In this interview, ESPM assistant adjunct professor and assistant CE specialist Van Butsic discusses a recent report - co-authored by Butsic and several CNR colleages and published by the Public Policy Institute of Calfornia - that proposes ways to improve the health of California's headwater forests. The report recommends some changes in state law and a shift in public attitude when it comes to how California handles its drought-induced tree mortality.
Nature | October 11, 2017
ESPM professor Steve Beissinger is leading the Grinnell Resurvey Project, which has sought over the past 14 years to repeat Joseph Grinnell's early 1900s ecological surveys of California, with an aim to quantify future ecological shifts. The latest phase of the work, which began last month, is focused on cataloguing small mammals in California’s rapidly changing deserts. Grinnell’s records provide an unparalleled baseline for researchers to explore how urbanization, farming, mining and climate change are reshaping the state’s ecosystems.
SFGate | October 11, 2017
ESPM professor Scott Stephens is featured in this article on the North Bay wildfires, which ignited last Sunday night. It’s unusual to have such extreme fire weather at night, said Stephens. Low temperatures after sunset makes the land more moist due to the colder air, but that has changed somewhat in California over the past 15 years, he noted. Overnight lows are rising, so the air stays drier after dusk. One result is that night fires are much more common.
CNN | October 10, 2017
Hands Free Hectare, a UK farming joint venture between Harper Adams University and Precision Decisions, is the first farm int he world to use automated machines to successfully plant, tend, and harvest a crop. Automation technology and implementation has been rising worldwide, but there are still many limitations as well as social and country-specific considerations. "Technically, complete automation is feasible everywhere, but economically and socially it only makes sense in certain situations," commented ARE professor David Zilberman
NBC Bay Area | October 10, 2017
CNR dean J Keith Gilless and ESPM professor Scott Stephens are both featured in this article on the 17 North Bay fires that erupted on the evening of October 8. Stephens said that all of the fires seemed to ignite between midnight and 2 a.m. Monday, when 50-mph winds were the strongest. Gilless noted that Sunday’s weather — high winds, high temperatures and low relative humidity — was conducive for bad fires.
Times of India News | October 09, 2017
Gump South Pacific Research Station executive director Neil Davies is highlighted in this article on artificial islands that have the potential to serve as laboratories for testing new technologies and exploring different social structures. Davies, who is advising the seasteaders on site selection and environmentally positive design choices, believes these floating "sea stations" could allow low-cost long-term access to the ocean for research, especially for students in tropical countries "where natural systems are among the most sensititve to human activities."