The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Category: Science

  • Compost contamination crisis on campus

    Compost contamination crisis on campus

    By Christina Mehr and Brad Butterfield

    Despite Cal Poly Humboldt’s expansive network of green compost bins and a history of leading the charge towards sustainability, nearly all of the green compost bins on campus eventually end up in landfill, according to two student recycling assistants. Committed to sustainability in the face of its difficulties, the university purchased a new composter (technically referred to as a dehydrator) for $147,017 in October 2023. However, the composter has not been functional since its first couple of weeks on campus due to a pungent, bothersome smell.

    The compost machine works as sold, according to Liz Whitchurch, director of facilities operations at Cal Poly Humboldt, but emitted a heinous smell that sparked complaints from several residents of the nearby Cypress and surrounding dorms. The machine is located behind The J dining hall. 

    “We immediately shut it down when we started getting those complaints,” Whitchurch said. “And so, we’ve been searching with the vendor for a solution to that smell problem and we haven’t implemented anything yet, but we’re looking at different options.”

    Once functional, the dehydrator will reduce the volume of biological waste by 90% over the course of its 24-hour cycle, according to Whitchurch. 

    “Every three days or so, we would extrude the output of the dehydrator,” Whitchurch said.

    The machine is halfway between a dehydrator and a digester, according to Whitchurch.

    Due to the powerful odor, the machine has not been able to stretch its wings yet and prove its usefulness. As soon as a solution to the dreadful smell is found, the machine will allow the university to generate its own compost with the food waste created on campus. That will then be used all across the campus grounds and replace the need to outsource fertilizer.

    “We haven’t gotten to the stage, so I can’t confirm that it actually works as EcoRich has sold it to us,” Whitchurch said.

    Currently, the university uses a shipping container that has been retrofitted to store food waste for about four weeks. The waste created at dining halls and housing, for those who’ve opted into an optional food waste program, is stored in the modified shipping container. The university currently pays Recology Humboldt County to transport the food waste to the Local Worm Guy, a local composter. 

    When the dehydrator’s stink is solved, the university’s ability to generate compost completely in-house will both save money and reduce campus pollution. 

    While the dehydrators’ dreadful scent is a problem, it is actually not the biggest issue with campus composting on campus. Compost contamination, according to student employees, is rampant across campus.

    Jacob York, a recycling student assistant at the university, explained the compost contamination on campus is so pervasive, that nearly all of the green compost bins eventually end up in landfill. 

    “Well, besides the food waste that is created by the J and The Depot for example, which doesn’t generally have a substantial amount of contaminants, everything else in the green topped bins around campus, probably 90% of it has to be thrown out,” said York.

    In fact, the constant contamination has resulted in the student assistants leaving behind the larger compost transfer bins all together when making their rounds on campus.

    “We used to carry a compost bin around in the truck as well,” said Zack Baker, a recycling student assistant. “But like, we just don’t carry it around anymore, just because it’s all contaminated.”

    California Assembly Bill 1383, which mandates a significant reduction in organic waste sent to landfills, became enforceable on Jan. 1 of this year. This requires campus food provider Chartwells Higher Ed to provide training to their staff, adequate signage, and uniform bins, according to Morgan King, lead climate analyst and Cal Poly Humboldt. Additionally, King highlighted that the university now has compost bins in departmental break rooms. Chartwells Higher Ed did not respond to an interview request. 

    In response to how the university could decrease its compost contamination rate across campus, CalRecycle highlighted education programs underway at other universities, like CSU Dominguez Hills and Sacramento State University. Importantly, Cal Poly Humboldt already has well-funded waste reduction outreach programs, such as Waste-Reduction & Resource Awareness Program (WRRAP.) Outreach programs like WRRAP educate and expand awareness about the basics of composting as well as engage the campus community at regular waste themed events throughout the semester.

    While education, clear signage, and accessible compost bins locations improve the probability of proper composting, it ultimately depends on the care of individuals to sort their waste properly. King acknowledged that there is a lack of incentives and disincentives for proper waste sorting on campus, and that education can only help so much.

    “The hard part is moving that awareness into action,” King said.

     At the end of the day, Whitchurch explained, the university does not have the capacity to sort through every single compost bin. Sorting must be done by the individual.

    “It’s a huge problem,” Whitchurch said. “We don’t have anyone whose job it is to sort through people’s food waste. That’s not a job description. It’s not what we do.”

  • Campus recycling: the good, the bad, and the ugly

    Campus recycling: the good, the bad, and the ugly

    By Christina Mehr and Brad Butterfield

    Eventually, each plastic jug of vodka enjoyed the night before a midterm and recycled in a blue bin on Cal Poly Humbodlt campus grounds will be on a freightliner traversing the great Atlantic ocean, en route to a recycling facility in Southeast Asia. From there, it is processed and turned into Amazon packaging and may end up right back on your doorstep. The nearly 6,000 Lumberjacks on campus produced 169 tons of recycling in 2023. While the sheer tonnage is impressive, it signals a marked improvement compared to years past and has contributed to the university’s new bronze level Plastics Reduction Partner award from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). 

    The NWF website explains the badge as, “[An] introductory badge, your university is newer to the plastics reduction space, and trying to get the word out about the need for change.”  

    Only one other university has achieved the bronze level certification, and no university has yet achieved silver or green levels of certification. To obtain the award, the university undertook action items which propel towards less overall plastic usage, for which they were awarded points by the NWF. Under the direction of Morgan King, lead climate analyst, the university engaged the campus community in outreach/education events, banned single-use plastics on campus, increased water bottle fill stations on campus, and worked with Chartwells Higher Ed to reduce unrecyclable materials used in the campus food service. Chartwells Higher Ed did not respond to an interview request.

    “Over the past year, myself and Katie [Koscielak] in the sustainability office have been working with some people in dining services to identify alternatives to single use plastics, such as utensils,” King said. 

    The sustainability office’s efforts have had notable success, with a large increase in the number of locally compostable plates, utensils, and containers used across campus. An area that still needs improvement is the university’s purchasing of goods with packaging that is not recyclable, according to King.

    “We can put some pressure to require that the packaging is either returnable or is made of a reusable, recyclable or compostable product,” King said. “So, that’s something that we need to start. We haven’t done much around that yet.”

    Liz Whitchurch, Director of Facilities Operations shared that the  university’s current mixed recycling contamination rate is between 14 and 16%. Using other local municipalities as benchmarks, this is a relatively low rate of contamination, according to both Whitchurch and Frank Nelson, assistant general manager at Recology. A Dec. 2023 study conducted by Harrison Chubb and Morgan King found that a recycling bin outside of the College Creek Marketplace contained (by volume) 57.8% recyclables, 15.7% compostables, and 26.5% landfill waste. A separate study led by King in Feb. measured the contents of recycling bins outside of the Behavioral and Social Sciences building after a one week collection period and found (by volume): 51% recyclables, 20% landfill waste, 25% compostables, 3% liquids, and 1% ‘hard to recycle’ (HTR) items.

     In an effort to lower the contamination rate, the university is working to color coordinate all recycle bins across campus, as well as continuing to improve signage, according to Whitchurch.

    As most consumers are aware, it is far from straightforward to understand whether or not your trash is recyclable. Like many of us, King can struggle at times with what bin to toss waste into.

    “It’s extremely challenging,” King said. “I would consider myself pretty well versed. In recycling, but even I don’t know some of the items that are out there and whether or not they can actually be recycled.”

    To add to the confusion, many technically recyclable items, like plastic berry containers and plastic cups (referred to as clamshell plastics), are eventually put into the landfill, as the cost of recycling the item outweighs the end value of the product.

    “They’re not a commodity that can be sold,” Nelson said. “It costs more to process them than you can sell them for.”

    Pizza boxes require preparation before they are considered recyclable. The wax paper, box support, and pizza leftovers must be removed before tossing into a blue recycling bin.

    On campus, the massive task of sorting waste is done by just four individuals, according to Whitchurch, who added that she is looking to hire another person to tackle the widespread contamination issue.

    “We try to pull out contamination,” Whitchurch said. “Our guys jump in and dumpster dive sometimes if they see something [obvious], like a big bag of garbage that someone put in the recycling dumpster instead of into the garbage dumpster.” 

    Realistically though, the responsibility of sorting waste into the proper bin is up to the campus community.

    “Nowhere in the process do we pour everything out and sift through it and figure out what goes where,” said Whitchurch. “That’s just not a service that the university is equipped or staffed to do.” 

    Acknowledging the difficulty of proper recycling informed King’s ultimate goal for campus waste, plastics in particular: avoid generating or bringing these items onto campus in the first place. Paradoxically, this may be both the simplest solution and the toughest to implement, as it involves changing the behavior and consumption norms of an entire campus. 

    One successful example on this front is the university’s reusable water bottle fill stations located in nearly every campus building. Recently, the university has begun posting a Water Quality Report, accessible via QR code at water fill stations. King hopes this will build confidence in the campus community that the tap water being dispensed is high quality. Likewise, starting in 2013, the school’s dining hall, the J, began participating in the PlanetOZZI reusable boxes. These to-go boxes aim to reduce the amount of disposable to-go containers. The final cost of the OZZI box implementation in 2014 was $35,450. 

    While great strides are being taken towards a more sustainable campus, King acknowledges that the university is far from its overall grand green goals.

    The tons of recycling generated by the university is eventually sorted by hand by 21 recology workers at Recology Humboldt County in Samoa. Humboldt County doesn’t have the high tech sorting machines that bigger cities like San Francisco and Santa Rosa do. 

    “We don’t have photo-eye technology,” Nelson said. “You’re not gonna get the latest technologies, because there’s not a lot of people in this area that are actually trained to install or fix [the machine].”

    After the waste is hand-sorted, the glass is shipped to the Bay area and is eventually used to make insulation. Glass is one of the few full-circle products that is both recycled in California and then eventually sold again in the Golden State. Unfortunately, according to Nelson, aluminum, paper, cardboard, and plastic typically embark on much longer journeys to either pulp mills on the West Coast or to East and Southeast Asia. Once abroad, the waste is processed and turned into items like Amazon boxes. Nelson mentioned that pulp milling used to be done largely within California, but is mostly shipped across oceans to foreign countries currently.

    “Through successive environmental regulations, we’ve reduced our ability to do what’s best for the environment, unfortunately, in California,” Nelson said. “I’ve got to load a container full of paper and send it to Southeast Asia. Even though they’re gonna be doing it ethically and responsibly, for me it’s like, why can’t we do it here?” 

    In any case, the university is making significant and methodical efforts to reduce waste of all kinds on campus, an achievement that is well worth celebrating.

    “Cal Poly Humboldt’s certification is a truly significant achievement,” Kristy Jones, Director of Higher Education programs at NWF said. “With plastic pollution at an all-time high, the need for solutions has never been more pressing. Humboldt is showing firsthand that progress is possible, offering a blueprint for other colleges and universities across the country to follow. Kudos to the entire Lumberjack community for their hard work and demonstrated commitment to sustainability.” 

    A concerted, committed community wide effort is needed to reduce plastic use and recycling contamination across campus. Sustainability leaders like King and Whitchurch are giving the campus community a road map for success, but the protection of our ecosystem relies upon the participation of all.

    “We don’t exist in a vacuum, we exist in an ecosystem,” Whitchurch said. “A very large ecosystem that has inputs and outputs within the system, but we are a closed system. We are one planet with limited resources, limited space.”

  • New shark discovery offers glimpse into a lost world

    New shark discovery offers glimpse into a lost world

    By Brad Butterfield

    326 million years ago, Arkansas was underwater and teeming with an unusual, gill-covered shark, a shark that is now called Cosmoselachus mehlingi after a years-long project led by Dr. Allison Bronson, a Cal Poly Humboldt professor. The unique conditions in the Fayetteville Shale preserved the precious cartilage that was critical in digitally reconstructing an accurate image of the ancient shark, which was named to honor Carl Mehling, a senior museum specialist for the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The shark’s ancient origins and recent identification have been made possible by CT scans, digital reconstruction, and years of careful work carried out by Bronson alongside Alan Pradel, John Denton, and John Maisey. The findings were recently published by the journal Geodiversitas.

    Cosmoselachus mehlingi is distinctly important, according to Bronson, due to the fact that its ancestors survived a catastrophic mass extinction that killed 95% of the fish population in the Devonian period.

    “In the wake of these extinctions, we often have what we call an adaptive radiation where the groups that make it through can then diversify into all these niches that were left open,” Bronson said.

    The acidic and anoxic environment of Arkansas’ Fayetteville Shale preserved the shark’s delicate cartilage for millions of years until the 1970’s, when Royal and Gene Mapes, the husband and wife duo, discovered the fossil. The Mapes would eventually donate the specimen to the AMNH. 

    “Cartilage is really rare in the fossil record, because it’s soft and squishy, and usually microbes break it down before it can fossilize,” Bronson said.

    The rare preservation of the shark’s cartilage allowed Bronson and her collaborators to use CT scanning to digitally reconstruct the ancient shark’s biological structure and identify one of its most unique attributes, gill covers.

    “It’s made of little rays of cartilage that grow off of its gill arches,” Bronson said. “In our shark, unlike anything that’s been described in any cartilaginous fish, they’re all fused together.” 

    The gill covers may have functioned to help close the gill openings, according to Bronson. Though gill covers are found today in ratfish, Bronson and her colleagues’ statistical testing showed that it is unlikely that ratfish are descendents of the group of fishes that includes Cosmoselachus mehlingi. Additionally, the digital reconstruction revealed that the ancient shark had widely spaced teeth with tooth-like scales in between.

      Bronson and her colleagues’ work to identify Cosmoselachus mehlingi gives scientists a valuable glimpse into our ancient world and another datapoint that aids in our understanding of evolution over time.

    “Once you have an understanding of the long branching pattern of evolution, you can reconstruct the way that traits evolved over time with a group like cartilaginous fishes that’s been successful for more than 400 million years, and made it through multiple mass extinction events to now be the dominant predators of the ocean,” Bronson said. “A lot of evolution is just like, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

  • Smelting in the water

    Smelting in the water

    Cal Poly Humboldt fisheries professor is working with local tribes to create better fishing stewardship practices.

    By Gabriel Zucker

    Jose Marin Jarrin is a new assistant professor in the department of fisheries biology at Cal Poly Humboldt. He is leading a new form of fishery science in Northern California, using empathy and understanding when talking with impoverished communities. He is originally from South America and he never forgets where he came from. 

    “Being Latinx, I’m also from a historically excluded community,” Marin Jarrin said. “So I saw a lot of similarities.”

    Marin Jarrin was recently awarded a little over $1.1 million from the California Climate Action Seed Grant to research climate change resilience by looking at tribal fishery practices. His goal is to reinvigorate Northern California fishery research, while also building a center that will last for years. 

    He is working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and multiple local tribes, such as The Blue Lake Rancheria, Resighini Rancheria, Tolowa Dee-Ni’ Nation, and other smaller indigenous communities. Each native group was able to pick a fish that has historical and cultural value to their tribe. The fish that are being mainly researched are green sturgeon and smelt. Five grad students are working with Marin Jarrin, acting as liaisons for the different Rancherias. On top of doing research all over Northern California, the tribes and researchers have a monthly meeting where they go over the progress and find where they can improve.

    Creating a trusting relationship with the Indigenous communities is important. To solidify this relationship, Marin Jarrin signed a data sharing agreement with all of the tribes, giving them final say on what information is published. Historically this has not been the case, and some even admitted they had never been asked to do this before.

    “The researchers would go in, ask the tribes to participate, and then the tribes don’t get a say on how the data is used,” Marin Jarrin said. “And so, one of the things we wanted to ensure is that the tribes had complete ownership of that data. For the most part, they’re not too concerned about fishery species, they’re more interested in preserving their cultural data and history. What they don’t want is for people to just take information from them and disseminate in ways that are sometimes not correct or hurtful to the tribe.”

    Laurie Richmond is an environmental science and management professor at Cal Poly Humboldt. She has worked with the tribes for years, working a quarter time for California Sea Grant as an extension specialist. Where she connects local communities with coastal science knowledge. Her role for the study is in a partner advisory role, where she offers advice and direction when grad students need a new perspective. She has been working with Marin Jarrin since the beginning of the grant and is elated at the way he is going about his research.

    “I think it’s a really new way to be a scientist that I think [Marin Jarrin] is pursuing,” Richmond said. “It’s really exciting and it requires a lot of skills that scientists don’t always have, like building partnerships and facilitating and thinking about ethics. He’s done a great job of trying to learn those things, and he has some of those because of his unique background that he brings as a scientist.”

    To record the biodiversity of the fish in different areas, grad students are using environmental DNA metabarcoding techniques, giving them data about all of the animals that have come into that area.

    “If a fish swims by, it’ll leave its DNA in the water column,” Marin Jarrin said. “If you were to collect a sample and filter out the DNA from that, you can identify what species of fish was there. The idea is that if you then go around taking samples throughout the whole coast, you can identify all the fish – actually, not just fish. From bacteria all the way to mammals.”

    Before conducting this research, they had to work with the California Fish and Wildlife department. The advisor on the grant is Kenneth Oda, a former Humboldt State University student, who is with the Marine Region and works on the State Managed Finfish Research and Management Project. Oda gives advice and helps review the proposals before they are submitted. 

    “I was just asked to be an advisor… we approve protocols, if they’re gonna be taking fish, we need to have that spelled out, and the methodologies as well,” Oda said. “We review their permit application and then approve it. I also help them with protocols regarding surf perch and red tail.”

    Olivia Boeberitz, one of the graduate students on the team, just moved to Humboldt. She chose Humboldt partly because of this research project, and the opportunity to work closely with Indigenous tribes. She has been studying fisheries since 2020, focusing on fish that inhabit both freshwater and green water. This made the transition from inland to coastal easier. 

    “I’m working specifically with Blue Lake Rancheria on green sturgeon… I’m designing a project to get some baseline information on how green sturgeon are using Humboldt Bay,” she said. “There hasn’t been much of any research, at all, of green sturgeons in this area.”

    Boeberitz is in the methods phase of her research project. She is running through a couple ideas for data collection. She wants to use acoustic receivers, alerting if any previously tagged fish are using these areas. She is also planning to use satellite tags  on fish off the coast. None of the actual research will be conducted until the summer.

    Right now, she is most excited about working and meeting with the tribes. She has worked with tribes before, but never one on one.

    “I see and talk to them very frequently,” Boeberitz said. “As soon as I produce any drafts for my proposal, as soon as I come up with a schedule, they’re going to be incorporated every step of the way. Their feedback is both incredible and extremely valuable. I’m working on this project for them, they’re the center of this project. They’re guiding me – giving the guidance they need to start putting together what our goals are.”

    Marin Jarrin is changing how people view the scientific process. He is finding paths of communication that are not usually seen in western science. He is not just doing research, he is creating positive social change.

    “I want to help communities that have been historically excluded, to be better – better informed and the different techniques and methods they could be using to manage their fisheries,” Marin Jarrin said. “We want to empower people right. Our community to tribal communities, but to the community at large in the far north of California, so that they feel they are more capable of being stewards of their resources. But also, the students that we bring, we want to prepare the best students we can because they can go out… and bring this idea of diversity, equity, and inclusion to the next job that they take.”

  • Cows. Good for climate change?

    Cows. Good for climate change?

    By Gabriel Zucker

    The Willits bypass is a stretch of the U.S. Highway 101. After being proposed 60 years ago, it was finally finished less than a decade ago. It serves an important role in decongesting Willits, diverting drivers around the small town. The bypass is also home to the largest public wetlands mitigation project in the state of California, the Willits Bypass Offsite Mitigation Project.

    This mitigation project has been joined by Justin C. Luong, a rangeland resource science professor at Cal Poly Humboldt. Recently he was awarded a $520,000 grant from the California Bountiful Foundation. He is conducting a case study on the impact of cattle grazing on grasslands. This research is important because wetlands help with carbon cycling, host thousands of endemic species, and play a key role in cattle production.

    “Federal government policies don’t allow for any grazing on any top of habitat classified as any kind of wetland at all,” Luong said. “Even though California state laws and science show sometimes grazing can be beneficial for managing natural systems if utilized properly.”

    Luong is doing this study to better understand if cows actually play a vital role in grassland ecosystems. He is using historical data from the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District to look at the impact of removing grazing in the grasslands. Luong is also using aerial images from Google and drone images to better understand the environmental differences between grazed and ungrazed grasslands. While looking at all of these images, Luong is also taking samples at the site, inspecting the biology of the plants, trying to better understand the best traits needed for a changing environment. 

    “My job is to essentially go in and evaluate how the removal of cattle grazing from these areas affected these habitats and their ecosystem properties and services, especially thinking about some of the threatened species we have out there,” Luong said. “The North Coast semaphore grass, the baker’s meadow phone. Both of these species typically require more open habitat and bare ground in order to establish well.”

    Luong is trying to find the perfect combination of native plant species for grasslands to thrive. Plants like Reed Canary grass are taking over most of the space in the habitat, leaving little room for the important species mentioned above. 

    “The managers on the ground have noted that oftentimes, cattle grazing is really important to remove some of that cover, open up some of that space to facilitate some of the recovery or establishment of those kinds of threatened plant species, while still supporting cattle production,” Luong said.

    The reason Luong is focusing on grasslands is to highlight the importance they have. They not only support the entire cattle economy, but they hold a key role in controlling carbon emissions. In a process called carbon sequestration. They hold pockets of carbon in their roots, reducing global carbon emissions. In a study by The Conservation Fund, they discovered that wetlands store 18 to 216 metric tons of carbon per acre. Making grassland restoration an important fixture in climate conservation.

    “Grasslands are really important for carbon storage and sequestration, especially with future climate risks. Because oftentimes when you have mass plant mortality, which happens in grasslands or forests you lose that carbon back to the atmosphere.” Luong said. “In grasslands, a lot of that is fibrous roots underground. We know that some native grasses that we have dug up can go up to 18 feet deep, so that carbon stays stable in the ground and helps with more stable carbon sequestration with climate change.”

    Luong is going to work on this project for the next five years with Mendocino Resource Conservation District. He is hoping to reinvigorate grassland restoration by updating the data and information people have for grassland restoration. He believes that once people have the right tools, grassland restoration will be more informed and focused.

    “My work often is really geared at being applied, and so I’m always trying to find real world issues that need solving now and try to work towards those solutions, those applied solutions,” Luong said.

  • Staying Savvy About Sexual Wellness

    Staying Savvy About Sexual Wellness

    by Christina Mehr

    “Wrap it before you tap it.” We’ve all heard that before.

    Condoms and other forms of contraceptives help prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections and diseases. However, condoms don’t protect you from all STIs, such as herpes, genital warts, syphilis and mpox, which can be spread from skin-to-skin contact.

    According to the Center for Disease Control, more than 2.5 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis were reported in the United States in 2022. 

    Humboldt’s Student Health Center offers information and counseling in a safe, confidential setting. They offer PAP smears, breast exams, and other sexual health screenings, pregnancy tests and even medication abortions. At the health center, they screen, test, and treat sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as well. As far as keeping safe, they also provide many contraceptive options such as long acting contraception, birth control pills, patches, rings, condoms, and much more. 

    If you’re concerned about privacy with sexual health and need resources, you can sign up for the family pact card to access these services in person at the health center. 

    Cal Poly Humboldt also has the Peer Health Education Center in the Recreation and Wellness center (RWC). They offer free harm reduction supplies, condoms of all kinds, emergency contraception, narcan and test strips, menstrual products and more. 

    There are many ways you can maintain sexual health. Practice consent; remember an enthusiastic and informed yes means yes. Communicate with your partner and explore your body, discover what you like and share that with your partner(s). Be safe and protect yourself and your partner(s) against sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy.

    Most importantly, get yourself tested and educate yourself about the risks of having unprotected sex. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and communicate with your partner(s). 

  • Grant reinvigorates rangeland restoration

    Grant reinvigorates rangeland restoration

    by Gabriel Zucker

    On Aug. 23, 2023, the University of California and the state of California announced they would be awarding over $80 million in climate action grants. These grants will find solutions that directly address state climate problems. In total, the grant is funding 38 projects across California, involving over 130 communities, California Universities and industries, while also taking perspectives from local tribes.

    Justin C. Luong, is a new forestry, fire, and rangeland professor at Cal Poly Humboldt. He previously worked as a restoration coordinator at the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, where he is still currently a research affiliate. He is also a leader in the conservation community, working in key leadership positions in the California Native Grassland Associated, Big Sur Land Trust, and the Ecological Society of America’s Restoration Ecology Section. He was awarded a $1.5 million California Climate Action Seed Grant. He named his grant proposal, “Establishing drought resilient grassland restoration networks in California.”

    According to Luong’s grant proposal, biodiverse grasslands are a key part of California’s ecosystem and economy. These habitats take up 25% of California, offering services like flood mitigation, ecotourism and forage production, while also being the foundation of the ranching economy. Currently, most grassland restoration projects use easily cultivated species that are known to work, but do not give any future benefits. This not only creates biodiversity loss, but also ignores the need for adaptation in a changing climate.

    “We find that practitioners across the entire state tend to be using the same seven species, even though California Grasslands support thousands of native species,” Luong said. “The reason people use these same seven species is because they know they’ll do well and that they’ll be successful… they have to use those species because there’s no other information about these less common species.”

    Luong is taking a three pronged approach to his research. First he is creating an online database called, The Grassland Restoration Action, Science, and Stewardship Network (GRASS-Net) focused on seed sharing and education. He is also studying three different grassland sights around California, taking data from the soils, looking at climate adaptive characteristics, and finding out what the best combination of plants are for the location. Lastly, he is conducting greenhouse studies by looking at samples from the sights, and is conducting research on different grassland species’ ability to survive a changing climate. His goal is to create a climate aware toolbox to help future projects with drought resilient plant selection and site assessment. 

    “Those three things all go together to help inform restoration projects across the state,” Luong said. “To better understand when we should use climate adaptive plant sourcing or when we should use locally sourced plants.”

    Luong is working in collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CSU Chico, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Hedgerow Farms, Mattole Restoration Council, Pepperwood Preserve and California Native Grassland Association, Point Blue Conservation Science, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Watsonville Wetlands Watch and the Wiyot Tribe. He is also working with another Cal Poly Humboldt professor Kerry Byrne, and is taking on five graduate and undergraduate students to help him with his research. 

    Graphic by Griffin Mancuso

    Field study

    Luong is conducting field studies across three sites in California. Focusing on lesser known species that are currently not used in grassland restoration.

    “I am working with my grad student to evaluate site characteristics, the climate, the soil, and all the plants that occur at those different sites at three different Grasslands across the state,” Luong said.

    Byrne, an associate professor in applied ecology at Cal Poly Humboldt is working closely with Luong on his field research. 

    “We’re going to be collecting information or characterizing both plants and roots and soils at three sites,” Byrne said. “The Coastal prairie from up here in Humboldt, our central site is going to be in Sonoma County, and then our southern site is down near San Luis Obispo.”

    Ernesto Chavez-Velasco is a national resources graduate student at Cal Poly Humboldt. He has worked with Luong before when they both attended UC Santa Cruz and is working on his graduate thesis while working with his old mentor.

    “We’re looking at soil and climate and their neighboring plants essentially. We’re seeing how all of those three things affect the plants we’re studying,” Chavez-Velasco said. “The goal of this is to generate a lot more information for plants that aren’t really used in restoration.”

    Byrne’s said that they will be using a standardized protocol across all three sights. 

    “We’ll collect some soils that we bring back to the lab for analysis,” Byrne said. “We’re going to look at root production or root biomass across all those sights.”

    The goal of this research, according to Chavez-Velasco, is to understand how the species react in different environments across a giant gradient.

    Greenhouse study

    Luong is also doing greenhouse research on campus. By focusing on environmentally resistant species, he is finding the best species for an ever changing climate and environment. Specifically, he is conducting a Lethal Drought 50 (LD50) Experiment.

    “Essentially, when 50% of the plants in a pot die from drought, we measure their soil moisture levels and we see at what level do these plants experience death?” Luong said. 

    Byrne is a big part of the greenhouse study, focusing on plant traits and culturally relevant plants to the local tribes.

    “We’ll collect some soils that we bring back to the lab for analysis,” Byrne said. “Then we’re going to look at root production or root biomass across all those sights, using a standardized protocol.”

    The Grassland Restoration Action, Science, and Stewardship Network (GRASS-Net) 

    GRASS-Net is the final step in Justin Luong’s project. He wants to create a website with information that all grassland restoration projects can use, no matter the location. The website will include climate-smart protocols, information and tools to help with drought-resilient plant selection, and an increased access to rarer plants, native to the area. 

    “We’re working with that Grassland Restoration Network to do essentially interdisciplinary work,” Luong said. “We’re first starting with conducting interviews and surveys with practitioners from across the state to best understand engagement methods to engage people in a network, and how to get people to actively participate for the network to continue to persist over time. We also talked to them about how we could share knowledge and about species selection; about what species do well.”

    A problem a lot of scientists have is how to communicate their findings to the masses, while also collaborating with multiple agencies and people. 

    For Chavez-Velasco, this is the first time he is engaging with people in the field as a graduate student, not just conducting research.

    “I feel more involved with engaging practitioners and communicating and sharing,” Chavez-Velasco said.

    The idea of communication in the field is not new to Luong. He understands the shortcomings of scientific communication and teaches his students how to communicate their ideas.

    “When you get into the workforce, you can’t choose who you’re interacting with,” Luong said. “You have to know how and learn how to interact with everyone to be effective in your position. Ecology is [the] absence of people, and we can’t understand ecological responses without understanding human responses.”

  • Cal Poly Humboldt signs contract for installation of two megawatts of solar 

    Cal Poly Humboldt signs contract for installation of two megawatts of solar 

    University expects the new microgrid will provide about 25-30% of current annual campus electricity needs

    by Brad Butterfield

    Striving for sustainability and nestled in among the indomitable redwood giants of Northern California, California’s new polytechnic signed a contract on Feb. 2 for two megawatts of solar and three Tesla megapack batteries, which are expected to supply 25-30% of the university’s current annual electricity usage. Not yet immune from fossil fuel energy dependence, the university used 13,723,403 kWh of electricity and 922,559 Therms of natural gas, resulting in a combined 8,215.37 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCDE) of emissions during the 2022-23 academic year. The new microgrid/solar project is a tremendous step towards the university’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2045 and will change Cal Poly Humboldt’s energy portfolio for decades to come.

    Where does Cal Poly Humboldt currently get its electricity?

     Where a significant portion of Humboldt County purchases its energy from Redwood Coast Energy Association, Cal Poly Humboldt has opted to purchase electricity from Shell Energy, North America. This choice in energy procurement by the university is made possible by Cal Poly Humboldt’s direct access (DA) purchase of electricity, in congruence with 13 other DA CSU’s. “DA provides retail choice to customers by allowing them to purchase electricity directly from an Electric Service Provider (ESP),” according to the California Public Utilities Commission website. With DA, Shell, North America provides the energy, then that energy is transported by PG&E to Cal Poly Humboldt campus. DA is lottery based and allows universities to choose the most cost efficient energy option, rather than the county supplied utility in any given area. The negotiation of this DA energy procurement is handled by the chancellor’s office and allows Cal Poly Humboldt to access electricity at a competitive rate thanks to the aggregated 13-campus negotiation carried out by the CSU. While renewable energy sourcing is important, it has to be carefully balanced against the university’s broad range of financial needs, according to Cal Poly Humboldt’s Energy Manager Andrea Alstone. “As the Energy Manager, obviously, I want to use as little energy as possible and make it as renewable as possible. But, I also realize that costs are real and it’s kind of a zero sum game,” Alstone said. “What we’re spending on electricity means that we’re not spending on other things that the campus needs; we really want to be conscientious of that fact.” Importantly, CA Senate Bill 100 will require renewable energy and zero-carbon resources to supply 100 percent of electric retail sales to end-use customers by 2045. Californian’s are on a one-way road to renewable energy.“[Energy] use in California has to be 100% renewable by 2045. So, as a direct access customer, we will meet those standards, but there are other entities that are doing that sooner. “The choice to purchase from Shell, North America comes, primarily, down to cost – a fact not surprising nor impressive to environmental science and management senior Rain Lopez. “This school is a government institution, which is basically a business that is clearly more interested in maximizing its profits and reducing meaningful spending… so, it’s not surprising that the school made this choice,” Lopez said. Environmental science and management Junior Brooke Douglass put things more bluntly. “Shell is an evil company that has committed many environmental injustices,” Douglass said.

    The Carbon Cost of Purchasing Energy from Shell

    The university’s choice to purchase from Shell, North America has real world impact, as they do not source as much of their energy from renewables as Redwood Coast Energy Authority. Shell, North America sources its electricity from 34% renewables, (Biomass & Biowaste, Geothermal, Eligible Hydroelectric, Solar, Wind) whereas RCEA sources from 50% renewables. This gap is in large part due to the differing goals of each energy provider. Shell, North America looks to obtain the cheapest electricity possible for its customers, while still meeting California’s current renewable energy requirements, according to Alstone.“Whereas RCEA is more community focused and it’s like, ‘what does our community want and how can we meet that?’” Alstone said. “Cost is important, but it’s not the only factor in their decision.” 

    A (natural) gas need

     Importantly, when talking about total campus energy consumption, electricity is only half the equation – actually, it’s exactly 35% of the equation, with the majority of energy consumption on campus coming from natural gas. The university’s main account for natural gas is with the Department of General Services, a branch of the CA government. Perhaps surprisingly, campus use and cost of electricity is a near perfect mirror image of its natural gas use and cost in 2022-2023, where electricity accounted for 35% of total energy usage on campus, but 61% of total energy cost. Natural gas accounted for 65% of total energy used but only 39% of overall energy cost. Cal Poly Humboldt, being the northernmost CSU, has a much greater need to heat its buildings as compared to other CSU’s. The necessity of heating its buildings nearly year round contributes to Cal Poly Humboldt’s ranking as 2nd highest in ‘campus gas purchased’ out of the 23 CSU’s, for the ‘22-’23 academic year, (when natural gas usage is normalized per-square-foot) according to the CSU energy dashboard. This equates to 0.46 therms/SF natural gas usage at Cal Poly Humboldt, only out-gassed by Cal State Fullerton. When thinking about MTCDE emissions, it’s incredibly important to factor energy efficiency into the equation. “If someone told me I had an infinite amount of money to spend on things, before I started spending them on more renewable energy, I would make things more efficient,” Alstone said. Meaning, the best way to obtain sustainability is to not require said energy in the first place. A better insulated building with triple pane windows requires less overall energy to heat and is thus more energy efficient, which of course leads to the dilemma of whether to allocate money towards infrastructure efficiency projects or towards renewable energy generation, i.e. solar panels. In 2022-23, Cal Poly Humboldt used 6.8kwh of electricity per square foot at a rate of $1.49/SF. Total campus emission for ‘22-’23 was 13,787.34 MTCDE, equivalent to 31,889 barrels of oil, according to university Climate Action Analyst Morgan King. That’s a substantial consumption of fossil fuels, no matter how one looks at it. For some students, this speaks to a disconnect between the university’s green-marketing and the campus’ actions. “Humboldt likes to claim it’s green though and it’s superficial… I think that being ‘green’ is a political buzzword,” Lopez said. “An institution of this size, regardless of having a relatively ‘small student body’ should have more resources to support its ‘green programs.’”

    Solar energy on the horizon

    The contract signed with EDP Renewables North America Distributed Energy on Feb. 2 means the university will not own, maintain nor pay for the installation of the solar system, however there will still be initial costs. Roof replacements are necessary for buildings that will be receiving solar panels, and sites on campus receiving the microgrid components will need to be prepared. The facilities yard, for example, is going to house three Tesla shipping-container-sized batteries. In total, the campus will have two megawatts of solar when the project is complete, which is about the max number of panels the university can physically support, currently.  “I want as much as [solar] we can have, and that’s kind of the max given the roofs in the parking lots and the fact that we’re kind of physically constrained,” said Alstone.The battery will provide a peak power of 5.8MW and a total energy of 11.5MWh. Battery capacity is crucial to the systems function as a reliable microgrid.“If everything went out, we’d need a battery which can start our energy system from zero, so we’ve oversized the battery,” Alstone said.Annually, the solar system is expected to produce 3,300MWh of solar – with a guaranteed production of 2,866MWh. This equates to about 25-30% of the university’s current annual electricity usage. In addition to making strides to lower campus greenhouse gas emission, the solar is also expected to save the university money, in multiple ways. As per the contract with EDPR, the university will pay the company for the electricity generated by the solar, but at a much lower rate than the university currently pays for electricity from Shell, North America.“It will end up lowering our bill,” Alstone said. Additionally, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, the solar system will also save the university money through hand-me-down tax benefits.“The [tax] benefit will be passed on to the owners of the solar, EDPR, and they in turn pass it on to us in the form of lower electricity costs,” Alstone said.  Another positive aspect to the contract with EDPR is a guaranteed minimum amount of electricity. If they don’t meet the minimum, then EDPR will pay the difference to the university, according to Alstone.Due to the need to install the solar arrays in multiple parking lots across campus, the installation will likely need to take place during the summer break, so as not to irritate the difficult parking situation on campus any further.“We anticipate the canopies will be installed over existing parking spaces Summer 2025 when classes aren’t in session with temporary, minimal impact to parking, “ said Aileen Yoo, Director of News and Information for the university.Cost savings, reduced reliance on fossil fuels for energy, no installation or maintenance cost – this is sounding like a killer deal. Naturally, there are two ways of looking at things.“In an ideal, ethical world, the university would invest in these solar panels as owners, [then] source and promote local unionized workforce for photovoltaic product repair, which would boost your local economy and probably reduce overall maintenance costs…” Lopez said. “But again, universities are businesses and will not operate from a place of long-term vision, just immediate costs.” In any case, the contract signing and soon-to-come microgrid and solar system seem a justified time for Cal Poly Humboldt to raise arms in victory – and that they are. “The microgrid project not only showcases Cal Poly Humboldt’s longstanding commitment and investment into sustainability, but it captures the spirit of what we do here: educate students who can help solve the world’s most pressing problems by providing a real-world example of the benefits of microgrids and how they work,” Yoo said.

  • Cal Poly Humboldt, Home of the World’s First 3D Herbarium

    Cal Poly Humboldt, Home of the World’s First 3D Herbarium

    By Griffin Mancuso and Savana Robinson

    Last Thursday, on the third floor of Cal Poly Humboldt’s library, a very important first birthday was celebrated. Students, faculty and community members gathered to enjoy cake, pizza, pie and refreshments to celebrate the launch of the world’s first 3D herbarium. 

    Hosted at 3dherbarium.org, the 3D herbarium has digitized 3D models of various plants with information on each species. At time of publication, 39 models are available to view. From the seaside daisy, Erigeron glaucus, to the coast redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, each plant’s page has a classification breakdown, profile and information on the model itself.

    Library Dean Cyril Oberlander started the opening speech for the event, thanking everyone for attending and emphasizing the project’s testament to hard work, dedication and collaborative efforts.

    “We chose 3D modeling of plants because, well, not really anybody was doing it,” Oberlander said. “You can imagine how hard it is to do a three-dimensional shape of a two-dimensional leaf. While creating the 3D digital herbarium has never been done — and because plants are so crucial to life on Earth, and for our understanding of plants — this was incredibly important.”

    The project has been in development for over a year and students have been anticipating its release, including botany major Juniper Beke.

    “Last semester, I believe it was teased at the end of a session on satellite information using satellite data,” Beke said. “[The teaser] had appeared there at the end and so I was hyped up for it.”

    Many students, like engineering and community practices major Filip Amborski, had ideas for what the program could accomplish. Amborski thinks the herbarium will be a great resource.

    “I’m hoping that they have notes on anything that’s been identified as culturally significant to Native tribes,” Amborski said.

    The seeds of inspiration

    The 3D herbarium was created by Team Flora, which is comprised of computer science and botany students. Botany graduate student Heather Davis, undergraduate botany student Grayson Prater and computer science major David Yaranon helped create the website under the management of computer science graduate AJ Bealum.

    AJ Bealum, computer science graduate and manager of Team Flora, credited the idea for the 3D herbarium to Oberlander. The university library was the sole sponsor for this project.

    “His main source of inspiration was the anatomage table downstairs and he thought, ‘Why isn’t anyone doing this with plants?’” Bealum said.

    Located on the second floor of the library, the anatomage table is a 3D human anatomy system where users can simulate cadaver dissection.

    Prater wanted to join Team Flora to bring botany to those unfamiliar with the topic and introduce them to scientific language. Through this project, he has learned about programming and the difficulties that come with scanning plants.

    “I really love writing about plants. This was a great job to start doing that and practicing that skill, especially science communication, making botany accessible to other non-botanists,” Prater said.

    Davis accepted the position on Team Flora to satiate her passion for bringing the joy of botany to others. Her decision to join the team was inspired by Oscar Vargas of the botany department. Vargas is an assistant professor at Cal Poly Humboldt and director of the university’s Vascular Plant Herbarium.

    “Dr. Oscar Vargas has been my professor, mentor and boss for the last couple of years,” Davis said. “Over the summer last year, the job got posted and he had been talking to AJ, so he reached out to me and sent me the link for the herbarium. I applied for it after that and joined the team.”

    Current growth

    The 3D herbarium website currently has a collection of 3D plant models, plant photos contributed from around the world and a plant identification component. 

    Each 3D model was created using a process called photogrammetry. Photogrammetry requires around 100 to 300 photos of a single plant from many different angles in order to convert it into a 3D model. Yaranon created many of the plant models for the 3D herbarium.

    “As you take more photos, the processing time increases exponentially,” Yaranon said. “In the beginning, we were running these off of rented laptops from the library, so we would have to wait a couple of days per model. Now we’re on a server, so we can put these out a lot quicker.” 

    Davis collaborated with the computer scientists on Team Flora to annotate each plant model. She collected plant specimens for Bealum and Yaranon to photograph and create a model from. Then, she annotated different parts of the plant model with information for people with all levels of experience.

    “It’s a really challenging subject for many people when they’re first introduced to it, especially with the names and all of the different scientific terms you have to learn,” Davis said. “So this project has been [a] really fun [way] to be able to give access to that knowledge and to make it a fun, engaging activity, instead of challenging and being afraid of a new topic.”

    The herbarium also adds to its database with photos from iNaturalist, a website that allows users to upload photos of plants and animals to create a public database. Visitors can search up the common or scientific name of a plant and peruse a gallery with hundreds of photos taken around the world.

    Additionally, the website has a plant identification program. Once a photo of a plant is uploaded, the program will provide a list of possible species and a short description. The program pulls from websites like Wikipedia, iNaturalist and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

    From left to right, Team Flora members Grayson Prater, Heater Davis, David Yaranon and AJ Bealum stand in front of a touchscreen monitor displaying the 3D herbarium in the Cal Poly Humboldt library on Jan. 25. Photo by Savana Robinson.

    Plan(ts) for the future

    During the opening speech, Oberlander announced a planned second version of the 3D herbarium. The day before the ceremony, Team Flora got approval to start a full grant proposal to the Institute for Museum Library Services to get funding for further development of the program. Version two will include models that are applicable for other majors like anthropology or zoology. Oberlander mentioned that Team Flora hopes to receive the funding this summer.

    “Our next version is going to be something that is anything that wants to be a 3D model, whether it’s art or something else. People can do all sorts of things with this 3D exhibit tool,” Oberlander said. “It’s either intended for students with projects or a classroom that wants to use this as a lab notebook, as opposed to the print version.”

    Team Flora also hopes for other groups on campus to contribute to the 3D herbarium. They plan to make the process of photogrammetry more accessible so that clubs or classes can add to the website’s model collection. Bealum described meeting with the mycology club to help them learn how to use photogrammetry software so they could produce a fungus model for the website.

    “Our ultimate goal with this [website] is to make it a school-incorporated tool,” Bealum said. “So that instead of us sitting in our office trying to pump out these 3D models and working with the botany students as assistants, the botany department can ultimately kind of take this over. [They can] make it a part of their classes, make it so that students can submit models as part of a class.”

  • 44 Feet Project prepares for multiple futures and addresses the risks of nuclear waste

    44 Feet Project prepares for multiple futures and addresses the risks of nuclear waste

    by Emma Wilson and Griffin Mancuso

    By 2065, sea levels in Humboldt Bay are projected to rise by 3.3 feet, which would turn the Humboldt Bay Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation — a decommissioned nuclear plant — on Buhne Point into an island. This would make it exponentially more difficult to relocate the underground nuclear waste storage and, if the salt water reaches the nuclear waste, potentially contaminate the nearby environment.

    While 2065 may seem far away, preventative environmental activism is critical for situations regarding nuclear waste. The potential environmental impacts of this nuclear plant resulted in the creation of the 44 Feet Project. The nuclear waste is located 44 feet above mean high tide, which the project was named after. 

    What is the 44 Feet Project?

    According to the 44 Feet Project website, the project’s main goals are to improve current safety analysis to take into account future risks to Humboldt Bay, and uplift the voices of local tribes and community members in decision-making. Another goal is to place trust, communication and public awareness at the same level as scientific analysis in regards to responsible long-term management of decommissioned nuclear fuel sites.

    Jennifer Marlow, an assistant professor of environmental law, environmental science and management, founded the 44 Feet Project. The project was created in 2021, with two graduate students working full-time and several undergraduate students working as research assistants.

    “So, the 44 feet project is a coalition of community collectives that [are] trying to understand the risks of climate and coastal hazards to the spent nuclear fuel site on Humboldt Bay,” Marlow said. “And to gather perspectives and values on responsible long-term management of that fuel, and then to direct — hopefully — some of the decision making regarding the fate of the fuel and where it ends or how it’s managed.”

    Waves crashing against the seawall along Buhne Point. | photo by Griffin Mancuso

    Concerns About The ISFSI

    The Humboldt Bay Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation, also known as ISFSI, sits in a precarious area. If sea levels do rise by at least 3.3 feet by 2065, the water will reach the underground casks containing the nuclear waste and potentially erode the metal. The nuclear plant is also vulnerable to natural disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes, being located near the active King Salmon fault. 

    Marlow had concerns about PG&E’s timeline for removing the nuclear waste from the ISFSI. She also emphasized the need to consider local concerns and the use of outdated science in safety reporting. According to Marlow, PG&E plans to move the waste by 2032 or 2033, but she has concerns about their lack of a concrete timeline.

    “We’re not wanting to cause unnecessary alarm, but we are concerned that the timelines assumed for the life of the project will be exceeded,” Marlow said. “And then, in those future states, there will be increased climate and coastal hazards. And those increased risks aren’t really being adequately considered. So, our project focuses on trying to center that discrepancy and try to bring new science and perspectives around that so that we can have a better understanding as a community about potential safety risks, and ways to mitigate and manage those.”

    Julie Sorfleet, a graduate student who joined the 44 Feet Project this semester, plans to analyze public opinion and concerns regarding the decommissioned plant’s license in perpetuity, meaning there is no set plan to relocate the nuclear waste. 

    “So obviously, you know, you’ve got the spent nuclear fuel site, and the NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] deemed it safe,” Sorfleet said. “It’s just kind of looking at future planning — how can we ensure that coastal and climate hazards and community voices are taken into account when ensuring that this site might be here in perpetuity? Because that’s what it’s licensed for. My specific work is going to be looking at the viewpoints and attitudes towards, ‘What if the fuel wasn’t licensed in perpetuity?’”

    Alec Brown, a graduate student who has been involved with the project since its creation, has visited the ISFSI several times and reported that the casks were very secure, but PG&E needs to take into account the uncertainty of our climate’s future.

    “They’re engineered pretty well, but those are human-made things and we can fix them,” Brown said. “I mean, we just really can’t maintain the natural world as well, and so those are things we have to adapt to. We can’t like force them into our little black box of like, ‘Oh, we got this and we’re controlling it.’”

    Community Involvement

    Brown has been trying to foster community engagement through a variety of channels, including focus group workshops, panels and community events. 

    Last year, staff members attended a play called “The Children,” directed by Cal Poly Humboldt lecturer Craig Benson and originally written by Lucy Kirkwood. The play explored possible outcomes of a nuclear meltdown and themes of intergenerational equity, which afterwards was followed by a feedback panel.

    “These are just the events that are happening in the community,” Brown said. “And it’s melding art and science and trying to reach a broad audience, [which] is — I think — really critical.”

    The project has also collaborated with local tribes like the Wiyot people.

    “They’re really interested in the [nuclear plant] site, because it is their ancestral part of their ancestral territory,” Brown said. “Preceding the focus group workshops, we actually did a little site tour with a lot of those people that were attending the focus group workshops.”

    The visit was led by former tribal chair Cheryl Seidner, who led the attendees through her experience and the importance of the land the nuclear plant sits on.

    “It was just really moving,” Brown said. “We sat there and we kind of closed our eyes and listened to the wind and the waves and the sand. And we’re just like, ‘Could you imagine if this was undeveloped? And if we still had control over this, and maybe it wouldn’t be a potential toxic site.’”

    Community involvement is a critical component of the 44 Feet project. It is important to engage and gather as a community to keep action moving by spreading awareness and making impactful decisions through education. 

    “That has sort of been, you know, the crux of this entire project,” Brown said. “How do we engage, you know, a diverse group of people to put our minds together and embrace that uncertainty?”

    Accomplishments and Setbacks

    Alongside community engagement, the 44 Feet Project has been advocating for policy changes that implement security measures and other contingencies. The project has seen several successes in addressing outdated policies and scientific reporting. They’ve had the California Public Utility Commission request that PG&E update their Tsunami Hazard Assessment page on their website as part of a legal settlement. The update will be done by the end of 2024.

    The 44 Feet Project has been trying to address outdated policies and scientific data that companies like PG&E and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are using for nuclear sites like the ISFSI.

    “We are concerned that the timelines assumed for the life of the project will be exceeded, and then in those future states, there will be increased climate and coastal hazard, and those increased risks aren’t really being adequately considered,” Marlow said. “So, our project focuses on trying to center that discrepancy, and try to bring new science and perspectives around that so that we can have a better understanding as a community about potential safety risks and ways to mitigate and manage those.” 

    One of the major issues with addressing the nuclear waste at the ISFSI and main questions addressed in the project’s focus group workshops was whether the waste should be relocated, and if so, where. Brown said that determining what to do with the waste is dependent on a lot of factors and what communities will be affected by that waste.

    “First of all, we don’t have the capacity to [relocate the waste], we don’t have the jurisdiction, but also morally and for reasons of equity, should we be taking this and giving it to someone else?” Brown said. “Equitably, can we give this to Nevada? Or can we give this to a desert community? Can we give this to a tribal community? Do they want our waste, and is that fair? We benefited from the electricity generation of this plant and that’s our waste. We can’t just go bury it in someone else’s backyard.”

    Hopes for the Future

    Sorfleet hopes to use her knowledge of GIS analysis and her experience with drones to monitor the area around the ISFSI.

    “I feel like drones could have a really cool usage to maybe just look at the bluff in front of the sea,” Sorfleet said. “I’ll potentially monitor the riprap wall that’s right there, or the bluff for erosion. Maybe not us on the 44 feet project doing that, but it could be a cool use case for drones in relation to long-term management of the site.”

    Marlow emphasized the project’s goal to take preventative measures against uncertainty, which means implementing security against all possible outcomes that could pose risks to the ISFSI, as well as the surrounding environment and community.

    “There’s a lot of future change that we didn’t anticipate, because we chose to ignore the potential, right? So we have one official future,” Marlow said. “And that’s the future, and 44 Feet’s framework is that there’s more than one official future. That’s a scenario planning mindset, which is, ‘Let’s not plan for one official future, let’s plan for multiple futures,’ so that we’re robust in light of uncertain change.”

    Brown hopes for the project to be involved in more community events in the future. Another Which Way The Wind festival will be taking place next year, which uses performance arts to bring awareness to climate change and the risks of nuclear weapons.

    Since changing policy and addressing nuclear waste is a years-long process, the project is primarily focusing on awareness and education. 

    “Nuclear safety is a journey, because it’s so long-lived,” Brown said. “It’s a technology that’s really obscure for people and it’s out of sight, out of mind in a lot of ways. And it’s long, because some of these radio nucleotides live for like thousands of years, and we can’t just not think about them. But in that whole entire arc of safety, we just have to have little wins and continue to address this and like, ‘Okay, well, it’s better now. It’s better now.’ And that makes me feel good and hopeful.”

  • Brand new birding club spreads its wings

    Brand new birding club spreads its wings

    by Griffin Mancuso

    An unusual new guest was spotted on the northern end of Brackish Pond in the Arcata Bird Sanctuary last Friday. Brandishing purple, blue, and green feathers with chicken-like feet, an adult purple gallinule had somehow made its way to the marsh from its native territory in the southeast U.S. There had been no prior documented sightings in northern California, so birders flocked from all different counties to catch a glimpse. Among those birders was Cal Poly Humboldt’s brand-new birding club.

    Photo courtesy of Cedrik von Briel. An adult purple gallinule walking among the reeds at Brackish Pond.

    Cedrik von Briel, the president of the birding club, arrived at Brackish Pond around 7:30 a.m. last Sunday, in the hopes of spotting the purple gallinule. Describing the bird as a standard chicken on LSD, this was an opportunity he couldn’t miss. Much to his luck, he was the first person to spot it.

    “The first thing I spotted was that you know, you see a bunch of reeds, a bunch of green,” von Briel said. “And then, a glint of purple and blue and green — it just all hits you at once. And then you’re like, ‘Yep, that’s the bird.’”

    Von Briel recalled the audible gasps from the crowd of around 20 to 30 people as the purple gallinule came into view. The bird emerged from the reeds into an open clearing, then went up into the nearby willows to feed. It was a spectacle in more ways than one.

    “It was up in the reeds, the willows, and the leaves, and it just fell at one point,” von Briel said. “You could hear the giggles and the audible gasps as people looked on, horrified. It’s a funny bird. It’s a stupid, stupid, funny bird.”

    Photo by Griffin Mancuso. Birding Club President Cedrik von Briel watching for birds near Brackish Pond with John Marchwick.

    The Origin Story

    The birding club, not even two months old, was started out of a pre-established passion for birding. Birders use a variety of tools to spot and document birds, including binoculars, telescopes, cameras, and the naked eye. They also learn to identify and track birds by their calls. Birding is both a hobby and a form of citizen science.

    The treasurer of the birding club, Kellen Apuna started his birding journey at a McDonald’s.

    “There was a stream that ran kind of adjacent to the parking lot, and I was looking in and I recognized a bird in there. I was like, ‘Hey, that’s one of the birds from the class.’” Apuna said. “I guess from there, it was just a matter of getting a field guide and kind of going through that, and learning what was in the area and then it just snowballed from there.”

    Vice President Sasha Cahill’s birding journey started with a western tanager at the Vista Vinita Park in Orange County. He went to his father’s birding book for answers, and his father helped him identify the bird. After that, he couldn’t help noticing the variety of bird species during his trips to the park.

    “My dad tried to look up the rare bird hotline, which was a thing in the 90s, but by this point, it had shifted to eBird,” Cahill said. “And using eBird, you can see rare sightings from your area and any area you want. So then we were able to chase rare birds and you know, just spirals from there. You notice things, you see interesting things, and it’s continued to this day for sure.”

    All three of the club’s officers were aware of each other through eBird in their freshman year. The popular birding app allows birders to upload their photographs to document sightings, creating a public database for researchers and fellow birders. Von Briel initially messaged Apuna through Facebook and invited him to go look for Allen’s hummingbirds in the bottlebrush plants near Founders Hall. They start pursuing a western flycatcher and try to coax the bird out with pishing.

    “Pishing is like a sound you make to imitate an angry call from a bird,” von Briel said. “It kinda locks birds in because they’re attracted to that stuff. And then, down the steps comes Sasha with his friends. He’s like, ‘Did I just hear pishing?’”

    Apuna recalled the moment when the two birders recognized each other.

    “[Cahill said] ‘Are you Cedrik?’… and Cedrick went, ‘No way, I just pished out a birder,’” Apuna said.

    Birding Tools

    Along with pishing, there are various tools a birder can use to lure birds into the open. Some birders use playback, where they play a recording of a bird’s call from a speaker to entice the specific bird they’re seeking. However, it is considered unethical to use playback for vagrant birds, birds in their breeding season, or both. Some birders resort to flushing to get a good view, where they make just enough noise (usually by clapping) to drive a bird out of the brush or reeds.

    Photo by Griffin Mancuso. A marsh wren resting in the trees near Brackish Pond.

    “We’ve definitely had our ethical discussions [for flushing],” Apuna said. “Is it worth it for us to basically disturb the bird into showing itself? And I don’t really think we’ve ever reached a solid resolution.”

    “It’s true that a bird doesn’t have an iron trap memory,” Cahill said. “It’s going to hear a slight disturbance, and then it’s going to go back to its busy-birding, but there’s a line you don’t wanna cross.”

    The club officers hope to discuss the ethics of birding along with other topics at future club meetings.

    “We want to host occasional meetings. We have people present on photography, ethical birding, trying to go out and find stuff, birding by ear — guest speakers or something like that,” von Briel said. “We can definitely make it what our eventual members want it to be, and that’s the beauty of it. We’re just starting; we have a future ahead.”

    Birding Trips

    The birding club goes looking for new birds almost every weekend. They spend most of their outings at the Arcata marsh or on campus, but they have also traveled to the lagoons, Ferndale, and the Jetty to complete their lists. They have also been lucky enough to go on several pelagic birding trips, where birders get on a boat and travel out to the open sea in search of that needle in a haystack.

    “This is the first year in — I think — about 20 years that Humboldt has had regularly scheduled pelagic trips for birding,” Cahill said. “Thanks to Rob Fowler, our local birding legend, and a boat that another fellow birder was able to find, he’s chartered many trips off of there this fall.”

    Cahill and Apuna witnessed the fifth documented sighting of Cory’s shearwater in the Pacific region on one of these trips. 

    “Lots of screaming, lots of freaking out because it was this huge,” Apuna said.

    Cahill showed a world map of all documented sightings of Cory’s shearwater on eBird, where almost all sightings were in the Atlantic Ocean, so a sighting in the Pacific was a notable event.

    “A lot of people who are usually soft-spoken were losing their minds,” Cahill said.

    The officers emphasized the accessibility of birding to beginners. Even if an aspiring birder doesn’t have access to a diverse population of birds in their area or a professional long lens, all they need to start is curiosity and a good eye. Patience and motivation are rewarded in birding.

    “It’s like what Ratatouille always said, ‘Anyone can bird,’” von Briel said. “You just gotta get out there and put your own spin on it and see some birds.”

  • Mammalogy and more: the wonders of the Vertebrae Museum

    Mammalogy and more: the wonders of the Vertebrae Museum

    by Emma Wilson

    In the depths of The Science C building, the Vertebrae Museum is home to carefully preserved specimens to help students understand the diversity and evolution of mammals. 

    Dr. Silvia Pavan, a professor at Cal Poly Humboldt and museum curator for the Vertebrae Museum, moved to Humboldt County in Jan. 2022. 

    “I teach mammalogy, which is a popular course a lot of students take in the natural science programs,” Pavan said. “Mammalogy is a class offered that covers lectures and labs. In the lectures, we cover general aspects of mammals, starting with the characteristics of mammals, origin and evolution of mammals. That’s the first part of the three main blocks along the semester.”

    The second block is functional morphology, a branch of biology that deals with the form and structure of organisms and their features. These include integument (hairs, glands and nerves), movement, acquiring and processing food, environmental adaptations mammals have to live in different habitats and communication.

    Finally, in the third part of mammalogy, the lecture covers more ecology, social systems and living in groups. In the mammalogy class, Pavan also talks about conservation and museum science. This includes what they do with museum specimens, and how museum specimens can inform us about diversity, evolution, conservation, ecology and aspects of mammals. 

    Photo by Emma Wilson | Ovis canadens also known as a bighorn sheep skull located in the vertebrate museum.
    Photo by Emma Wilson | Preserved monkey in a jar of alcohol.

    Digitalization and making data available online is one goal curators like Pavan are organizing. At the museum, guests can look at which species they have a tissue sample of that could be used to assess DNA sequence and what tissue collections they have. This is going to be part of the database as well so the scientific community can use the museum’s collection.

    “That’s what we are doing now. I think that’s the main thing for the museum, we are trying to make our collections broadly used for everybody,” Pavan said.

    The vertebrae museum is also home to a colony of dermestid beetles. These are tiny little insects that feed on dead animal tissue and clean flesh to the core of the bone.

    “When we prepare a specimen, and you get the flesh, it’s a way of getting the flesh out; they eat the flesh and they leave the bones,” Pavan said. “The beetle’s way of living off the bones and having the skeleton ready for being analyzed.” 

    Alyssa Semerdjian, the collections manager for the Vertebrae Museum, maintains the specimens and helps volunteers get their foot in the door.

    Anyone can volunteer at the Vertebrae Museum on Friday, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. If someone wants to come work on something, Semerdjian can show them how to apply.

    “If someone wants to come work on something, I’ll be the person that’s here to get them started and stuff,” Semerdjian said. “If they’ve never done it before, I’ll be the person to walk them through it. My job is general upkeep and database work,”  

    Semerdjian explains why mammalogy (study of mammals) and ornithology (study of birds) classes are important. Classes like these teach students about looking at details in a way that you don’t think about. This is true for anything where you’re looking at really fine-scale features.

    “For birds, specifically, going into that class, the birds are brown, and they fly around. Then as you start to see them, you see that there’s so much more, there’s so much diversity and you can’t go back to thinking that they’re all the same once you’ve seen that they’re different,” Semerdjian said. “Even within that, there’s a couple of things when you look at a bird, you want to look for — big wing, bar, size, shape, whatever — there’s like a list of features and it really taught me to zoom in on those features. You can see the bird for a second and it flies away, and just from having glanced at it, you can figure it out.”

    Having the skill of knowing what features to look for and how to apply them is useful in a lot of different contexts. If you can do that for one category, you can do that for any category. You just need to learn what features to focus on. There are some transferable skills like paying attention to the small details. 

    Knowing about the diversity that’s out there is important. There are people who didn’t know about some of the local species the university had until they checked out mammalogy. The really difficult mammals to find are some rare or endangered ones that people just don’t know about until they’re taught through these courses. 

    “If you want to do research or go into wildlife, taxonomy is important and is a big deal. In a lot of research fields, it ties into evolution and branches off into so many different niche fields that people can go into,” Semerdjian said. 

    Pricilla Ceja, a graduate student at the university, is in the biological science graduate program and is a TA for the mammalogy class with Silvia Pavan for the first time this semester.

    One goal Ceja hopes for in the future of mammalogy classes is to have more animal fieldwork. In zoology, there isn’t much to do with animals other than invertebrates. For bigger mammals, there isn’t really any way to see these mammals up close and alive. 

    “People in my class say, ‘Oh, how come there aren’t live specimens?’ And I’m like, well, there’s no one to take care of them, there is no one to catch them and then there’s nowhere to put them,” Ceja said. “There’s just no room for people to bring in space. There’s just not enough resources for live mammals.” 

    Ceja wants the Vertebrae Museum to be recognized more at the university because they constantly need volunteers. 

    Anyone who finds dead animals that were hit by cars or found deceased can bring them into the museum for research and volunteers. 

    “You’re going to see all the weird little stuff we have. I’m surprised by every lab too. Like I didn’t know we had a fucking wolf!,” Ceja said. “I was like what the heck is this? That is so cool.”

  • Submerged in science 

    Submerged in science 

    By: Alina Ferguson and Emma Wilson

    Diving can take you to magical, strange places that can be beneficial to science, research and our understanding of the oceanic unknown. There are still many mysteries to be discovered in the deep sea. 

    “Humans are not meant to be submerged underwater,” Cal Poly Humboldt diving student Rory Bourdage said. “We are aliens in that world.” 

    At Cal Poly Humboldt, students can enter that alien world through the scientific diving courses offered. This can lead to them getting certified in scientific diving, along with hands-on experience in conducting underwater research and preparing them for a career in marine science. 

    Richard Alvarez, the university’s Diving Safety Officer since 2005, has been diving since 1994. He consults and oversees the diving classes, making sure everyone is staying safe and equipped with diving equipment that is properly maintained. 

    When you go through the scientific diving process, you can get your certificate in American Academy and Underwater Sciences — also known as AAUS — for free through Cal Poly Humboldt. It will take about four semesters, as the classes are not always offered each term. 

    “To get that certification as a scientific diver, you have to do 12 open water dives,” said Alvarez. “What we traditionally do is we learn a scientific protocol, we have people go out and they learn that protocol, they show me that they can do it in the ocean, [that] they can do the extra scientific stuff in addition to being safe scuba divers.” 

    Photo by Angie Edmunds. Master diver students completing a navigation dive under the supervision of leadership diving students and instructors.

    Scientific diving is an important skill to have for conducting underwater research, but is also physically and mentally challenging. Common barriers for aspiring divers are the expense, access to training and gear required for getting the AAUS certification. 

    “[There’s] a lot of things that you have to learn so that you can do it safely. Diving in Northern California waters is a couple of notches higher than most other places because our ocean is just a little bit more demanding,” Alvarez said. “We are exposed to a lot of open ocean swells, we see a lot of ocean energy. Our visibility is pretty limited by world standards. You know, we’re pretty happy with five to 10-foot visibility.”

    Marine biology student Rory Bourdage has been in the scientific diving class for almost three years. He is currently a teaching assistant for the scientific diving class. Bourdage is certified as a beginner diver and as a master diver. 

    One of the projects the class conducts is measuring sea creatures, sometimes down to the nearest millimeter, depending on their rarity. For example, a red abalone, an underwater sea snail, will need to be measured as accurately as possible. 

    “In our protocol for the class, we want to measure abalone, for example, since they have been struggling for years, so we want to track not only how many there are in a location, but how big they are getting to get a better idea of their recovery – or decline if that’s the trend that is found,” said Bourdage.

    Bourdage mentioned that it is easier to conduct research in certain areas since the animals are less likely to be afraid of humans. An example of one such place is Catalina Island situated southwest of Los Angeles, a marine protected area. 

    Photo by Angie Edmunds. Student diver and the California state fish called a Garibaldi.

    This means they heavily restrict what can go in and out of it. Due to these restrictions, the animals are a lot more comfortable with people, compared to other places and sometimes they will come right up to you. 

    “Many of these animals have gone generations without having the fear of humans,”  said Bourdgae. “They can get right up in your face.”

    Rebecca Colyar is a transfer student who started in the scientific program two years ago. She is originally from Fresno, CA, and when she was looking for schools to apply to, Cal Poly Humboldt was the only one to have a scientific diving program, which caught her eye. 

    Colyar’s interest in diving began the summer before her freshman year in high school after her mom took her snorkeling in the Bahamas.

    “That was the one big thing that got me really into ocean life and documentaries,” Colyar said. “I kind of realized if I wanted to do that, if I wanted to tag animals, that I have to scuba dive, like there’s no other way than to start learning how to dive and be comfortable in the water. So, I found out about the scientific diving minor.”

    Colyar is, in a way, a superhero. A large obstacle that may normally scare off some divers, does not deter her. 

    “I have a superpower — I can breathe underwater,” Colyar said. “It’s just that, like, feeling of being in a place where your body knows you’re not supposed to be, and being able to overcome those obstacles that your body and fighting your body to. I feel like there’s a lot of accomplishing hard things.”

    While it may seem like the only people in the diving program are science majors, it is not a requirement. You can have any major or other interest, just as long as you are willing to put in the work for the AAUS certification. 

    “You don’t have to be a STEM major or Marine Science major, you can be anybody,” Bourdage said. “As long as you have the willingness to, you know, take the plunge into the unknown.”

  • New science major is absolutely fire

    New science major is absolutely fire

    By: Griffin Mancuso and Emma Wilson 

    Anti-fire policies and climate change have resulted in wildfires running widespread in Northern California. Forests are in need of experts who can understand the power of fire and its beneficial effects, and channel them into sustainable practices. Cal Poly Humboldt’s polytechnic transformation has resulted in a new addition to the Forestry, Fire and Rangeland Department to meet this need: applied fire science and management, B.S.

    The major explores multiple disciplines and perspectives of fire management, including local Indigenous knowledge and practices. Students will learn about prescribed burnings, how fire exclusion policies have impacted forests and how to use fire to promote biodiversity. 

    This major can lead to careers in fire ecology, fire departments, prescribed burning organizations and more. Students in fire science can also expect a plethora of summer jobs and internships to be available to them.

    However, students who are applied fire science majors do not qualify to take the Registered Professional Forester exam in the state of California. 

    Erin Kelly has been the department chair of Cal Poly Humboldt’s Forestry Fire and Range Land Management since the start of the 2023 fall semester. She emphasized the high demand for foresters and fire ecologists in California.

    “Employers are looking for natural resource managers, people who can apply their scientific knowledge to the ground and also people who can educate others about things like fire management,” Kelly said. “So, we are really in the position of meeting California’s needs in terms of land management, and I think that’s a really cool thing.”

    Fundamentals of Fuel and Fire and Fire Ecology existed prior to the new fire science major, but Fire Behavior and Effects and Fire Weather have been made into their own classes this semester. Additionally, an applied fire internship class will be available.

    Jeffery Kane is a faculty member in the forestry department and has been working as a professor at Cal Poly Humboldt for 12 years. He described the possible careers students can explore with the internship program.

    “Most folks will work for the Forest Service, either fighting fires or doing prescribed burning fuels management stuff, or some will work for CalFire,” Kane said. “Others have worked for nonprofit organizations that are involved with fuels management or prescribed burning…it’s basically, ‘Go out, get experience.’” 

    David Greene, a professor who has researched plant regeneration for several decades, teaches the fire ecology class. Students in fire science classes can expect to go on field trips that allow for hands-on learning and explore the different aspects of the field. Students in Applied Fire Use and Policy will have the opportunity to participate in prescribed burnings.

    Photo by Griffin Mancuso. David Greene describing an oak germinate’s ability to reach mineral soil beneath layers of leaves.

    “There’s lots of tribes around here that don’t have the capacity to run their own burn. Some like the Karuk and the Yurok can, but others like Bear River – they just don’t have anybody, so they’re often inviting us to go up and do one for them,” Greene said. “Jeff [Kane’s] happy to go do it because he wants the students to get as much training as possible, because California’s embarking on a prescribed burning campaign.”

    Mykie Root, a freshman and forestry major with a concentration in wildland fire management, has enjoyed the practical learning approach and field trips in their fire science courses, compared to reading textbooks in high school.

    “Coming out here and being able to go on these field trips and be able to actually, you know, get into the stuff and be hands on and actually be able to see the trees, you know, take the bark apart, be able to look at all of the rings individually and count them,” Root said. “It’s a lot easier to learn when you’re actually out in it than in a classroom, which is what I prefer. I don’t like being in a classroom. It makes me antsy.”

    Recently, students in Fire Ecology visited the 2022 Six Rivers Forest fire site to document conifer germinates and pine cones in the area that had appeared since the fire. Grayson Voorhees, a freshman majoring in forestry with a minor in fire ecology, took on the task of climbing a steep slope to gather data.

    “Initially we were trying to document the distance from the road to the first green tree to measure the density of the fire, like how far it spread uphill, and that was roughly 150 meters,” Voorhees said. “And that also spread along a transect line, and along the transect we were counting germinate gray pine species.”

    Faculty and students in applied fire science are hoping to destigmatize fire, promote sustainable fire management practices, and combat anti-fire sentiments and policies.

    Root explained how banning prescribed burns entirely allows for leaves to build up and ruin seed beds, resulting in deforestation.

    “When fires come through and actively get rid of all the bad, dead leaves and things that just pile and pile up, leaving for, you know, plants to be able to grow,” Root said. “The fires will come through, burn everything and there’ll be wonderful plant beds for seeds to just be able to pop up and come back. So, fires are really good for us. They’re actually, they’re really good for the forests, and we need them.”

  • Data science makes its debut as one of Cal Poly Humboldt’s new science majors

    Data science makes its debut as one of Cal Poly Humboldt’s new science majors

    by Emma Wilson and Griffin Mancuso

    Data science debuted as one of the eight new science majors that Cal Poly Humboldt is offering this semester.

    Data science is the blend of math, statistics and coding where data scientists examine which questions need to be answered and where to find the related data. Data science is a major with many career opportunities in a variety of fields including mathematics, computer science, coding and research. This major is ideal for students who want to apply their talents in different areas and want to have a practical use for their math skills.

    Currently, one data science class is being offered this semester: Data 111, Intro to Programming and Computational Thinking for DS. In the spring, Data 271, Data Wrangling and Visualization, will be available.

    Kamila Larripa is an associate professor and is currently leading the new data science major. Larripa has been working at Cal Poly Humboldt since 2008 and is currently doing a research project with her students on a type of immune cell in the brain called microglia. She is interested in looking at cells; how they integrate and make decisions in the human body. 

    Larripa previously did some training and started offering her students workshops in data science in 2017, like machine learning and methods or how to clean a data set. 

    “People were really interested, and I just feel like there was kind of this need that students were wanting this,” Larripa said. “And then over time, with a bunch of other people on campus and then the transition to polytech, now we have this new major in the math department.”

    Photo by Griffin Mancuso. Bethany Johnson, an associate professor, describes the first project students are working on in Data 111.

    Bethany Johnson, an associate professor, is teaching the first available data science class this semester. Students taking her class learn the definition of data science, its fundamentals and the skills needed to succeed in their industry of choice.

    “We spent the first part of the class basically learning how to program in Python, so this is kind of like basic programming stuff including how to write a for loop, how to do conditional statements, if-else statements and how to simulate some things,” Johnson said. “And then we start moving into statistics, where we’re trying to figure out, like, how can we use data to make a conclusion about the population. And then toward the end of the class, we’re going to get into a little bit of prediction.”

    Johnson also emphasized data science as a broad spectrum of skills that anyone can benefit from.

    “I think that it’s important for people to view data science as, as not like a strict scientific discipline. You don’t have to be a computer whiz or something like that,” Johnson said. “I think that sometimes when people hear data science, they maybe don’t even know exactly what it entails… I would think about it as just like, sort of a discipline to help you solve problems and make decisions, work with the data and the information that’s out there.”

    Elio Piccagli is pursuing a major in computer science and data science along with two minors in biology and art. Currently, Piccagli is in the Data 111 class doing a project on the world population’s relationship to poverty levels. He explained the commonalities and differences between computer science and data science. 

    “Computer science deals with like a lot of, ‘how do we code this,’” Piccagli said. “And data science is like, ‘we have this data, how do we make a table visualizing that data?’ So it’s just like the application of computer science.”

    Emad Syed is a junior majoring in data science who pursued the major out of an interest in manipulating data rather than creating it. He also emphasized the flexibility of possible career paths students can pursue with a data science major.

    “I’m looking for something that can be applied in all, in all parts of life,” Syed said, “Be it forestry, economics, statistics, computers, anywhere where the skill set can be used. I don’t want to necessarily choose a specialized field.”

    Larripa has hope for the future of the data science program at Cal Poly Humboldt

    “So the overall theme of our program is really data for good. Like how can we, you know, capture, analyze data and make decisions so that we’re making the world a better place?” Larripa said. “And I mean, I think that really is in line with the Cal Poly vision. And we’re really excited about that.”

  • Marine biology joins Cal Poly Humboldt’s available science majors

    Marine biology joins Cal Poly Humboldt’s available science majors

    By Emma Wilson and Griffin Mancuso

    The new marine biology major provides students the opportunity to gain practical, hands-on experience in ocean and marine habitats. They will study different organisms and a diverse selection of marine ecosystems, such as salt marshlands and beaches. 

    First-year, first-time students will also be enrolled in Rising Tides, a year-long program of science and general education courses and activities specializing in the Humboldt and Trinidad bays. 

    Photo by Griffin Mancuso. A collection of microscope slides.

    Sean Craig, a professor at the university for 23 years, explains the need for marine biology professors and lecturers.

    Currently, there are only three professors teaching marine biology classes, according to Craig. 

    “We asked for a new faculty member for our new marine biology major but we didn’t get it,” Craig said. “We only got a chance to replace one of our faculty who retired and left.” 

    “Starting in the spring there will be four because we are able to replace the one who left,” Craig said. 

    According to Craig, the university always had a marine biology program, but after becoming a California polytechnic now with the transition you can now declare in marine biology as a major. 

    “The fact that [marine biology] is now a major it rings more bells and connects with more people, especially people applying to Humboldt,” said Craig.

    “Our marine biology major already borrows heavily from other marine majors, especially oceanography and fisheries,” said Craig. “I think it would be good in the future to have all us marine scientists to pull together and decide on things together to make an impact.”

    “I think there are a lot of misunderstandings of the ‘marine biology major’ because really, at least at the moment, firmly in the biology department there are only 3 faculty at the moment teaching marine biology,” said Craig. “Like saying we got the best restaurant in the world off the highway, but we don’t have a sign.” 

    Craig expresses great discernment and feelings about the lack of professors teaching marine biology. 

    “Our biggest problem, which is a long term problem, we have been clambering for years for faculty,” Craig said. “All students benefit better from support systems, tutors and writing center help. All of that is better with more numbers.” 

    It is not unusual for a professor in marine biology to have 55 students. 55 students that need those professors help to figure out what classes to take, or what to retake, especially during registration. This is frankly a lot of students for one professor. 

    “It’s a problem, we don’t have enough faculty to do a good job of advising and providing opportunities for students,” says Craig. “We are handicapped, we can’t keep up with students increasing and with the faculty decreasing.”

    “We were promised a new faculty member and we haven’t gotten that, yet,” said Craig. “We’re all going to have to work together to get exposure and make connections.”

    A really cool and fun thing that you can do as a marine bio major is go on the Coral Sea, which is a research vessel and is 91 feet long. It’s parked on the docks in Eureka in the Woodley Island Marina, and is a wonderful platform for learning. It is the only vessel of its kind in size in California that is devoted to undergraduate education. 

    “The vessel itself is in pretty good shape, but the engines not up to standards in terms of output of different particulates in the air, so there is a major problem there, and to solve that problem so many of our faculty and Associate Dean are working together to, as part of the poly tech transformation, purchase a new brand new vessel that would be better in multiple ways. Eventually I hope there will be a new version of the Coral Sea,” said Craig.

    “Now we have a major, we have a 91 foot research vessel that students can go on cruises for, we have a marine laboratory where students can learn about live animals like crabs and octopus under a dish in a microscope,” said Craig. “Thanks to Cal poly tech, we got new microscopes for the marine lab. Many before dated back to the 1950s, so the new facilities after the Cal poly transformation makes our marine biology department even better.”

    Photo by Griffin Mancuso. Several bay pipefish swimming through seaweed.

    Kaci Dodd, a junior who changed her major to marine biology this fall, aspires to work in marine conservation or scientific diving instruction. She expressed excitement about marine biology having its own program at CPH.

    “Now that they’ve added it more as a major, there’s definitely been more classes and more opportunities — which is super exciting — instead of just having biology with a marine concentration, “ Dodd said. “But I feel like what really attracts people to the marine biology program at this school is how hands-on it is with the equipment that they use and the professional element.”

    Dodd recalls her experiences learning how to use new technology and gear on the Coral Sea. 

    “One of my favorite things in the biological oceanography cruise… It was an otter trawl, “ Dodd said. “And it pretty much was a huge net that went along the water column and collected all the fish or whatever was in that water column. And so we saw a lot of fish, some squid, that was really cool.”

    Dodd also recommends that any student, marine biology major or not, should try the field techniques class taught by Daniel O’Shea.

    “It was just like, so fun — fun to be on the boat and meeting the crew that works on the boat, how to work on the boat, and be a cruise assistant,” Dodd said. “And after that class, when you pass, you’re able to actually become a cruise assistant and work on the boat with cruises and classes, like that is really cool.”

    Marine biology students, along with other majors, analyze marine organisms at the Telonicher Marine Lab, located in Trinidad and home to various marine species and preserved specimens. The lab is open to the public on weekdays, and students also travel there for class labs and research.

    Photo by Griffin Mancuso. Zoology major Kyle Bailey looking at a cross section of a flatworm.

    Kyle Bailey, a junior and zoology major who wants to pursue a career in animal husbandry, described his experience with the marine biology classes at Telonicher Marine Lab.

    “I’m taking invertebrate zoology right now… the class we’re taking is a crossroads for several different majors,” Bailey said. “I’d say the majority are marine bio, but there’s a couple of us who are just general zoology, wildlife, there’s a few others in there.”

    Bailey elaborated on what sets classes at the marine lab apart from other biology classes.

    “The main difference between the lab now and from intro zoo is looking at live specimens,” Bailey said. “It’s super cool to see how these animals would actually look living and we have the sea table to look at stuff. It’s a big difference to see what these animals would look like living as opposed to mush in a jar, which I think is a super fun experience.”

  • Decriminalizing entheogens for mental health

    Decriminalizing entheogens for mental health

    by Maranda Vargas

    It is a sunny afternoon, and Cal Poly Humboldt student Camryn Hanf is standing in front of the Student Activities Center with a stack of petitions for potential supporters to sign and send to the Eureka City Council in support of decriminalizing the use of specific entheogens within city limits.

    Hanf moved to Arcata a little over two years ago to pursue a degree in psychology. Quickly after moving to the area, Hanf expressed she felt an innate curiosity towards psychedelics. One afternoon while at the Arcata Farmers Market, she saw a table for Decriminalize Nature Humboldt. Although she says she felt nervous about approaching due to anxiety she had at the time, she felt compelled to approach the table and quickly joined the cause.

    “I feel entheogens are not the answer for everybody,but they are absolutely life changing for some people,” said Hanf. “I feel strongly that people should have the choice whether to use them or not.”

    Photo by Maranda Vargas | Camryn Hanf sits with a stack of petitions in front of the Gutswurrak.

    A California State bill that will decriminalize the usage and possession of entheogenic substances, plants and fungi was passed by the state assembly and has moved along to Governor Newsom’s desk. Newsom has until Oct. 14, to veto or approve the bill. 

    The bill was sponsored by Senator Scott Weiner and will decriminalize the possession and use of a list of approved psychedelics for adults 21 years of age or older. If Governor Newsom approves the bill, it will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025, making California the third state to decriminalize entheogens for personal and medical use. Orgeon legalized the use of entheogens in 2020, while in 2023, Colorado legalized the usage of certain psychedelics, including psilocybin containing mushrooms. 

    The usage of naturally occurring psychedelics known as entheogens are being studied for their potential in treating and alleviating anxiety, depression, PTSD, addictions and cluster headaches. Psilocybin containing mushrooms are one of the proposed entheogenic substances on the list that has been gaining the attention of research hospitals and institutions for its treatment of mental and physical health issues. The bill, SB 58, would end the practice of criminalizing access to entheogenic substances despite their potential benefits.

    “Veterans and anyone suffering from PTSD and depression should not face criminal penalties for seeking relief,” said Senator Wiener in a press release. “Plant-based psychedelics are non-addictive and show tremendous promise at treating some of the most intractable drivers of our nation’s mental health crisis.”

    The Department of Veterans affairs has advocated for the need to study the therapeutic usage of entheogens such as psilocybin containing mushrooms for the treatment of PTSD, depression and substance abuse disorders. 

    The usage of naturally occurring psychedelics found in entheogens as a therapeutic treatment for mental and physical health issues is being studied at a rapid pace by research hospitals as well. Johns Hopkins Hospital is a non-profit academic and research medical facility that has a Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research that has been conducting studies exploring the medical usage of psilocybin for over twenty years. 

    Those who live in the cities of Arcata, Oakland, San Francisco or Santa Cruz where entheogens have been decriminalized can use the approved psychedelics. Entheogens have been decriminalized in Arcata since the city council approved the measure almost two years ago. 

    “I have only used it a couple times myself. I think it’s really helped me feel more of a connection to all living things,” said Hanf. “I had this one experience that was really helpful for me. I used to struggle with being alone quite a bit and didn’t really feel capable of helping myself out of my rut or like, my bad feelings… and during that experience, I was opened up to, you know, like the voice in your head. That’s kind of just stuck with me. I would call it like an older Cameron, kind of guiding me through.” 

    Cal Poly Alumnus Danielle Daniel of Decriminalize Nature Humboldt presented the Eureka City Council with 105 letters from the community in support of decriminalizing entheogens for personal use at the first council meeting of September. 

    Decriminalization would make the possession and usage of entheogens a low priority for law enforcement. It will allow for those over the age of 21, the ability to grow, gift and gather entheogens. If the measure is approved to decriminalize the usage of entheogens within city limits, the law prohibits entheogens on school grounds, the sale of entheogens, impaired driving  or being a public nuisance. 

    “The decriminalization model is needed so people feel safer to heal with these medicines and have safe access to these medicines,” said Daniel. “The freedom to grow, gift and gather without having a fear that they are stepping over the line to some regulation which is going to turn them into a criminal.”

    The Eureka City Council can decide on the proposed decriminalization measure to allow the usage of the approved entheogenic plants and fungi within city limits. On Thursday, Sept. 28, there will be a community roundtable open to the public from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Labor Temple community center to discuss the decriminalization of entheogens in the city of Eureka.

    “I think in this climate with mental health issues being so prominent and profound, it’s important that we look at all avenues of treatment,” said Bergel.

    Eureka Mayor Kim Bergel said the Eureka City Council sent a letter to the state in support of State Bill 58, which will decriminalize entheogens in California. If the Eureka city council approves the proposal, they will be following in the footsteps of Arcata.

     “On a personal level, I do support this coming forward,” said Bergel. “I know so many people with PTSD and different trauma problems that this has helped.”

    Resource List 

    SB 58

    Eureka City Council Meeting 09.05.2023

    John Hopkins Center for Psychedelics Research and Psilocybin Therapy

    VA Health Services and Research Development

    STLPR The VA looks to psychedelic drugs to treat its veterans

    The NYT Psychedelic Therapy returns to the VA

    Decriminalize Nature Humboldt

  • Water hazards in Humboldt County 

    Water hazards in Humboldt County 

    by Griffin Mancuso

    One of the perks of living in Humboldt County is access to the lush, sprawling redwoods and the coast, both of which are teeming with wildlife and great photo opportunities. With multiple beaches and rivers nearby, it may be tempting to brave the chilly waters with friends. If this is something you are interested in, do so at your own risk.

    BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

    The most prominent risks you will face in Humboldt’s waters are the blue-green algae in lakes and rivers, and rough currents and sneaker waves in the ocean. Blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, is something to watch out for during warmer weather in Humboldt. Its growth is fostered by nitrogen or phosphorus, which can be spread by runoff from cities during rainstorms. It can turn the water into a variety of colors and is more likely to bloom in slow-moving or still water at warmer temperatures, but it can also grow in the ocean with the right conditions. 

    It can also be incredibly toxic to you and your pets if ingested. The Associate Dean of Marine Operations at Cal Poly Humboldt, Rick Zechman, says that even eating clams, oysters or mussels that have ingested toxic blue-green algae can have serious consequences.

    “If you eat something that’s been concentrating Alexandrium or another toxic [genus of algae], your tongue starts to go numb, and your throat can become somewhat paralyzed, and it can cause you to stop breathing,” Zechman said. “ It can make you really sick, like vomiting and diarrhea. It can cause short-term memory loss. That’s where this idea of amnesic shellfish poisoning comes from.” 

    While blue-green algae isn’t always toxic, there is no way to identify when it is or isn’t. Stay away from the water if it has a bad smell, is discolored, has green foam or mats on the surface, or there are many dead fish or animals nearby.

    SNEAKER WAVES

    While Humboldt’s beaches offer plenty to explore, it is critical to keep a close eye on the waves. Sneaker waves, which appear suddenly and move very fast, are only seen in Northern California, Canada and Australia. Bridget Nichols, the Associate Director for Campus Recreation, emphasizes the importance of having awareness of your surroundings at the beach.

    “If people aren’t keeping their eye on the ocean, they don’t really know the power and the impact,” Nichols said. “Trying to run away from a sneaker wave on a really steep beach – such as a place where you might go agate hunting or something like that – it’s going to be very different than at Moonstone Beach, where it’s a flat beach and you’re able to move a lot quicker through the sand.”

    Photo by Griffin Mancuso. A sign warning visitors of the risks they face by standing on the jetty at the Samoa Dunes Recreation Area.

    Tamara Barriquand, an assistant professor in oceanography and physics, explains the science behind sneaker waves and why they are more of a concern at steeper beaches.

    “As a wave is coming into shore, it behaves as what we call a deep water wave. And then as it gets below, half the wave, like the depth… it’s now a transitional wave that’s starting to feel the bottom,” Barriquad said. “And so if that gets really shallow, really fast, all that energy is getting pushed up into the wave. And so you can get this wave that can get generated very, very big very, very quickly.” 

    Sneaker waves are strong enough to knock you over and pull you into the ocean. These can occur no matter how calm the ocean appears.

    COLD WATER AND RIP CURRENTS

    The immediate concerns while swimming are the cold temperatures and rip currents. When the body is suddenly submerged in cold water, it can go into cold shock, which causes temporary muscle paralysis. Nichols strongly recommends wearing a life jacket when going kayaking or rafting in rivers. 

    “When you first fall in the water your immediate reaction is to do a big inhale of breath and if you’re underwater, you can easily choke. So [the life jacket] is buying you time to get over and cough… it’s buying you time to orient yourself to your boat and get back to it. And if you can’t get back inside of the boat, it’s buying you time when your muscles stop working for a second.”

    Grace Oliva, the Assistant Outdoor Program Coordinator and US Sailing Instructor for Center Activities, explains how rip currents are formed. 

    “There will be a small divot in the beach right where the shoreline is, right where the water meets the sandy part. Over time, that can actually cause a deeper section in the beach… So when the water comes up on the beach from a wave, water always likes to go the path of least resistance and if it can go faster [or] farther, it will.”

    Thankfully, it is possible to identify rip currents from the beach. Barriquand describes the visual signs to look out for, including white foamy water that builds up and is pulled out beyond the breaking waves, resulting in a noticeable difference in coloration between sections of water.

    “The other thing you’ll see is right where the rip current is going, there won’t be any waves breaking in that location,” Barriquand said.

    Rip currents are often dangerous not because of their strength, but because swimmers don’t know what to do in a rip current. If you find yourself caught in a rip current, Gracie Oliva strongly discourages students from trying to escape or swim against it.

     “You kind of just ride it like a lazy river,” Oliva said. “And then once you’re out of it, you’ll feel it. You’ll pretty much stop moving as much and then you can swim parallel to shore, and then you can swim into shore.”

    If your friend or pet is caught in a rip current, attempting to rescue them can also put you in danger.

    TSUNAMIS 

    The least common but most dangerous beach hazard is tsunamis. While living in earthquake country puts Humboldt at a higher risk of experiencing tsunamis, they can sometimes be caused by other events, including landslides and storms. While tsunamis can travel from far across the ocean, they are easier to spot as they approach the shore. 

    “If the water got really, really low really, really fast, then you’re seeing the trough of the tsunami,” Barriquand said. “And behind that is going to be a big wall of water.” 

    If you notice these signs at the beach, head to high ground immediately.

    When planning a trip to the beach, take the tide into account to prevent yourself from getting stranded, and read the surf report if you plan on going swimming. Be aware of cliffs and sudden drops while hiking near the beach and never turn your back on the waves once you’re on the shore. 

    If you are traveling somewhere with no reception, tell someone where you will be. In the water, a wetsuit or life jacket is recommended even for experienced swimmers. Most beaches in Humboldt will have blue signs detailing the potential hazards there and how to handle them. In the rare case of a tsunami, learn your local evacuation routes.

    BloomWatch App for reporting toxic algal blooms:

    bloomWatch | Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative

    NOAA Coastal Hazards Resources:

    https://www.noaa.gov/ocean-and-coastal-tools-sanctuary-permits-charts-and-images

    SurfLine for daily surf reports:

    https://www.surfline.com/

    California Tsunami Preparedness Guide:

    https://cadoc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=61bc8d30b53e4fb5927ae199d31f5aef

  • Research vessel brings students face-to-face with ocean creatures

    Research vessel brings students face-to-face with ocean creatures

    by Brad Butterfield

    Originally printed April 26, 2023

    Two diesel engines churn out over 1000 horsepower into the frigid waters of the Humboldt Bay just after 8am on April 22. On-board, a small team of students, professors and crew members enjoy the calm waters of the Woodley Island Marina before entering the rolling Pacific. Though 49 years old, Cal Poly Humboldt’s science vessel, The Coral Sea, has gone through many rounds of facelifts over the years and is nearly unrecognizable from her original form of 1974. With the 2008 refitting of two new diesel engines letting out a steady hum into the misty Pacific air and a recent paint job displaying ‘Cal Poly Humboldt’ in perfect white text on the forward bow of the ship, the old girl looks and sounds like a much younger yacht.

    Before exiting Humboldt Bay’s enterprising mess of wave-dissipating concrete blocks, Captain Jim Long kills the engines. Oceanography students donning hard hats carefully deploy a long fishnet and heavy metal trawling doors.

     The Coral Sea’s wild years have been long left in her wake. She was bought by the then-named ‘Humboldt State University’ in 1998. Though obediently committed to science now, echoes of her wild years can be found around the boat. Kept behind a metal door on the port side of the deck, a paper copy of a 2017 article in the North Coast Journal titled: Past Lives of the Coral Sea details the vessel’s younger and more wild years. 

    One time owner of the boat, Ronald Markowski, used the boat in the 1980’s as a, “floating headquarters from which he radioed instructions to a team of pilots coming in from the Bahamas,” Sam Armanino writes in The North Coast Journal. Those pilots were pawns in a much larger scheme which smuggled cocaine and marijuana from Colombia into Florida and eventually, the greater United States. Eventually, these unlawful escapades would lead to a 45 year sentence for Markowski and the seizure of the Coral Sea by The DEA. The long arm of the law would later use the Coral Sea in an operation coined: The Albatross Sting, which saw the yacht rigged with audio and video recording equipment. The operation hinged on the cooperation of former Markowski associate, Frank Brady, who would lead to the downfall of the sting when the DEA discovered he had, “continued to smuggle cocaine under their noses,” Armanino writes in the NCJ.

    Decades beyond her drug-days, now associated with Trinidad’s Telonicher Marine Lab, the Coral Sea’s massive a-frame arm, with a capacity for 5,000lbs, guides in the students’ systematically laid out fishnet released ten minutes prior. Today, Oceanography 260 students are out on the last of their cruises for the spring semester, focused on marine biology. 

    Adjacent to  modern flat screen navigation monitors, student Maddy Ho is filling out a worksheet tallying the living organism totals (hand counted by the students) that were caught in the first trawl of the day. Top of the list shows: 138 Dungeness crab, 147 shrimp,  27 ctenophores, or comb jellies.  

    Photo by Alex Anderson | Oceanography student Miriam Cima holds up squid that was caught using one of the R/V Coral Sea sampling nets.

    “We do four cruises per semester,” Ho explains. “Biological, geological, chemical and physical.” 

    Powering three miles out into the open ocean, the Coral Sea was finally home again, riding growing waves. Those not quite at-home made good on Captain Jim Long’s advice given at 8:00 a.m. before leaving the marina. 

    “If you’re going to get sick – it goes over the side. Try to do it on the downwind side,” Long said. 

    As a couple of students stood queasy on the starboard side of the sturdy yacht, Trinity Abercrombie explained the critical role the Coral Sea plays in education. 

    “I don’t think that I would be into this major as much as I am if it weren’t so hands-on. The Coral Sea is definitely a hands-on experience and you get to be in the field working as soon as you join the major.” Abercrobie said before adding, “ It gives you a perspective on your future – like what you’re actually going to be doing in the field later on.”

    In between exercises carried out by students of oceanography 260, a small team of students conducted the first series of measurements as part of their year-long senior project. One member of this team, Simon Kurciski, served six years in the Navy, completing many long submarine missions. His longest stint below the surface, Kurciski said, was 51 days. Now though, Kurciski’s time at sea serves a much different purpose. 

    • Photo by Alex Anderson
    • Photo by Alex Anderson
    • Photo by Alex Anderson
    • Photo by Alex Anderson
    • Photo by Alex Anderson | Dr. Christine Cass handing over a Sculpin that was retreived from a sampling net to oceanography student Dayana Yuolho-Garcia (left).
    • Photo by Alex Anderson |CPH Oceanography professor Dr. Christine Cass counting and identifying species with students on the deck.
    • Photo by Alex Anderson | A group of OCN495 student’s gather samples for an ongoing capstone project that will be continuing through Fall 2023.
    • Photo by Alex Anderson

    “We are comparing the effect of different photosynthesizers in the water on the chemistry of the water surrounding them,” said Kurciski. “Specifically we are looking at the effects that eelgrass in Humboldt Bay and kelp up in Trinidad have on perimeters like acidity, dissolved oxygen, total carbons, CO2.”

    Kurciski and his team methodically gather water samples from two meters below the surface, then transfer the water into empty beer bottles. The amber tint of the bottles coupled with mercuric chloride added by Marcos Moreno gives the researchers a time capsule of sorts. The tint blocks light from further affecting the biological material.

    “The reason we are adding these chemicals is to essentially stop the biological processes,” Moreno explains. 

    While the sampling is conducted exclusively off of the California coastline, Kurciski emphasizes that the results will reflect the real world implications of human-caused climate change. One test result that specifically interests Kurciski is the samples’ pH.

    “Since the industrial revolution the ocean has increased in acidity by around 30%. That’s huge. We’re already living in an ecosystem that has been dramatically altered by humans in every way,” says Kurciski. “We’re trying to catch up and understand the effect of the changes that we’ve already brought.”

    “The sad thing about climate change -and broadly, human-caused changes- is that a lot of the change is already locked in… deep ocean water circulates very slowly,” said Kurciski. “The oldest deep ocean water can be up to 1000 years old – in the Pacific. That extra carbon that we’ve put in there – that isn’t going anywhere.”

    The future of the Coral Sea will again be determined in-part by an arm of the US government – though this time it’s not the DEA. Instead, hawk-eyed regulators in California will play a large role in the Coral Sea’s future. 

    “The CA air quality resources board is mandating that we replace all of our engines – we have five engines,” Long explains from the ornate bridge of the ship. He’s been working on the Coral Sea for fifteen years, serving as captain for three. “We’re looking at a half million to a million just for new engines by 2025. And then we still have an old boat. So we are trying to decide what to do to go forward. There’s going to be some big changes coming.” Importantly, Long assured, “The Coral Sea is not going anywhere.”

  • Humboldt home to remarkable conifer collection 

    Humboldt home to remarkable conifer collection 

    by August Linton

    Originally printed April 12, 2023

    Nestled between the science buildings, fronds sway in the breeze, fallen needles line the edges of paths, and cones of all shapes and sizes swell and release pollen or seeds. A deft hand plucks berries from one, and rolls between callused fingers the foot-long leaves of another. Professor emeritus of Botany Dennis Walker strolls slowly from plant to plant, and knows them all by common and scientific name, without a glance to the placards which define them. 

    The Cal Poly Humboldt campus hosts an extensive collection of conifer species in the Science Complex Conifer Collection, ranging from local Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) to the Japanese Umbrella Pine (Sciadopitys verticillata.) Over 65 species of conifers grow close to the classrooms where they are studied, a collection that rivals the top universities in the United States. 

    Professor Emeritus of botany Dennis Walker made it his mission to expand the university’s collection, traveling to Australia, China, Chile, and many other places around the globe to bring back trees to use for teaching and research. 

    “In the beginning, I could simply go down to the local retail nursery,” said Walker. 

    After he had exhausted the list of plants available locally, Walker turned to botanical collections, cultivating relationships with other botanists and collections worldwide. 

    “It’s great to be a botanist in the jet age,” said Walker. “I was traveling with a backpack on my back, in my grubby clothes to slop around in some tree fern gully or something of the sort, complete with leeches.”

    The collection is used by botany professors as a teaching resource, supplanting the need for jars of leaves, branches, and cones suspended in preservative. 

    Conifers are diverse in lifestyles, appearance and native habitat. Iconic examples of the group have dark green, skinny needles and small, pointed cones, but others have broad leaves, paired cones, or sweet, edible cones. The Plum Fir (Podocarpus elatus,) planted next to Science B, grows translucent-white, cherry-sized cones when in season. 

    Their diversity makes conifers a valuable resource for botanists who study paleobotany, the science of ancient plant form and evolution. 

    “Just collecting what is available [in Humboldt] is an easy way out, but students get a very narrow and inaccurate view of what the whole taxonomic order Coniferales represents,” Walker said. “They cannot conceive of something with a slightly widened leaf like that…you can tell them that there are such things, but it’s better to show them.”

    The climate in Humboldt is uniquely suited to accommodate an extremely wide variety of plant species, one factor which made the collection possible, according to Walker. Some frost-tender plants are able to be planted outside, an important factor since the greenhouse severely limits their growth.

    “There’s a banana belt that we’ve identified, where the cold air intake for the mechanical room keeps the air moving on the south side of [Science] A,” said Walker. “That was about the balmiest environment we could find.”

    One species that Walker was unable to find for the collection was the parasitic conifer Parasitaxus usta, which grows on another conifer species. He traveled to New Caledonia to seek specimens of the plant, but was unable to find any. The host plants on campus weren’t strong enough to host the parasite either, according to Walker. International regulations on transporting plants across borders made it difficult to bring some specimens back into the country.

    Arborists and student volunteers tasked with caring for the trees once Walker brought them back home have struggled to keep some species alive. Many individuals died from water mold, and some Southern Hemisphere species can only be kept in the greenhouse that bears Walker’s name. 

    Walker laughingly refers to botany professor Mihai Tomescu as his replacement. Tomescu describes the collection as a tool both for teaching and for research. A former masters student of his, Kelly Pfeiler, is now pursuing a PhD at the University of Kansas. She recently returned to the CPH campus to collect cones from specimens in the collection, to use as reference for paleobotanical research. 

     “She’s one of several people who have come through over the years from other campuses to collect here, because it’s a very diverse collection,” said Tomescu. “Dennis left a great legacy here.”

  • Community blooms during Humboldt Orchid Society show

    Community blooms during Humboldt Orchid Society show

    by Harrison Smith

    Originally printed April 26, 2023

    On Saturday, April 22, the Redwood Art Association in Eureka was packed. The gallery usually displays the work of local artists, but on Saturday, almost every free surface was dripping with shining leaves and fragrant petals. The hum of conversation was electric and the sense of shared delight in the flowers was palpable. The Humboldt Orchid Society’s spring flower show and sale was a scientific and sensory delight. 

    Orchids can be found on every continent. An extremely diverse family of organisms like orchids living over far-spread habitats is usually an old one, evolutionarily speaking. Flowering plants, also called angiosperms, first appeared around 150 million years ago during the Jurassic period. Pangea was still in the process of breaking up. The first species of orchids appeared 112 million years ago, early in the history of angiosperms. This early evolution allowed them to fill up a huge variety of ecological niches.

    “Most orchid seed is dustlike, so it spreads by the wind. The seed of vanilla is very heavy, and cannot be dispersed by the wind,” said Mike. “There are species in Eastern Africa that are the same as in Florida, because the seed was carried by the winds coming from Africa.” 

    The dustlike seeds of orchids younger than vanilla have allowed them to spread into diverse, far-flung habitats. Various species of orchids have adapted to bloom at the crests of sand dunes, grow free-floating in icy streams, or thrive in piles of humus on the forest floor.

    “The really unique thing about orchids at that level is that orchids don’t produce a traditional seed,” said Blaine Maynor, owner of Orchids for the People. “A seed by definition is an embryo and a food source. Orchids don’t include that food source. It’s basically what we call a naked zygote, and it’s basically just 13 cells and a veneer on it.” 

    When seeds are dispersed from a plant, they require a source of energy to begin the expensive process of germination. By not including the food source, orchids are able to produce more seeds by an order of magnitude.

    “In some of these bigger flowers over here,” said Maynor, gesturing to the beautiful array of orchids on the table before him, “a seed pod may have 2 million seeds.“

    Orchids are able to adopt this highly successful strategy due to their unusual (though not unique) symbiosis with mycorrhizal fungi.  

    “When they’re germinated they need to have a fungus presence, because what they do is they basically intermesh with each other. The orchid gives the fungus sugar, and the fungus gives the orchid micronutrients,” said Maynor. “A lot of times the fungus actually has an apparatus that will go into the tissue and weave its way through the cells.” 

    Humboldt county is home to 33 native orchid species, more than any other county in California. Mycorrhizal fungi thrive in the coastal rainforest environment, where organic matter accumulates quickly in the wet understory. Readers are advised not to attempt digging up a wild orchid for their garden, however beautiful the plant is. Without its supporting fungus, the orchid will quickly lose its ability to uptake nutrients and die. 

    Readers are advised, however, to bring any ailing orchid they may have to the monthly meetings of the Humboldt Orchid Society, which are open to the public.  Meetings are held every third Wednesday of the month at the Redwood Art Association.

  • Humboldt alumnus brings back beavers to restore California wetlands

    Humboldt alumnus brings back beavers to restore California wetlands

    by Harrison Smith

    Originally printed March 1, 2023

    For millions of years, beavers have been the stewards of North American watersheds. Over a hundred million used to ply the streams of the continent. Hunting and habitat loss since colonization have reduced their numbers to somewhere between 10 and 15 million, and many ecosystems which historically relied on beaver stewardship are now absent of the aquatic rodents. In 1941, there were just 1,300 beavers in California. Symbiotic Restoration, founded in 2018 by CPH alumnus Garrett Costello, is a company which seeks to reverse this loss of habitat.

    “Our mission is to improve stream and meadow conditions to bring back the beaver,” Costello said, who graduated from Humboldt with a BS in environmental protection and management.

    Founded in 2018, Symbiotic Restoration (SR) has carried out all of their restoration projects in Northeastern California. Costello, who recently moved back to the county, hopes to partner with local Humboldt organizations to carry out restoration projects in the future.

    The vast majority of SR’s restoration projects involve the building of beaver dam analogs, or BDAs. BDAs come in many forms depending on the size and condition of the stream, but they’re usually built as a short, unobtrusive lattice of maple limbs which act to trap sediment and slow the stream. Human activities, especially road construction and agriculture, cause interruptions to stream flow and increase bank erosion.

    “Let’s just think about cattle for a moment. They cross the same place every time. They are going to soften that soil and they are also going to punch it down a little bit,” Costello said. “Once the water starts falling into the drop, that fall of the water is what causes the erosion and then will continue to unzip.”

    BDAs are constructed at points in the stream where flow has been interrupted by a head cut, acting to fill the depression and preventing erosion from continuing upstream. 

    “As water hits that pond, it slows down and drops and that will slowly build sediment behind the structure, which then strengthens the structure and then it helps reconnect the floodplain because now we don’t have this incision,” Costello said.  

    Once the stream has been reconnected to the floodplain, the stream is able to meander more widely around. This turns a stream flowing quickly through a deeply cut channel into one which supports a wide, dense belt of riparian vegetation with its lazy flow. 

    Most of SR’s project sites are in places too remote for construction vehicles, where their use would undermine restoration efforts. Costello and his crew carry out their work the old fashioned way— with sweat, shovels, and axes. 

    “We’re not out there with heavy equipment, huge amounts of diesel, coming down into the meadow and potentially causing soil compaction, some disturbance to the vegetation,” Costello said. “We’re on foot and I have sleds. I don’t use wheelbarrows because the tires can cause little ruts, so we’re pulling everything on these duck hunting sleds.” 

    SR has worked closely with the Natural Resource Conservation Service, a subagency of the Department of Agriculture, which provides funding to ranchers and farmers on the condition that they meet certain restoration requirements. 

    “The program is to incentivize private landowners to do conservation efforts on their land,” Costello said. 

    One goal of SR is to involve the communities in which they work as stewards of the land, fostering a bottom up approach to conservation. 

    “Last year, we partnered with Point Blue Conservation Science… we had 50 kids a day come from local elementary through high school to build beaver dams and plant willows with us,” said Costello. For the children, it was fun to build beaver dams in their community creeks.

    “And all these kids were so stoked,” Costello said. “‘Oh yeah, go in the woods around here.’ Or,  ‘Yeah, my parents work for the timber company in the town. We go hunting out here’. They have that sense of place,” 

    Even though much of SR’s work is still focused in Northeastern California, Costello hopes to make connections with local Humboldt community organizations in the future. He recently spoke to students in a capstone restoration course, and hopes to form a dedicated Humboldt crew to work on restoration projects in the county. 

    “Volunteers come from all over too, so not only local communities, which we want to target to get that sense of place and stewardship.” Costello said. “Folks are coming from all over California that are interested in this because it’s really fun. We’re like kids playing in a creek.” 


    Disclaimer: This article was not paid for or endorsed by Symbiotic Restoration.

  • CCAT begins reconstruction project

    CCAT begins reconstruction project

    by Emma Sjostrom

    The Campus Center for Appropriate Technology began construction of a tire retaining wall in their on-campus garden at Buck House. Constructed by CCAT directors, instructors and volunteers, the retaining wall is part of CCAT’s project to rebuild the existing Reclamation Station structure located in their garden. The structure has served as storage for students to donate and access reclaimed building materials. 

    Made from used tires, the retaining wall is needed to support the sloped landscape where the structure is located. Following the wall’s completion, project managers and volunteers are working towards utilizing natural building materials to complete the project. 

    The goals of the rebuild are to increase usage of reclaimed materials through safer and easier access. With a budget of $1,000, the project is proposed to be completed by May 5th of this year. 

    Spearheaded by project organizer Maddy Hunt, the project is aimed at promoting sustainable practices and techniques as well as serving as an example of utilizing appropriate technology in construction projects. 

    “The shed uses natural building methods which are focused on using reclaimed materials, minimizing ecological impact, and inviting community participation,” Hunt said.

    Plans for the rebuild include construction of a wall made of hempcrete, a natural alternative to concrete. CCAT intends to collect data on usage of the material within Humboldt County in an effort to understand and demonstrate the feasibility of hempcrete to address housing needs within the community.

    External Co-director James Lara added that CCAT’s overall goal is to encourage sustainable resource and energy use.

    “We are in a live-in demonstration home for sustainability and to live lightly on the Earth,” Lara said. “It’s about engaging students to have more experience with sustainable living.”

    Construction of the retaining wall is nearly complete, and project organizers expect to continue the groundwork for the structure in the next coming weeks with the help of students and volunteers. Hunt aims for the project to be a practical example of the organization’s goals.

    “It can be a demonstration for Cal Poly Humboldt,” Hunt said. “Especially for us to demonstrate [sustainability building] here at CCAT. It’s going to be a really cool way for us to connect with that and to be a part of that process.” 

    Hunt added that the project has potential for showing the university and surrounding community the viability of natural building, noting the relatively quick project timeline.

    A soon-to-be graduate from the Environmental Studies program, Hunt mentioned that the reclamation project is the culmination of what she has learned in her degree. 

    “It’s equally stressful as it is gratifying to be putting theories into action, and seeing it come together as not only a completed project in the end, but also as a network of people working towards a sustainable future,” Hunt said.More information on the project and techniques being used can be found at www.appropedia.org/CCAT_reclamation_station_2023. Those interested in aiding in the project’s completion are encouraged to participate in CCAT’s Volunteer Friday events, which occur weekly from 10am-12pm and 1-4pm. More information can be found on the organization’s website at ccat.humboldt.edu/ and Instagram @ccat.humboldt.