NORTHWEST SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION'S

92nd ANNUAL MEETING hosted by Cal Poly Humboldt, Arcata CA, March 16–17, 2022

“Expanding Science: Diverse perspectives for effective solutions in an era of rapid change” 

Recorded sessions available here

Full program available here

Dr. Paul Hessburg, PNW Research Station USDA Forest Service

“Wildfire and climate change adaptation of western US Forests"

Forest landscapes across western North America (wNA) have experienced extensive changes over the last two centuries, while climatic warming has become a rapidly expanding global reality over the last four decades. Resulting interactions between historical increases in forested area and density and recent rapid warming, increasing insect mortality, and wildfire burned areas, are now leading to substantial abrupt landscape alterations. These outcomes are forcing forest planners and managers to identify strategies that can modify future outcomes that are ecologically and/or socially undesirable. Past forest management, including widespread harvest of fire- and climate-tolerant large old trees and old forests, fire exclusion (both Indigenous and lightning ignitions), and highly effective wildfire suppression have contributed to the current state of wNA forests. These practices were successful at meeting short-term demands, but they match poorly to modern realities. I will concisely relate the findings in a recent trilogy of invited review articles. First, I will summarize a century of research reviewed in Hagmann et al. (2021) that details widespread changes in forested landscapes and wildfire regimes since the influx of European colonists. Next, I will recap research by Prichard et al. (2021) that addressed 10 common questions surrounding application and relevance of management practices historically applied by Indigenous tribes and currently applied by some managers to intentionally manage forests for climate adapted-resilient conditions. I will close by recapping recommendations for intentional adaptive management made in a third paper by Hessburg et al. (2021). To do so, I will discuss progress paralysis that can occur with strict adherence to the precautionary principle; offer insights for dealing with the problem of irreducible uncertainty; provide suggestions for reframing management and policy direction; and identify key knowledge gaps and research needs.

Keith Parker, Yurok Tribe

“Traditional ecological knowledge in the Klamath River Basin: a salmon and lamprey case study”

For tens of thousands of years, salmon, sturgeon, lamprey, and other fish have been keystone cultural species for Native American tribes of the Klamath River Basin. Such a long-term successful relationship exemplifies indigenous people’s ability to maintain a sustainable fishery. This illustrates the depth of knowledge tribes possess regarding fish and water management. As a tribal scientist, my work merges the paradigms of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and western ecological knowledge. Walking on both paths creates many challenges as the two concepts have significantly contrasting worldviews. The TEK worldview embodies that living resources and culture are singular, with nature completely intertwined with humanity. Language, ceremony, cultural construct, and food sources evolved synchronously. From a TEK conservation perspective, species loss not only represents a loss of biodiversity but a loss of cultural heritage as well. Therefore, protecting the remaining biodiversity on aboriginal lands is not optional because indigenous people and animal species share a common vulnerability – a struggle for survival. At the core of tribal sovereignty is food sovereignty. Traditional foods are a foundational part of tribal cultures which feed much more than physical bodies. Traditional foods feed Spirits because these foods represent a living link with the land. We truly are what we eat, we eat the earth.

Dr. Faith Kearns, California Institute for Water Resources

“Getting to the heart of science communication”

From droughts to fires to climate change, many issues that scientists and science communicators work on are highly emotional, often contentious, and sometimes traumatizing, with high stakes for practitioners -- who are often in precarious positions -- and communities alike. Relating, listening, working with conflict, and understanding trauma, all with an eye toward justice, are key tools in the 21st century science communication toolkit. Using examples from her own and other’s work, Dr. Kearns will also share tips on navigating sometimes difficult discussions. 

Special Session- Climate and Climate Change

1:00 – 1:20 pm   Michael Town- Air temperature and snow extent from iButton temperature measurements on the southern aspect of Mt. Baker, WA USA

1:20 – 1:40 pm   Constance Harrington- Effect of June 2021 Heat Event on Diameter Growth of Trees in Western Washington and Oregon

1:40 – 2:00 pm   Robert Andrus- Climate effects on western red cedar decline: evidence from tree rings

2:00 – 2:20 pm   Dan Gavin- Geological and historical evidence of a record flood in 1867 in western Washington

2:20 – 2:40 pm   Matt Reilly- Contemporary forest change in a diverse montane landscape: Lesson learned from the Russian Wilderness, northern California, USA

Contributed Session-Wildlife

1:20 – 1:40 pm   David Wright- Forest vegetation structure and snowshoe hare relative occupancy in young managed western larch stands in the Northern Rockies

1:40 – 2:00 pm   Sky Button- Monitoring terrestrial salamanders in the Pacific Northwest using aquatic eDNA

2:00 – 2:20 pm   Rachel Zitomer- Forest age and floral resource availability drive native bee abundance and diversity in intensively managed forests of the Oregon Coast Range

2:20 – 2:40 pm   Nick Kerhoulas- Comparative biogeography of the southwestern Pacific Northwest

2:40 – 3:00 pm   Janelle Chojnacki- Movement and resource use of an anthropogenically subsidized avian predator and implications for a threatened shorebird

Contributed Session-Ecosystem Dynamics and Management

1:00 – 1:20 pm   Andrew Gray- What are the ecological benefits of Wilderness on the west coast?

1:20 – 1:40 pm   Mara Gans- Geotagging the wilderness: exploring the relationship between social media geotags and wilderness visitation in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, WA

1:40 – 2:00 pm   Richarda Pӓtsch- Bedrock Meadows – Species assembly and functional patterns of a distinct and overlooked vegetation type in the North American Interior Northwest

2:00 – 2:20 pm   Viktoria Wagner- Non-native invasions in native prairie grasslands of Alberta, Canada

2:20 – 2:40 pm   Rachelle Lugar- Long term effects of forb-selective herbicides on grassland communities

2:40 – 3:00 pm   Gabriel Roletti- Diversity of conifer responses to drought across habitat and competitive gradients in northern California

Special Session- Fostering Fire Resilience in the Northwest

9:00 – 9:20 pm   Alan Tepley- Regional variation in the strength of fire-vegetation feedbacks and resistance to reburning across the North American boreal forest

9:20 – 9:40 pm   Keala Hagmann- Contemporary wildfires further degrade resistance and resilience of fire-excluded forests in central and southcentral Oregon

9:40 – 10:00 pm   Brian Harvey- Forest fires in western Cascadia: Drivers, characteristics, and indicators of post-fire resilience

10:00 – 10:20 pm   Melissa Jaffe- Fate of early twentieth century high-severity fires: fuels and forest structure of different fire histories

10:20 – 10:40 pm   Andrew Merschel- Old-growth Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii forests developed with frequent mixed-severity fire in the southern western Cascades of Oregon, USA

10:40 – 11:00 pm   James Johnston- New fire histories from the western Oregon Cascades

11:00 – 11:20 pm   Graham Frank- Diversity and composition of early seral forest bird assemblages: Does disturbance type matter?

11:20 – 11:40 pm   Robert Van Pelt- Similarities and differences of post fire response between coast redwood and giant sequoia, using the August 2020 lightning siege as an example

11:40 – 12:00 pm   Harold Zald- Long-term tree regeneration responses to thinning and prescribed burning in a Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forest, California USA

Contributed Session-Ecosystem Dynamics and Management

9:00 – 9:20 pm   Lucy Kerhoulas- Physiological responses to conifer encroachment and removal in a northern California oak woodland

9:20 – 9:40 pm   Jill Beckmann- Douglas-fir encroachment reduces drought resistance in Oregon white oak of northern California

9:40 – 10:00 pm   Andrew Stubblefield- Monitoring impacts of timber harvest and landslides, Railroad Gulch, Elk River, California

10:00 – 10:20 pm   Yianna Bekris- Impacts of variable-density thinning on understory diversity and non-native plants over 17 years in Olympic Peninsula forests

10:20 – 10:40 pm   Stephen Quick- How is carbon affected by active forest management for old-growth forest conditions?

10:40 – 11:00 pm   Wallis Robinson- Effects of long-term drought on conifers across northern California 

11:00 – 11:20 pm   Sophia Lemmo- Tree mortality and regeneration trends in northern California

Contributed Session- Fisheries

9:00 – 9:20 pm  Emily Cooper-Hertel- Assessing Trinity River restoration of juvenile Chinook Salmon habitat with a physical capacity model and considerations for incorporating bioenergetic components

9:20 – 9:40 pm   Z Zenobia- Status of night smelt Spirinchus starksi populations in Humboldt and Del Norte

9:40 – 10:00 pm   Katie Terhaar- A characterization of the northern California sandy beach surf zone fish and macroinvertebrate community and the effect of marine protected areas

10:00 – 10:20 pm   Mathew Campbell- The origin and purity of Oncorhynchus mykiss in the Wood River Basin of Central Idaho

10:20 – 10:40 pm   Deon Roche- Post-mortem changes of egg viability in hatchery-raised Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)