University receives forest land for student research

Humboldt State University is about to receive an 884 acre forest 12 miles from campus with old growth trees.

The forest will be used for field work, research and revenue generation. The land, roughly the size of Central Park, is nestled along Jacoby Creek between Fickle Hill road and Kneeland road. The forest has stands of second growth coastal redwood and old growth western red cedar.

David Greene, forestry professor and the chair of the forestry department at HSU, said the new property will provide amazing opportunities for the College of Natural Resources and Sciences.

“The forest will be heavily used by our departments,” Greene said. “We now have a forest we can actually manage.”

Creek and riparian zone on HSU’s new Jacoby Creek forest on Nov. 25. | Photo by Walter Hackett

The university has been using the campuses neighboring Arcata Community Forest for much of its forest field work. Greene said the new site will eventually provide a means for revenue.

“Eventually we’ll create a timber harvest plan,” Greene said. “For now let’s let it grow.”

According to Greene, this will be great first hand experience for forestry students who can work on creating a timber harvest plan and see the whole process through. The harvest plan will leave the old growth trees alone and eventually take “a little” of the 60-year-old wood.

Greene credits the city of Arcata for creating the new opportunity for the university. After the land went up for sale, the city worked to secure it through funding opportunities from California Fish and Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation Board, grants, and a significant donation from the landowner R.H. Emmerson and Son LLC.

A giant moss covered old growth western red cedar along on HSU’s new Jacoby Creek forest on Nov. 25. Photo by Walter Hackett

Arcata Director of Environmental Services for Arcata, Mark Andre and his team have been working on this project since 2009.

He said the city has had a longstanding and productive relationship with HSU in regard to the Arcata Community Forest.

“This project will enhance and help continue that tradition,” Andre said. “HSU students and faculty are a tremendous and integral asset to the city’s forest management program.”

Andre and his team initially became interested in the property when they heard the landowners were planning putting the property up for auction. The city owns land that neighbors the new forest, and became concerned about potential subdivision and how it could affect the environment and wildlife.

“There are 10 separate parcels on the property so the project will prevent fragmentation and diversion in perpetuity,” Andre said. “We want to buffer our existing assets.”

During a sale, there could be 10 different owners each with different goals and management strategies. Andre said that this acquisition will prohibit subdivision and residential development, prevent significant water withdrawals, promote mature riparian and late succession forest reserves, and guarantee that these lands will be managed for sustainable forestry in conjunction with ecological land management.

“We mainly want to keep the integrity of resources land for coho and steel head as well as maintain a working forest,” Andre said. “We want to maintain wildlife corridor and ensure that the land remains a carbon sink over time.”

Wildlife-wise, the new forest provides habitat for threatened and endangered species including the Pacific fisher and the northern spotted owl.

Recent black bear tracks on HSU’s new Jacoby Creek forest on Nov. 25. Photo by Walter Hackett

“It’s a wilder feeling than our community forest,” Andre said.

Matthew Pedrotti, senior biology major with an ecology and biodiversity emphasis, said he was excited when he heard the news about the new forest.

“It will give biology students an opportunity to measure the impacts of a freshly logged forest,” Pedrotti said.

Currently the forest is in escrow. After it closes at the end of the calendar year, it will be transferred from the city to HSU to be jointly managed through a cooperative agreement. The city and the university will work together on the roads, forest data, scientific studies and public access.

“A bunch of us are alumni here so it was a pleasure to work on this because it felt like we were giving back to the university that set us up,” Andre said.

Fungus thriving on a fallen log in a bed of western sword ferns in HSU’s new Jacoby Creek forest on Nov. 25. Photo by Walter Hackett

Professor talks about implicit bias over pints

Between games of Foosball, Donkey Kong and pints of Third Wave craft beer, Blondie’s Food and Drink had a packed house for their monthly “Science on Tap” event.

Dr. Tyler Mitchell, professor of physics and astronomy at HSU, gave a presentation on implicit biases and stereotype threats to an audience of HSU faculty, students and community members at the Arcata bar on Nov. 7.

Science on Tap was started by professor of physics and astronomy C.D. Hoyle, after he saw NOVA was sponsoring science events in cafes.

Hoyle is friends with the owner of Blondie’s Food and Drink and decided to mirror NOVA’s science focused cafe events. By fall of 2012 he was doing it every month. He said the event bolsters a healthy relationship with community and the university.

“The goal is community engagement and outreach,” Hoyle said.

Mitchell presents regularly for “Science on Tap” with a variety of topics. Mitchell said he chose the night’s topic because he attended an implicit biases and active learning workshop in La Jolla over the summer. When earning his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado at Boulder Mitchell said he was introduced to their physics education research that involved active learning and incorporates it into his teaching.

“Active learning techniques reduce implicit biases and stereotype threats in students,” Mitchell said.

According to the Perception Institute, the term “implicit bias” is used to describe when we have attitudes towards people or associate stereotypes with them, without our conscious knowledge.

The Oxford Scholarship defines stereotype threat as a situational predicament in which individuals are at risk of confirming negative stereotypes about their groups. Mitchell said we all have pre-conceived notions, both explicit and implicit, about others and ourselves. He said in active classrooms diversity is all inclusive.

“Explicit biases is the tip of the iceberg where the implicit are submerged in the water,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said in a good active classroom the focus is on the students opposed to traditional style which the focus is on the teacher. He said an active classroom provides and fosters more meaningful social and academic interactions that help students succeed. One way to overcome biases and stereotype threats is to include everyone in the classroom and give enough time for students equally.

“Active classrooms have proven to decrease failure rates,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said these implicit biases start at an early age and aren’t our fault. Mitchell described a study where five-year-olds picked their own gender equally to the opposite when choosing protagonists, but when they turned six or seven they would start to pick male protagonists as the smarter option because they developed a cultural idea that being smart is a male trait.

He said when games are introduced to girls at that age they will gravitate towards games for hard workers and stay clear of games for smart people. Mitchell said these biases lead to stereotype threats for students at an older age.

“People come to campus with preconceived ideas on how they should perform,” Mitchell said. “They think they aren’t good at something and that isn’t true.”

The reason Mitchell got into physics was because he wanted to be a professor. He said implicit bias research has made him a better teacher and he has seen definite change in students since he became effective at it. Mitchell said HSU is supportive of active learning and more universities are building spaces to accommodate inclusive classrooms.

“With a large Spanish speaking student population using implicit bias techniques is important,” Mitchell said. “We need to get students and faculty both engaged.

Professor of chemistry at HSU Chris Harmon said forums like Mitchell’s implicit biases and stereotype threats expose people to science who may not have a chance to it. Harmon has been co-facilitating “Science on Tap” since 2013 and said everyone involved volunteers their time. He said there is so much science going on at HSU but there is a disconnect with the community. Science on Tap bridges that gap.

“Science is only accessible to people at the university,” Harmon said. “Our goal is to bring access to community.”

You’ve probably experienced that creepy feeling like you’re being watched. You don’t know why, but hairs stand up on your neck and you look over your shoulder, even when you think you’re alone. If you get that sensation while you’re at your computer, you may want to check your webcam.

Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook, once posted a picture that showed his laptop webcam covered up with tape. If webcam security is something Zuck is concerned about, should you be too? Hackers are likely more interested in someone like Zuckerberg, but that doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen to you.

Dr. Sherrene Bogle is a professor in the computer science department at Humboldt State University.

“To the extent that both Big Brother and hackers are watching us, we should all be concerned about computer privacy in all forms, not just web cams, but audio, our telephone conversations being recorded,” Bogle said. “Online security is an ongoing task.”

Some students at HSU have caught on to the webcam taping trend.

Erik Ramos, working on his laptop in the Library Cafe, uses a spy guard over his webcam. The guard is a small plastic cover that mounts over a flat surface webcam. Ramos’ guard is made by Targus, and has an adhesive back and a slider hatch for when you want to use the cam.

“I’ve had this cover on for about a year,” Ramos said. “I’ve heard stories about people being watched through their webcams. It could definitely be the government or just creeps.”

Ramos said that he used to use post-its before he bought his cover, but since he worked at Staples he was able to get a guard cover for cheap. Sliding guard covers retail online for about $5.

A webcam spy guard on Erik Ramos’ laptop at HSU library Cafe on Nov. 6, 2018.

Hailey Hughes has a basic trimmed and taped post-it note covering her laptop webcam. For Hughes it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“I’ve had this on here for maybe two years,” she said. “I’m just suspicious in general.”

According to Bogle, both personal computers and Macs are susceptible to webcam attacks, but personal computers are slightly more vulnerable. She also said that new computers aren’t coming up with unbeatable protection.

“Vulnerabilities still exist with the ubiquity of online and especially wireless network connections,” Bogle said.

She said there are some things you can do besides covering your webcam to protect your them from getting hacked.

“Use secured networks, limit or avoid sensitive transactions on free wi-fi, use firewalls, and update your anti-virus software regularly,” Bogle said.

“The relationship between convenience and privacy is like a see-saw,” Bogle said. “It’s hard to balance because most of us desire convenience and the greater the convenience the more exposed we are and inevitably the less privacy we have.”

Fusarium. It sounds like it could be a poison used on spies in the 1960s. In reality, it’s the fungus that destroyed Warren Creek Farm’s pumpkin and sunflower crops this year.

“Fusarium is a pathogen,” said Warren Creek Farms owner Abram Stark. “It’s bad for the plants.”

Stark said Fusarium is always in the fields and common with the squash plants. But it came stronger this year, wiping out over half of the farm’s pumpkin and sunflower plants.

“I’m not sure why it’s worse this year,” Stark said. “It could be because of the sunflowers, but then again these fields have had sunflowers and pumpkins on them for many years in a row.”

An Fusarium infected pumpkin lays smashed and rotting in the Warren Creek Farms patch. | Photo by Sean Bendon

Warren Creek Farms has been going strong for more than 20 years with the leadership of local farmer and mentor Paul Guintoli. Guintoli is a former president of the North Coast Growers’ Association.

Guintoli has had a huge influence on many in the community, including another local farm Organic Matters Farm. Heather Plaza is the co-owner of Organic Matters Farm.

“You never know every year what is gonna go on,” Plaza said. “You’re just dealing with nature and the environment.”

Both farms are within a mile of the ocean but use different techniques to protect their crops from the moisture it brings. Organic Matters Farm amends their soil with ash to build up nutrition in the soil and uses a dry farming method instead of watering to grow the crops.

According to a University of California report shared by Humboldt State University Professor Susan Marshall, Fusarium is a pathogen that quite commonly invades pumpkins and squash that belong to the Cucurbitae family.

“You try to prepare the best you can,” Plaza said. “But whatever happens, happens.”

Regardless of the circumstances, the group at Warren Creek Farms did not seem too worried about getting back into the swing of things.

“Next year we’re gonna do it just like we’ve done it before,” Stark said. “This year was just rough.”

Following two other California State Universities failed tests, Humboldt State tested water sources on campus

Three drinking water fountains on Humboldt State’s campus have been removed from service for having lead levels higher than Environmental Protection Agency standards.

Humboldt State is the third CSU to test its drinking water for lead with all three finding water sources containing higher than recommended lead levels.

Over the summer HSU decided to test some of its drinking water sources after two other CSUs tested drinking water on their campuses and found that some sources tested higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s benchmark of an acceptable level of lead in drinking water.

Since 1991 the EPA regards lead levels in drinking water above 15 parts per billion to be the “action level.” Prior to 1991 the federal action level was 50 PPB.

Sabrina Zink is an Environmental Health and Safety specialist at HSU. Zink said that buildings and fixtures at HSU were selected by prioritizing areas that children under the age of six could be exposed to lead; this is the most vulnerable age for lead exposure in humans. After drinking sources were tested from fixtures that children regularly have access to, older buildings were targeted, and one building by original construction date per decade.

One hundred and twenty one drinking water sources were tested at HSU over the summer. Thirty seven of the 121 sources didn’t contain lead levels high enough to register detection during the test. Eighty one of the tested sources registered lead levels but fell below the EPA’s 15 PPB threshold. Three fixtures tested above or at 15 PPB and have since been removed from service.

Of the three that tested higher than the action level two were drinking fountains, and one was a sink. The fountains were in Forbes gym (16 PPB), and on the third floor of the library (86 PPB). The third fixture, a sink in the bottom floor of the library (15 PPB), tested right at the EPA action level.

“We decided to abandon these fountains,” Zink said.

Zink said lead usually finds its way into drinking water systems through the old fixtures and sometimes through dated fittings and solder.

The other two CSUs that tested drinking water on their campuses were Long Beach and Sacramento. Test results from these campuses revealed drinking water sources containing lead high marks of 127 and 390 PPB.

A spokesperson for the EPA, said the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has found that no safe blood level has been identified for lead, and all sources of lead exposure especially for children should be controlled or eliminated.

The EPA website states that children are particularly vulnerable to lead and that low levels of exposure in kids have been linked to learning disabilities and damage to the nervous system and exposure in adults can lead to decreased kidney function and reproductive problems.

According to Zink there is currently no mandate for lead testing in the drinking water at CSU’s though the chancellor’s office did recommend that drinking water should be tested.

“We aren’t required by any regulation or law to test,” Zink said. “We thought it was the right thing to do.”

The CDC website states that you cannot see, taste, or smell lead in drinking water and the only way to know is to have it tested.

Roxanne Moore works at North Coast Laboratories, an Arcata based business that provides drinking water lead testing as a service. Moore said that they charge $27 per sample for lead water testing and the turnaround for results typically takes two to three weeks.

Starting at the beginning of 2018 a law in Calif. was enacted requiring that lead testing be carried out for drinking water for all k-12 public schools. So far, lead sampling for this initiative has tested 3,541 schools and found 137 sites that have tested higher than the EPA action level of 15 PPB.

In 1986 Congress amended the Safe Drinking Water Act to prohibit the use of fixtures, fittings, and solder containing certain amounts of lead in public drinking water systems.

Zink said that further lead testing is planned for campus housing facilities.

“We are testing housing over Thanksgiving and Christmas break,” Zink said.

Humboldt State University food waste feeds worm farm

Every two and a half weeks when school is in session, HSU sends about 18,000 pounds of food waste to a local worm farmer for composting.

According to HSU’s Facilities Management website, CSU sustainability policy calls for HSU to reduce its solid waste disposal rate by 80 percent by 2020.

The Facilities Management website also states that HSU employs two different compost operations. An off campus vermi-composting operation (vermi – relating to worms), and an on campus operation run by the Waste-Reduction and Resource Awareness Program.

Food Waste to the Worms

Megan Tolbert is the Grounds, Recycling & Waste Coordinator at HSU. Tolbert said sending food waste to the worms starts with having the food waste placed in specially labeled compost receptacles in or near dining areas around campus. Student assistants and recycling staff collect food waste from events and from these receptacles and empty into the BioBin.

The BioBin is a 20 yard capacity food waste holding receptacle located near the J dining hall. Once the BioBin is close to capacity a truck loads the receptacle and delivers to a worm farm in Humboldt County.

The worm farms are operated by a small, local business, the Local Worm Guy. Lloyd and Stacey Barker operate several worm farms throughout Humboldt County.

Tolbert said that while school is in session BioBin loads are being delivered to Local Worm Guy farms about every two and a half weeks.

Between worm deliveries, according to Tolbert, student assistants and recycling staff maintain conditions of food waste being stored in the BioBin. The goal is to create optimal compost conditions once the food waste reaches the worm farm. Excess liquids are removed, and the food waste is mixed and layered.

Tolbert said that extra carbon sources are regularly added to the BioBin. Having a proper carbon to nitrogen ratio is important for organisms breaking down the organic matter. Sometimes this extra carbon comes from pizza boxes from campus events since pizza boxes cannot be recycled because of pizza grease saturation.

Contamination or trash is regularly removed from the BioBin. Trash is accidentally thrown into compost receptacles around dining areas which ultimately makes its way into the BioBin.

“We’re controlling contamination better,” Tolbert said. “We must not feed the worms trash.”

Not all contamination can be removed from the Biobin. Lloyd Barker said that once trash lands on the worm farm it has to be removed by hand and none of it can be recycled.

“We really appreciate whenever the students and dining staff are able to keep their CRV’s and trash out of the compost bin, it saves me and Stacey a lot of time and energy,” Barker said.

A Lumberjack article published nearly one year ago, reported that compost deliveries to the worm farmer had ceased and that all food waste in the BioBin would be sent to the landfill.

Tolbert said that it was true that HSU’s annual contract with the worm farmer had ended last year but deliveries have never stopped. Temporary purchase orders have been used in lieu of a contract.

Katie Koscielak works as a Sustainability Analyst for HSU and said that it’s rare when food waste from the BioBin is sent to a landfill. Koscielak said that it has only happened twice in the past two years.

Tolbert said that BioBin loads are only sent to landfill when weather won’t permit deliveries to the worm farm. During heavy periods of rain a fully loaded BioBin delivery truck has gotten stuck in soft soil while trying to access the farm.

HSU truck with loaded BioBin delivers a load to one of the worm farms operated by Local Worm Guy, Calif. Video from HSU Sustainability Facilities Management.

The HSU sustainability facilities management team said that because of the high volume flow of food waste on campus a rare delivery of a BioBin load to the landfill, determined by weather conditions, is necessary.

Earthtub

Earthtub is an on campus compost receptacle managed by WRRAP. According to WRRAP’s website Earthtub diverts approximately 500 pounds of food waste from the landfill per week.

Diana Orozco is an environmental science and management student who manages compost conditions for Earthtub. Orozco said that Earthtub can hold about three cubic yards of food waste. Unlike the BioBin where worms are eventually used to break down food waste Earthtub uses microbial decomposition.

According to Orozco mobile compost waste buckets are distributed and picked up once a week by operators to 42 locations across campus. Various departments across campus voluntarily opted in to use compost buckets.

Similarly to the BioBin carbon is added to the Earthtub to optimize ratios that favor the decomposition process. Orozco said that the decomposition process takes about three weeks.

After decomposition, compost from Earthtub is available for free for students and staff to use for their gardens. CCAT also uses it in their gardens on campus.

“When you take good care of it you get black gold,” Tolbert said.

Biology student puts classroom lessons to practical use  in the Arcata Community Forest

Matthew Pedrotti, a senior biology major with an ecology and biodiversity emphasis, spends much of his free time on campus exploring the nearby Arcata Community Forest in order to locate and classify various plants.

“Look at the lichen in its natural habitat,” Pedrotti said on a walk through the forest.

Pedrotti said he is particularly fond of lichens, which is the union of a fungus and an algae.

“I find them fascinating,” Pedrotti said. “They’re very diverse.”

Pedrotti said he carries a hand lens in his pocket at all times.

“I can’t leave home without it,” Pedrotti said.

Matthew Pedrotti describes some of the vegetative features of lichens found on an alder twig in the Arcata Community Forest. Photo by Walter Hackett

According to Pedrotti, he could spot with his naked eye at least three microlichens and at least two other macrolichens from an alder twig he found.

“This alder twig is an example of how speciose [rich in species] lichens are in nature,” Pedrotti said. “Lichens are excellent ecosystem health indicators.”

An alder twig displaying multiple species of lichens in the Arcata Community Forest. Photo by Walter Hackett

“The black spots of this microlichen are actually sexually reproductive organs,” Pedrotti said.

Matthew Pedrotti dissects a cotoneaster fruit to reveal seeds in the Arcata Community Forest. Photo by Walter Hackett

Pedrotti said he thinks HSU is unique because it has an accessible community forest right next to campus. The forest provides plant specimens to examine such as cotoneaster fruit.

“Fun fact, cotoneaster is highly related to apples and pears,” Pedrotti said.

However, Pedrotti said that just because it’s called a fruit, it doesn’t mean that it is edible to humans.

“Yeah, I would not eat these,” Pedrotti said.

Base Camp examines and documents environmental impacts of Caltrans ‘Last Chance Grade Project’

Editor’s Note: This a special contribution from Kyra Skylark. The author attended this event as a student volunteer and has previously worked for the Lumberjack as a reporter and Science editor. The current Lumberjack photo editor, Nick Kemper also attended and shot photos for the group.

Contributors Note: I attended this event as both a student volunteer and as a journalist, therefore some of my own personal views may be reflected in the story. -Kyra Skylark

“I discovered the difference between reading about something and seeing,” Tom Wheeler said. “Seeing on a paper is different from seeing in person, in person the trees and the great biodiversity of that area really stood out.”

Tom Wheeler, the executive director of the Environmental Protection Information Center was a group leader on EPIC’s 2018 annual Base Camp trip.

Earlier this month EPIC hosted their second annual Base Camp at Rock Creek Ranch.

Students and community members were invited to volunteer to help in examining and groundtruthing two of the Last Chance Grade Project alternatives.

Groundtruthing is visiting a proposed project site to document what the project looks like through direct observation.

Ariel Nelson, an Humboldt State University student majoring in environmental science and management with a focus in ecological restoration, attended EPIC’s 2018 Base Camp.

“I was looking for more opportunities to gain field experience in regards to environmental work in general and it seemed like a cool camping trip as well, so I cleared up my weekend commitments and went for it,” Nelson said.

The proposed Last Chance Grade Project is a highway development project in Del Norte county, 10 miles south of Crescent City.

“The Last Chance Grade slide area of the 101 has experienced a lot of landslides over the last hundred years with some pretty catastrophic road failures, so Caltrans is looking at ways to redesign or move the road to get around this critical slide area,” Wheeler said. “Caltrans has determined that it needs to rethink the current road alignment because it is not safe and does not provide reliable transit between Del Norte and Humboldt counties.”

EPIC’s Base Camp volunteer group examined and documented two of the six proposed alternatives for the Caltrans project.

“We chose to examine alternatives A2 and L because relative to the other alternatives, these look like they may end up as the main proposed alternatives, so it was necessary for us to examine them and their proposed impacts,” Wheeler said.

Lenore Ogbor, a retired special education elementary school teacher from New York City, happened to be within a few hours of the area just in time to go on EPIC’s Base Camp.

“I didn’t know that the redwoods had such a shallow root system or that they spread horizontally and close to the surface holding each other up as a sort of interdependent system,” Ogbor said. “How putting a road 10 feet away from a redwood, while you may be trying to saving the tree, you’re still damaging the root system. I learned that the redwood trees help each other to stand up and then they are able to support all these different animals, trees, plants and the whole ecosystem within, as they are also cooperating with each other to stay vertical.”

EPIC and the Base Camp group concluded that the L alternative was prefered over alternative A2. Alternative A2 would cut through three acres of old growth redwoods within the Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park.

Gabe Kim, an HSU film major and a videographer intern for EPIC, who went to EPIC’s Base Camp to document the trip was also amazed by the width of the trees.

“It was cool seeing the 13 foot wide redwood trees [in alternative A2] and watching everyone documenting the area using avenza maps that as I documented through video,” Kim said. “It really got me thinking about how beautiful the scenery is and what we would be missing if the road was in fact built and all those redwoods were cut down.”

Everyone seemed both awed and sad while walking through the old growth redwood forest of A2.

“I’d never seen trees that big in my life,” Nelson said. “It was my favorite part because I was able to step into such an untouched landscape, but it was also devastating to realize if that alternative is chosen all those trees are going to be gone.”

The Base Camp volunteers participated in different activities such as groundtruthing, map and compass orienteering, environmental policy overviews and know your rights trainings. Some individuals, like Lenore Ogbor, were only in the area to participate EPIC’s Base Camp and departed after the weekend was done.

“All of these people gathered with a common interest, with different degrees of knowledge, but sharing in this passion,” Ogbor said. “There was a large range of ages and a good amount of the people there were students.”

Many students in attendance are studying exactly what EPIC was teaching at Base Camp, and were able to apply their studies to the activities.

“It was cool to come into it with an understanding of how environmental assessment works,” Nelson said.

While some were excited to demonstrate and apply their knowledge, others were simply excited to share in everyone’s knowledge and joy.

“Just watching and hearing the students, I could tell they were able to bring some of the stuff they’re learning in class alive right there and then,” Ogbor said. “The students had already learned some of what the group leaders were talking about, it wasn’t all brand new knowledge and their synapses were just click, click, click, clicking away. I’ve been a teacher for many years and I just love seeing that kind of spark and interest.”

The gathering of students and community volunteers was the first step in the environmental assessment of the Last Chance Grade project. From here, EPIC and other organizations will continue to assess the different road alternatives creating additional opportunities for community members to be a part of this process.

“A note to everyone in general, you do have an impact, you can change decisions just by putting yourself out there and getting involved any way that you can, every single person has a roll that they can play,” Nelson said.