ANNOUNCEMENTS & KUDOS

The nomination period is now open for the 2016 College of the Environment Awards! Categories include Distinguished Staff Member; Exceptional Mentoring of Undergraduates Award; Graduate Dean’s Medalist; Outstanding Community Impact: Staff or Faculty; Outstanding Community Impact: Student; Outstanding Diversity Commitment Award; Outstanding Researcher; Outstanding Teaching Faculty; and Undergraduate Dean’s Medalist. Nominations must be received in a letter format (two-page maximum) and submitted through Catalyst by Monday, February 29. So learn more about the categories and support your fellow colleagues, classmates and students!

From there, we'll jump to some big kudos for Professor Jerry Franklin, who will be delivering the 2016 Pinchot Distinguished Lecture, “Applying Ecosystem Science in the Anthropocene: Challenges for Scientists, Society and Policymakers,” held at The Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., at 3 p.m. on Thursday, February 18. In his talk, Jerry will reflect on the profound shift in ecosystem science and policy that has taken place in the last generation, and how this too will change as we experience environmental changes that have no analog in the past. With the Northwest Forest Plan as context, he will describe the continuing evolution in ecosystem science, and the challenges and opportunities this brings for policymakers, forest managers and local communities.

We have kudos for Professor Sally Brown, too, as she represented the Soil Science Society of America at a Climate Science Day in Olympia, Wash., on February 10. The purpose of the event was to provide Washington congressional members with the best possible access to scientific information on climate science when making policy decisions.

Kudos, as well, to Professor Aaron Wirsing, who gave an invited talk, “Patterns of Alaskan brown bear foraging in salmon spawning stream neighborhoods,” as part of the Boise State University Department of Biological Sciences Seminar on Thursday, February 4. The talk addressed how bear predation on any given stream is influenced not only by local salmon abundance and stream features that affect salmon vulnerability (e.g., depth), but also by salmon availability in neighboring streams.

Let’s keep the kudos rolling for SEFS grad student John Wros, who just won a Libraries Student Employee Scholarship of $1,000. The reception for scholarship winners will be held on Wednesday, March 2, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in the Petersen Room, 4th Floor of the Allen Library. Great stuff, John!

Also, don’t forget a couple events coming up related to the National Park Service’s centennial this year. First, Mount Rainier National Park is planning an event for the end of National Park Week on Sunday, April 24, from 10 a.m. to 3 p .m.: Mountain Meetup: A Centennial Millennial Event. They are especially interested in bringing college students and other young adults to enjoy a day at the park, so if you up for a free visit to Rainier, here’s a fantastic opportunity. The event will include both indoor and outdoor activities at Paradise, ranging from informal yard games in the snow to ranger-led snowshoe walks. Two buses will leave from UW, and our Mount Rainier Institute might be cross-promoting its own event that day to further boost the UW presence there. Stay tuned for more details, but mark the date on your calendar if you’re keen to hit the mountain—for free!

After that, the National Park Service is teaming up with the National Geographic Society to conduct BioBlitzes and biodiversity celebrations at more than 100 national parks across the country on May 20 and 21. A BioBlitz is a biological inventory where teams of volunteers, each led by a subject matter expert, find and identify as many species as possible within a 24-hour period. In the Pacific Northwest, NPS is holding BioBlitzes at eight units of the National Park Service, and they are currently recruiting field biologists and naturalists to participate. So if you’d like to serve as expert, sign up before February 15!

COMMITTEE NOTES

Three faculty searches are underway, and two enter the phone interview stage this week: one for an assistant professor in the area of forest ecosystem science and services, and the second for an assistant professor in the area of nature, health and recreation. The third search, for a Professor of Practice who will also serve as lead scientist for The Nature Conservancy, is set to begin interviews in early March.

SEMINAR SCHEDULES

SEFS Seminar Series: Wednesdays, 3:30-4:20 p.m., AND 223

Wildlife Seminar: Mondays, 3:30-4:50 p.m., Smith 120

Carbon Seminar: Tuesdays, 8:30-9:20 a.m., AND 223

PUBLICATIONS

A couple SEFS alumni, including Linda Heath (’89, Ph.D.) and Guy Robertson (’99, Ph.D.), as well as Affiliate Professor David L. Peterson, were coauthors on a 2015 study in the U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report NRS-155: “Indicators of climate impacts for forests: recommendations for the U.S. National Climate Assessment indicators system.”

SEFS IN THE PRESS

Michelle Ma at UW News put together a great story about a new publication from Professor Sally Brown in the Journal of Environmental Quality, “Risk of lead poisoning from urban gardening is low, new study finds.”

ALUMNI UPDATES

Lauren Grand (’13, M.S.) is serving as the Washington State University Extension forestry program coordinator. She recently published a story on HeraldNet.com, “Like amphibians? Now’s the time to start looking for them. Here’s how.”

In much sadder news, we recently learned that Charles Carrington “Chuck” Avery (’71, Ph.D.) passed away on January 26, 2016. He worked as a professor of forestry at the University of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Ariz., from 1974 until his retirement in 2001. He was 82 years old.