ESPM professor Scott Stephens is featured in this ABC7 video segment on Lake County's Clayton Fire, which has been rapidly spread by flying embers. Stephens explained that "there are huge areas of chaparral around this fire, and chaparral under a bad day will burn 100 foot flame lengths."
ESPM associate professor Rodrigo Almeida is featured in California Magazine for his recently published research on the impact of Xylella fastidiosa on olive trees in southern Italy. As Almedia wrote in Science in July, “…The EC aims to address the threats of X. fastidiosa as a plant pathogen, demanding management and containment measures. But the reality to Apulians is different: Cutting down their olive trees means destroying the physical embodiment of their families and history.”
ESPM professor Scott Stephens is quoted in this Sacramento Bee article on the Clayton Fire. Stephens is reluctant to connect Lake County's consecutive damaging wildfire seasons to long-term trends, noting he wouldn't say it's different than nearby counties. "t just seems Lake County has had a lot of ignitions that have impacted people,” Stephens said.
ESPM professor Scott Stephens and alum Lenya Quinn-Davidson (B.S. '04) are featured in this KQED radio segment on the 2016 fire season. Stephens notes that "“higher temperatures do really big things like reduce snowpack time on the ground. You melt the snow off earlier, that means you have a longer period where you have drier soils.” Quinn-Davidson comments on the Soberanes Fire in Monterey County: “In Big Sur, they had the perfect storm of an ignition at a bad time and really inaccessible, steep terrain, on top of a lot of dry fuels.”
ESPM lecturer Tina Mendez (Ph.D. '07) is highlighted in this KQED Science article on the caddisfly and its ability to spin waterproof silk "tape." Unlike typical glues, caddisfly glue bonds more readily to biofouled surfaces.
Emeriti ESPM professor emeritus Reginald Barrett is featured on this Scientific American blog article on wild turkeys that are infiltrating urban/suburban neighborhoods. Barrett notes that "we can't really complain about the havoc turkeys cause since it was the Department of Fish and Game that brought them into the state in the first place and the public that keeps feeding them."
Faculty ESPM professor Scott Stephens is featured in this Capital Public Radio segment on the still-burning Soberanes Fire. Stephens notes that the Soberanes Fire is "a very difficult fire to access, very dangerous for firefighters."
Faculty ESPM professor Scott Stephens is featured in this Capital Public Radio segment on California's extended fire season. Stephens says firefighting costs in the urban-wildland interface, borne by state and federal agencies, should also be partly shared by the counties that approve the development projects in those areas.
ESPM CE specialist Max Moritz and his recent publication on coexisting with wildfire is featured in this New York Times Dot Earth blog article. Moritz article noted that "promoting the right kind of fire - and smarter development - is safer and more cost-effective than fighting a losing battle.
ESPM CE specialist Max Moritz is quoted in this East Bay Times article on the Soberane fire in Monterey County. With the Southern California region in a critical drought, Moritz noted that recent fires "do seem to indicate that we're in for a difficult fire season ahead."
