIC environmental organization took Humboldt Redwood Company to court and won around 2002,” Wood said.

    “In the past, the Humboldt Redwood Company would negotiate and honor agreements. Today, they seem to only be looking at their corporate bottom line, going after the best of what is left of their holdings,” Rob DiPerna said on EPIC’s blog on Feb. 20.

    The Earth First! victory of blocking Lone Ridge Road has led to the Humboldt Redwood Company amending their Timber Harvest Plan to allow for new road construction to bypass the Chunder Domes.

    “The outcome of the new road is expected in the first two weeks of March. It will either be accepted or rejected,” Wood said.

    The Timber Harvest Plan amendment must go through CAL FIRE and other agencies, following a period of public comments and opinions.

    Karen Coulter is the director of the Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project, monitoring federal agency’s policies regarding logging and spraying toxic herbicides on public lands.

    The HSU Climate Crisis Club is making arrangements to have Earth First! author and environmental and social justice activist Coulter come to HSU in April. Climate Crisis plans to have Coulter host Earth First! workshops on strategic campaign planning: media strategies for activists and public land monitoring.

    If you would like to get in contact with Earth First! in the Mattole Valley, they have a Facebook page, Save the Mattole Ancient Forest, or their email address is: mattoleancientforest@riseup.net.

  • Keeping tabs on Dungeness crabs

    Keeping tabs on Dungeness crabs

    Video by Sean Kearns.
  • Gangsta Gardener plants power

    Gangsta Gardener plants power

    “There is no justice, it’s just us,” Ron Finley, also known as the Gangsta Gardener, said. As a community leader in South Central Los Angeles, Finley works to take back his community by transforming urban areas into community gardens. Last week, Finley visited HSU to explain his guerrilla gardening activist methods and shared his story.

    Ron Finley’s journey began while searching his hometown for an apple that wasn’t covered in shellac eight years ago. He was faced with an arrest warrant from the city of Los Angeles for planting a tomato plant on the strip of land in front of his house. Finely’s responding petition has since grown into a grassroots movement based in food sovereignty, or people’s ability to grow their own food.

    During his talk at Humboldt State University on Feb. 13, Finley said South Central Los Angeles has limited access to fresh produce. Fresh options come in glossy packaging of all kinds. On the corner of each street, there’s a gas station or fast food.

    “It’s food injustice. It’s apartheid,” Finley said, referring to the areas access to healthy food choices. “There is no justice, it’s just us.”

    Finley connects this food injustice with kidney failure and gang violence. The self-proclaimed Gangsta Gardener sees the answer in a total upheaval of society’s systems.

    “Redesign everything,” Finley said. “Reevaluate everything. If shit isn’t working, fix it.”

    His foundation, the Ron Finley Project, is working to uplift and build communities through the soil. Volunteers throughout California are planting community gardens in elementary schools, vacant lots, homeless shelters and anywhere else that is devoid of nature.

    As reported extensively by National Public Radio, gardening is a clinically proven antidepressant and fosters a relationship with the natural world. This is especially relevant in urban areas where access to the environment is systemically limited.

    In his talk at HSU last week, Finley broke down these barriers to environmental equity. He explained that underserved areas are exactly that, underserved and forgotten by the system.

    Finley went into detail on how the systems we have in place are set up to benefit the powerful and perpetuate oppression. He equates it to an indoctrination of thought from birth that causes injustice to become our normal, because we see it every day.

    “How do we learn to value the shit that we value?” Finley said. “We don’t value our food. We don’t value the people that grow our food. We value all of this dumb shit that we’ve been told to.”

    Finley’s guerilla gardening activist methods are based in a belief that if a problem exists, so does the solution. Faced with a glaring problem that those in power are just ignoring the oppressed, Finley went out and did what he could do to fix it.

    This fight for food sovereignty has planted its roots here in Arcata as well. There are people here working to make healthy food available to HSU students and the community at large. One of these people is Ryan Sendejas, the community garden coordinator at Campus Center for Appropriate Technology, who has found inspiration in Finley and other urban gardeners.

    “We do have a lot of local farmers and gardeners who are spreading good food and good knowledge here,” Sendejas said. “Speaking as a student, it’s hard to gain access to that food.”

    Nic Martin, an environmental science and management junior, calls himself a lazy hippie gardener. He tends to his own sustainable garden and preaches a reciprocal relationship with the land as a way to bridge the gap to healthy food.

    “Gardening is like having a pet,” Martin said. “You get back what you give. It’s an independent dependency, and you’re learning while you’re improving. It’s healthier, and so much better for your body and your mind. You actually have something you worked for and saw grow.”

    There are countless people tapping into this art of growing food. Finley is not the first and certainly not last guerilla gardener, but he has made a name for himself by breaking down barriers and rewriting laws.

    Finley’s parting message at the talk was one of self-motivation. He said you are your own leader and you shouldn’t let others fight for you.

    “Fight for your motherfucking self,” Finley said.

  • Johnston brothers present at Conservation Lecture Series

    Johnston brothers present at Conservation Lecture Series

    “I’ve always been inspired by biodiversity and animals,” Humboldt State senior Jon Johnston said. “Though I’m inspired mostly by the local people.”

    The Sequoia Park Zoo hosted brothers Phil and Jon Johnston on Feb. 14 to give a two-part presentation as part of their ongoing Conservation Lecture Series.

    Jon, a wildlife major at HSU, presented his senior project “The Wildlife of Ecuador’s Disappearing Coastal Dry Forests.” His research brought him to the tropical dry forest of La Cordillera del Balsamo, Ecuador. Tropical dry forests are among the most endangered forest types – about 70 percent have been deforested.

    In an effort to gain information on the animals that live in these forests, Jon deployed cameras that capture pictures automatically when movement is detected, allowing him to leave them out for an extended period of time.

    “Each batch of pictures gives us a new idea of the animals that might live in tropical dry forests,” Jon said.

    Some pictures already collected from the project include animals like the South American coati, the critically endangered Ecuadorian capuchin monkey, and the rufous-headed chachalaca.

    Phil, the mountain lion & fisher biologist for the Hoopa Valley Tribe and HSU wildlife alumnus, presented findings from his research on Lake Earl river otters in Del Norte County. In a repeated diet study originally done by R. Modafferi and C. F. Yocom in 1964, Phil located areas called latrines that are frequently used by otters.

    “In otters, latrines are used for rolling as a way to distribute oils in their coat and for sleeping sites,” Phil said.

    Latrines are also used by otters as sites for repeated defecation. Once a latrine is located, any scat that was found was collected and brought back to the lab for analysis. By carefully examining the scat samples, Phil was able to determine what the otters were eating.

    In the original study, otter diet consisted mainly of starry flounder and crab. In the follow-up study done by Phil, however, otter diet consisted of staghorn sculpin and three-spine stickleback. Another somewhat surprising aspect of the study was the discovery that the latrines were found in similar locations from the original study.

    “Even latrines that were under water for four to five months were reformed after the water had drained,” Phil said. “It’s exciting.”

    Both Johnston were recipients of the Conservation Grant given by Sequoia Park Zoo.

    “Grants that are given out to projects are decided by committee,” zoo director Gretchen Ziegler said.

    Projects are ranked based on certain criteria. A project ranks higher if it is located closer to Humboldt County, as well as how much funds are thought to make a difference and how feasible the project is expected to be.

    Community members can help fund conservation projects by buying a Sequoia Park Zoo membership. One dollar spent for each membership goes into the Sequoia Park Zoo Conservation Fund, which is used to finance conservation projects both locally and abroad.

    The next installment of the Conservation Lecture Series will be “The Zen of Deep Evolution” by Fred Allendorf at Humboldt State University on March 6.

  • The evolution of biology 105

    The evolution of biology 105

    Do sports drinks lie about their sugar content?

    In biology 105, HSU oceanography major Courtney Dressler and her classmates tried to answer this question.

    “We are adding dinitrosalicylic acid into solutions of Gatorade and Vitamin Water Zero,” Dressler said. “The acid helps us identify how much sugar is in these drinks.”

    Dinitrosalicylic acid, or DNS, binds to sugar molecules in a solution. When this binding occurs, the solution’s color can transform into a shade between orange and red.

    Wesley Warren, also an oceanography major at HSU, explains how these color changes are detected.

    “We put the solutions into a spectrophotometer, which tells us how much light they absorb,” Warren said.

    Orange solutions absorb a different amount of light than red solutions. By comparing the sports drinks’ light absorbance values to those of the standards, or solutions with known sugar content, the drinks’ actual sugar concentrations can be determined.

    Dr. John Steele, one of the instructors for biology 105, elaborated on how this experiment fits into the course’s schematic.

    “Biology 105 provides an introduction to topics that a cell/molecular biology, microbiology and general biology major would encounter in their undergraduate studies,” Steele said. “[The experiment] is used to teach students how to make diluted solutions from a stock solution and how to determine the concentration of [molecules] in a given solution.”

    In prior semesters, two laboratory periods were given for students to complete the experiment and learn these essential techniques. Now, students are allowed three periods to conduct the experiment.

    A few other labs in biology 105 were also modified to include more time.

    Video by Linh Pham and Surya Gopalan.

    Dr. Brigitte Blackman, who teaches a section of biology 105, explained the factor that prompted these changes.

    “We try to take feedback from students every semester and change the course based on their comments,” Blackman said. “In past semesters, some students have felt the labs were too long and covered too much in one period.”

    “By spreading out the labs, we hope that students will be able to better understand the principles covered in lab and apply these principles to test a scientific hypothesis,” Steele said.

    For Marjani Ellison, an environmental science major who’s retaking biology 105, the order in which the experiments are conducted also seemed to change.

    “Last semester, the labs and lectures materials did not coordinate. I felt as if the two were separate classes,” Ellison said. “This semester, the labs follow the lectures. I feel that I’m actually learning this time.”

    In addition to student feedback, current trends and issues in biology also determine the necessary changes for the class.

    “Last semester, we incorporated the Small World Initiative into our laboratory curriculum,” Blackman said. “The initiative was introduced to the course by [professor] Mark Wilson. As part of this initiative, students sampled and grew bacteria from the local environment, such as the Arcata Marsh, then searched for bacteria that were producing antibiotics.”

    This semester, biology 105 replaced the Small World Initiative with gene-editing using CRISPR as the current topic in biotechnology.

    “CRISPR is a gene editing system made by two scientists named Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Chapentier. To use this tool, all you need to know is the DNA sequence where you would like to make an edit,” Steele said. “Because of its versatility and popularity in biotechnology, bio 105 students need to learn the basics of this tool and the first step of building it.”

    Learning CRISPR at the introductory biology level could increase the horizon of opportunities for HSU students.

    “This topic has grown from being a sentence in a textbook to a paragraph, and soon, probably full sections of a chapter,” Steele said. “Biotech companies are looking for people who know how to use CRISPR and gene editing technologies. Learning this technique early could really put HSU students ahead of the competition.”

    Steele also claimed a selfish reason for teaching students CRISPR.

    “If more students know how to use this tool, then more students will be able to work for my lab,” Steele said. “My lab uses this tool everyday!”

     

  • A wrap-up of WRRAP’s Zero Waste Conference

    A wrap-up of WRRAP’s Zero Waste Conference

    The theme of the Zero Waste Conference held this past weekend on the Humboldt State campus was “beyond barriers.”

    Hosted by the Waste Reduction & Resource Awareness Program, or WRRAP, their goal is to help make sustainability accessible to everyone.

    The event featured different panels during its two-day run.

    Friday started with tinker time, where there was a clothing swap and different stations for students to learn how to sew, make their own deodorant or fix a flat bike tire. Later that night, WRRAP hosted a free vegan banquet for students and the community. It featured two keynote speakers.

    The mayor of Arcata explained her 10-step plan to transition into a zero waste city. The second speaker was André Villaseñor, an environmental protection specialist for the EPA, who spoke about his specialty of reducing food waste. The night finished with a showing of Anthony Bourdain’s film, “Wasted! The Story of Food Waste.”

    This slideshow requires JavaScript.

     

  • Sturgeon visit the HSU hatchery

    Sturgeon visit the HSU hatchery

    The Samoa aquaponics facility is a captivating place with plentiful research opportunities for students, fresh air and the sound of bubbling water. Last semester, the fisheries department brought the wonders of sturgeon aquaculture to the Humboldt State campus hatchery.

    Sturgeon are an important commercial fish.

    “Sacramento is the caviar capitol of the United States due to the success of aquacultured sturgeon,” HSU professor Rafael Cuevas-Uribe said.

    Angelo Perez, a fisheries major at HSU, helped move the sturgeon from the Samoa facility to the HSU Fish Hatchery.

    “We were trying to build a better system for the fish,” Perez said. “When they came from Samoa, they were ill and we nursed them the best we could.”

    Students and faculty of the HSU fisheries department learned a lot from the sturgeon and enjoyed having them there.

    “It was a painful experience, but we learned a lot,” HSU fisheries student Jason Long said. “Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I learned more from my failures then I could have ever learned from success alone.”

    Aidan Belleau, an environmental science major had an aquaponics system in his living room he made himself from a goldfish tank.

    “It cost me $60 and I had plenty of lettuce for salad,” Aidan said.

    If the hatchery brought in sturgeon long-term, it would be the first time the hatchery diversified the species they have. Currently, there are two different species of rainbow trout, cutthroat and steelhead from the same stock since the late 1980s.

    Sturgeon would be a significant addition to the fisheries department and the community in regards to research and education.

    “Sturgeon have a wide spectrum of research,” HSU freshwater fisheries student said. “They go back and forth from rivers to the ocean and live to be over 100 years old.”

    The benefits of HSU’s aquaponics facility stretch out to people of Humboldt County. Eureka, Arcata and Hoopa share the aquaponics facility harvest. With the aquaponics facility up and running, the abundance of greens is so great that Food for People is able to supply families with the freshest, nutritious greens from HSU for free.

  • The health of the ocean is in our hands

    The health of the ocean is in our hands

    Waves with mist trailing off of their crests, sea gulls crying, fishing boats on the horizon, the rewards of enjoying life by the sea are vast. But along with the rewards comes danger. There is a threat to sea life that can change all of our lives, ocean acidification.

    Ocean acidification will either cause adaptation or extinction for most marine life.

    Stephen Palumbi, a professor in marine sciences from the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, says that we have gone from an overabundance of marine life 100 years ago to there being no marine life 100 years from now.

    Robert Matthews, a criminology major at Humboldt State, had never heard of ocean acidification and learning about it shocked him.

    “Ocean acidification is a big problem, it’s bad enough there is a trash vortex,” Matthews said.

    Carbon dioxide absorbed into the ocean helps reduce greenhouse gases in the environment, but this results in ocean acidification.

    Ocean acidification is when the carbon dioxide levels in the ocean change the chemistry of the seawater. Fossil fuel carbon emissions are also changing the chemistry of the ocean.

    According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the oceans have absorbed 25 percent of the carbon dioxide produced since the beginning of the industrial revolution and humankind’s industrial and agricultural activities.

    Biochemistry professor at HSU Jenny Cappuccio has been involved in a project with University of California, Berkeley by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in the ground.

    “I never expected to be involved in rocks, it wasn’t in my background. It’s great to learn new things,” Cappuccio said.

    Cappuccio’s work on the project had to do with bacterial microbes converting carbon dioxide gas to carbon dioxide solid.

    “Ocean acidified seawater has shifted [seawater] equilibrium to dissolve marine calcifying organisms, shells and corals, rather than build them,” Cappuccio said.

    “Calcifying organisms like shells sequester carbon dioxide,” O’Shea said.

    Oceanography professor Danny O’Shea has hope that we will be able to turn it around.

    “Things are getting better faster than they are getting worse,” O’Shea said. “People like us are going to school and making positive changes out there.”

    At HSU, students, staff and faculty are working to combat ocean acidification. HSU marine lab technician and student Kindle Murie has put her education and future into ocean acidification research.

    “Lab work is paying off,” Murie said.

    Murie is looking forward to a new research project on the effects of ocean acidification in kelp forests, both in the ocean and in the marine lab.

    HSU has grown with knowledge and funding for ocean programs enabling students and faculty to do more research.

    “Water gets more acidic the further you go down,” oceanographer Hal Greer said. “It is getting harder on the ocean and its organisms to buffer the affects of carbon dioxide.”

    At the HSU marine lab, undergraduate and graduate students work together with professors making new research discoveries.

    According to Grant Eberle, the HSU marine lab equipment technician, ocean acidification is currently a “hot topic.”

    “We have a unique upwelling of reduced pH ocean acidic seawater in Trinidad,” Eberle said.

    This unique setting gives students a good opportunity to research ocean acidification.

    The oceans absorb more carbon dioxide and heat from the atmosphere every day. The importance of this research demands our attention.

     

     

  • Pick it up, Humboldt

    Pick it up, Humboldt

    We are socialized not to throw garbage on the ground and are ingrained with anti-littering campaigns throughout our entire lives. However, it’s clear that these catchy slogans didn’t stick.

    Everyone knows not to litter, but somehow there’s still trash all over Humboldt’s natural spaces.

    These photos were taken over a series of days in three different locations throughout Humboldt County: The Arcata Community Forest, Mad River Beach and Strawberry Rock in Trinidad.

    Most of the trash seen is either recyclable or compostable.

    Samantha Stone, compost director at HSU’s WRRAP, explains that orange peels and other organic waste do not naturally break down in a forest environment.

    “It definitely breaks down slower than if it were in a compost bin that generates heat and has other green and brown wastes,” Stone said. “There’s also the thing of food scraps inviting nonnative critters into the woods.”

    A natural space is not designed to properly decompose our trash. In fact, most of what is littered will never actually break down.

    The U.S. National Park Service says that it can take five years for a cigarette butt to biodegrade, up to 40 for clothes, a million years for a glass bottle to disappear and a styrofoam cup will be around forever.

    Reagan Hester, recreation administration major at HSU, described how disappointed she feels seeing trash in our national parks.

    “Properly disposing of trash is such an incredibly easy thing to do,” Hester said. “Even the littlest scrap creates a distraction from the natural beauty of a national park… this is entirely unnecessary. Not to mention the depressive effects on the wildlife and their natural habitat.”

    Anjelica Yee, wildlife major at HSU, thinks a huge part of it is the hierarchy of man versus nature that Western culture emphasizes.

    “It feels as though people disregard the fact that this is habitat for hundreds of different native species,” Yee said. “Humans act superior to other animals and by throwing our trash in their home, it just shows that blatant disrespect of nature.”

    This slideshow requires JavaScript.

     

  • WRRAP hosts Zero-Waste Conference this weekend

    WRRAP hosts Zero-Waste Conference this weekend

    Waste Reduction and Resource Awareness Program’s Zero-Waste Conference is a reflection of the effort the community and students put toward goals of engaging, expanding, sharing and moving forward.

    Shanti Belaustegui Pockell, an environmental studies major at Humboldt State University, is the education director for WRRAP on campus.

    Belaustegui Pockell said WRRAP hopes to grow in the future by working more with students on campus, as well as other programs to form coalitions and strengthen relationships.

    WRRAP is hosting the Zero-Waste Conference throughout the day on Friday, Feb. 9 and Saturday, Feb. 10.

    Belaustegui Pokell said the event will focus on intersectionality, social justice issues and institutionalizing sustainability practices of evolving and shaping policy.

    Multiple speakers will be attending the event to discuss community challenges.

    Sofia Pereira, the mayor of Arcata, will speak on making Arcata a zero-waste city on Friday and Andre Villasenor, a United States Environmental Protection Agency Sustainable Management of Food program representative, will speak on institutionalizing sustainable materials.

    Ceria Wilbur, an environmental science and management major at HSU, has been the zero-waste director at WRRAP for the past year.

    The conference and banquet at 5:30 p.m. on Friday is new this year and works to extend the message of a sustainable future.

    “It’s just a way for us to connect with our campus community, bring our peers together with a number of different inputs and experiences,” Wilbur said. “This year our theme is Beyond Barriers, Imagining a Zero-Waste Future.”

    Community members are encouraged to attend the event. Vegetarian and vegan options will be available.

    There are activities on Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the UC Quad that include crafting with Tinker Time and a clothing swap, along with demonstrations from the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology, or CCAT.

    Tinker Time are local and on-campus programs that have workshops for gardening and crafting body care products.

    Campus sustainability groups that are also participating in the zero-waste event are Green Campus, Humboldt Energy Independence Fund, with speakers from local officials, academic departments and the Office of Sustainability.

    WRAAP will host the second half of the Zero-Waste Conference in the Kate Buchanan Room on Saturday, covering topics such as the role of compost in carbon sequestration, biomass and the Yurok tribe.

    Jason Martinez, outreach coordinator for CCAT, will attend the Zero-Waste Conference.

    “Help is always welcome at CCAT, and for folks that come through, there is a lot they can learn, a lot they can experience,” Martinez said.

    Martinez is excited to introduce CCAT to students who don’t know about the house on campus.

    “I love seeing how the projects get started, how they are going to see how CCAT continuously is growing,” Martinez said. “Whether it’s the physical space itself or just the people, I think that is the piece I love seeing.”

    WRRAP’s Zero-Waste Conference is meant to bring together students, faculty and community members to discuss real issues the environment is facing due to human impact.

  • Touring the Tolowa Dunes

    Touring the Tolowa Dunes

    Nestled in a land forgotten by time and human impact lies Tolowa Dunes State Park near Crescent City.

    Sandra Jerabek helps manage Tolowa Coastal Dunes near Crescent City, Calif. Jerabek calls herself a “generalist naturalist” with 20 years of environmental work and says the discovery of Del Norte County was ideal.

    “This was my perfect place, to be grounded, to really dig my roots into this place and learn all about it,” Jerabek said.

    Jerabek and volunteers of the Tolowa Dunes Stewards help maintain the park. Jerabek founded the Tolowa Dunes Stewards and helps to manage the community member volunteers that work to restore the land.

    Jerabek took a group from Friends of the Dunes on a walk through the Tolowa Coastal Dunes forest and lagoon on Feb. 5.

    Cities cause humans to forget how remote areas next door can be. It is abrupt to arrive at Tolowa Dunes visitor center at 2591 Old Mill Road after a few turns from the city.

    The first view is of open grassland towards the ocean, still some distance away. To the east is pine forest with sandy debris ground and low plant cover.

    Tolowa Dunes State Park is only a short distance away by car, about an hour and a half drive north of Eureka. This 11,000 acre is the center where Tolowa Dee-ni’ people lived.

    The once beautiful, free land and ancestral home to the Tolowa Dee-ni’ native people was transformed into ranch land as settlers chose harm and death. The Tolowa Dunes State Park is now free and open to all.

    Friends of the Dunes sponsors dune walks at Tolowa Dunes near Crescent City. With over 60 miles of shore, water is always close at hand while walking through the forest.

    The body of water to the east is called Lake Earl and the Pacific Ocean is further to the west.

    Lake Earl Wildlife Area at Tolowa Dunes is a natural lagoon habitat filled by rain and runoff, a brackish marsh and an ocean mix when the sandbar washes out in winter.

    With otters, hawks, porcupine and over 320 species of birds, this is just the place for binoculars. The area also holds 500 plant species and over 400 fungi, woodland and waterways.

    Bicycling on the designated trail, horseback riding, hiking, canoeing, birding and simply enjoying nature are all wonderful things to do at Tolowa Dunes.

  • Sand, wind and poop: a tale of American dune grass’ life troubles

    Sand, wind and poop: a tale of American dune grass’ life troubles

    For undergraduates Elizabeth Nguyen and Sean Thull, their past summer was spent staring at grass.

    “We spent between two to four hours every three weeks, collecting data on Elymus mollis growth patterns at the Ma-l’el and Eel River foredunes,” Thull said.

    Elymus, or American dune grass, is a native plant that can change the foredunes’ landscape.

    Erik Jules, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, advised Elizabeth Nguyen, Sean Thull and Steven La Pointe on the project.

    “Foredunes are dunes’ regions closest to the ocean. They often become eroded from crashing ocean waves or by wind,” Jules said. “U.S. Fish and Wildlife wants to keep foredunes from being eroded too fast and improve their resilience in the face of rising sea levels.”

    Growing Elymus on foredunes is known to help the foredunes withstand heavy waves.

    While Elymus growth at some of the region’s foredunes, such as Lanphere and Ma-le’l dunes, was healthy, Elymus grown at the Eel River foredunes suffered another fate.

    “We wanted to know whether Elymus deaths were due to soil differences between these dunes and Lanphere dunes,” Thull said.

    To answer this question, Nguyen, Thull and La Pointe observed the growth of Elymus from Lanphere dunes that were transplanted into Eel River and Ma-le’l soil.

    HSU biology students Sean Thull (left) and Steven La Pointe collecting data on American dune grass growth at the Ma-le’l dunes. Photo and caption by Dr. Erik Jules.

    A hundred Elymus were planted at each dune and an additional 41 plants were grown in the greenhouse.

    “In the greenhouse, we cut the Elymus down to their base, giving them the same start point,” Thull said. “We watered them three times a week, rotated them to evenly distribute the sunlight and measured their longest leaf lengths.”

    While the Elymus planted at Eel River had high mortality rates, the greenhouse Elymus grew strong. The longest leaf lengths in both soil types were not significantly different from each other.

    “This showed that the soil at Ma-le’l and Eel River could supplement the plants just fine,” Thull said, “but something else in the environment is causing the plants to die.”

    Unexpectedly, Elymus planted at Ma-le’l for this study also died.

    “Because the Elymus in our experiment were planted at the same time that the winds at Ma-le’l was strong, this could have caused them to be buried by the sand and affected their growth,” Nguyen said.

    “There were Elymus planted closer to the water, and planted when the winds were not as strong,” Thull said. “These plants were growing better comparing to our plants. If Elymus planting at Ma-le’l begins at the right season and Elymus is planted from the water inward, then maybe the plants could stabilize each other as they grow to alleviate the wind impacts.”

    At the Eel River site, Nguyen and Thull found something different.

    “We found rabbit scats in our Eel River’s Elymus plot,” Nguyen said. “Because there were lots of non-native, thick European beach grass near the plot, we think that the rabbits hide from predators in the beach grass, then come out to the Elymus plot to eat.”

    A large patch of the invasive European beachgrass on the local dunes (left) adjacent to native dune mat vegetation (right). There is growing evidence that dense beachgrass patches harbor more rabbits, and that these rabbits then venture out to consume the native vegetation. Photo and caption by Dr. Erik Jules.

    Nguyen and Thull’s observation made way for another project in Jules’ lab.

    “Currently, I have a master student studying what rabbits eat out in the dunes and how that would impact the vegetation,” Jules said.

    If rabbits are found to be the culprit of stunted Elymus’ growth, removing the invasive European beach grass from Eel River dunes could make them more prone to predators. This would cause the rabbit population at Eel River to decrease, giving Elymus a better chance to grow.

    “Growing another plant species that could both restructure the dunes and deter the rabbits would be difficult,” Jules said. “Not many can tolerate the high salt soil of the dunes like Elymus.”

    “Understanding how to help Elymus grow will usher in the growth of other native plants in the area, which could contribute to further dunes stabilization,” Nguyen said.

    During this project, Thull and Nguyen gained the necessary skills to prepare them for a scientific career.

    “We learned how to analyze our data with statistics and how to design an experiment based on what statistical methods should be employed,” Nguyen said.

    “We’re also writing a report on this project,” Thull said, “and we’re learning that our experimental methodology are also used by professionals.”

    Nguyen and Thull attributed their growth as researchers to Jules’ confidence in letting them work independently. This growth also transferred to their academic experience.

    “We find the materials in our classes more exciting, because we see their applicability to our work,” Thull said. “This really makes us feel excited to eventually enter Ph.D programs.”