Dennis Hartmann, professor of Atmospheric Sciences in the College of the Environment, has agreed to serve as interim dean from July 1 until Maya Tolstoy begins as the Maggie Walker Dean on Jan. 1, 2022.

Hartmann served as interim dean of the College when it formed in 2009 until July 1, 2010 when Dean Lisa Graumlich began her term.

As an atmospheric scientist who studies the atmosphere’s role in climate variability and change, and how the atmosphere interacts with the ocean in a changing climate, Hartmann’s principal areas of expertise are atmospheric dynamics, remote sensing, and mathematical and statistical techniques for data analysis. He has been an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow, and has received a number of awards throughout his career, including the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal and the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal from the American Meteorological Society. Hartmann is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

As announced a few weeks ago, Tolstoy will join the University of Washington in January from Columbia University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, where she is a marine geophysicist specializing in seafloor earthquakes and volcanoes.

Thank you to Hartmann for taking on this work once again, and thank you to Dean Graumlich whose term as dean concludes June 30.

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Professor Sara L. Gonzalez has agreed to serve as the Quaternary Research Center (QRC) Director, effective July 1. In this role she will continue building the interdisciplinary intellectual portfolio of the QRC and broadening the involvement and impact of the QRC across the university.

Gonzalez is an associate professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington and Curator of Archaeology the Burke Museum of Natural History. An anthropological archaeologist by training, she works at the intersection of Indigenous studies, tribal historic preservation and public history. Her research contributes to the growing field of Indigenous and community-based archaeologies, which feature the direct engagement of Indigenous peoples and are committed to the ethical integration of Indigenous knowledge and methods into archaeological practice and heritage management. She currently co-directs Field Methods in Indigenous Archaeology with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon’s Historic Preservation Office, which enhances the capacity of the tribe as well as archaeologists to care for, protect and represent tribal heritage for future generations. In addition to this work, Gonzalez is a co-founder of the Indigenous Archaeology Collective, a network of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars within archaeology and related fields that provides mentorship to Indigenous archaeology scholars and advocates for the rights of Indigenous peoples as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Sara succeeds Ben Fitzhugh, who will be returning to his full-time appointment as a professor in the Department of Anthropology and continuing member of the QRC community. He took on the role of the QRC Director in January 2014. One highlight of Ben’s tenure included the QRC’s 50th Anniversary celebration in 2019, which celebrated past achievements of the QRC while looking to the future.

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Congratulations to graduating seniors Elizabeth Lee (Program on the Environment) and Essac Mazengia (Environmental and Forest Sciences), both awarded the President’s Medal in the 2021 University of Washington Awards of Excellence.

Each year, UW President Ana Marie Cauce presents two medals to the graduating seniors who have achieved the most distinguished academic records at the University: one medal to a student who has completed at least three-fourths of his or her degree requirements at the University of Washington, and one medal to a student who entered the University with at least 60 transfer credits from a Washington community college.

Elizabeth Lee, Environmental Studies

Even before transferring from Everett Community College, Elizabeth had the UW in her sights when she participated in an ocean research program that took her aboard the R/V Rachel Carson. At the UW, she continued to pursue her passion for oceanography, as well as exploring a breadth of Indigenous history through the Burke Museum, and seeking out unique and diverse opportunities to learn and explore as part of her Husky Experience. After graduation, she plans to attend the UW School of Law and to pursue a career advocating for justice.

Essac Mazengia, Environmental Science & Terrestrial Resource Management

Esaac arrived at the UW eager to immerse himself in environmental studies, and as an undergraduate he explored widely, from local landscapes to Costa Rica. As part of the Interdisciplinary Honors program, he developed his talents for collaboration, creativity and holistic thinking. Throughout his Husky Experience, he has sought and seized countless opportunities to learn, grow and lead. After graduation, he plans to serve in AmeriCorps in the National Park Service and to continue his study of equity and diversity in environmental policy.

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Kari Greer / U.S. Forest Service- Pacific Northwest Region

2020 was a memorable year for wildfires. Images of burning forests appeared everywhere on social media and attention-grabbing headlines dominated news cycles all over the world. Heading into the 2021 fire season, two big questions loom in everyone’s minds, so we checked in with some fire experts at UW Environment to ask: Are fires getting worse over time? If so, what compounding factors are in place?

Let’s start by examining the components that contribute to wildfires, also referred to as the “fire triangle.” Firstly, fires need fuel. This can either be brush, grass, trees, vegetation, and even fallen or dead vegetation — anything that could be burnable biomass. Secondly, fires need some sort of ignition, whether human induced or as the result of lightning. Lastly, the weather conditions need to be right: hot and dry, with winds assisting the fire in its spread.

Fuel, both its makeup and behavior, are different on the east side and the west side of the Cascades.

Many forests on the east side contain the classic pine trees in an open forest system. Fire is no stranger to these forest systems, which have naturally burned every ten to thirty years throughout their evolutionary history. Forest systems here exist in drier conditions, which increases the likelihood of burning year to year. The east side not only has forests, but also a variety of other systems conducive to burning. “A lot of area burned east of the Cascades is not in forests, but actually in sagebrush or grassland,” said Climate Impacts Group Climate Adaptation Specialist Crystal Raymond. 

Moving to the west of the Cascades, the climate is typically colder in the summer and wetter, and the forests are made up of Douglas fir, hemlock and cedar with fire cycles in the hundreds of years. Historically, fires in these forests occur less frequently, with a given patch of forest sometimes not burning for 500 years or more. However, when the weather conditions are extremely dry and perhaps most importantly, windy, fires can thrive. Because the weather conditions are critical to fire events, forests west of the Cascade Crest can remain unburned for many human generations’ lifetimes and have the opportunity to accumulate biomass, which is why it becomes a concern when the right weather conditions align for fires.

Following European colonization of North America, fire management techniques like fire suppression and fire exclusion removed or prevented a lot of fires that would have otherwise occurred. Fire suppression refers to a management technique of trying to put out a fire as soon as it starts. This not only dampens the fire that is occurring but it also excludes the fire from spreading to other areas where it would’ve burned. Fire exclusion is a broader term referring to the attempted removal of fire from landscapes using fire suppression techniques; most frequently through human-caused fire managed by Native Americans. 

“In our current context today, fire management includes many approaches,” says School of Environmental and Forest Sciences’ Assistant Professor Brian Harvey. “Fire carries some risk to society, so suppressing it when needed to protect resources and human lives, safety and property is important. But while suppression in some cases is the right thing to do, use of prescribed fire and letting other fires burn naturally is an important piece to the puzzle of forest management. Fire has always, and will continue to play a major role in these forested landscapes—the forests are very fire adapted. Minimizing societal damage from fire means that we’ll need to continue to be better fire adapted.”

The effects of past fire suppression are not felt equally across our forests in the Northwest. Fire suppression and exclusion eliminates the natural, periodic removal of vegetation in forests that are adapted to frequent fire in forests east of the Cascades, allowing them to build up more fuel on the forest floor, which can lead to forest conditions ripe for uncharacteristically severe fire.  West of the Cascades, forests burn less frequently and naturally build up more fuel, thus are not as impacted by fire suppression and exclusion. Native American tribes have for very long times practiced a lot of prescribed burning, especially in drier forests. Prescribed burns are used as a land management practice to clear underbrush and eliminate growing biomass.

“It is important to acknowledge Native American burning,” said Raymond. “Fire suppression is a very Euro-centric practice. Native Americans were using burning as a very active management practice, and one that is often overlooked when talking about the role of fires on both sides of the state.”

The intensity of and damage a big fire can do not only depends on the fuel load, but also a warming climate and its proximity to population centers. 

“The strongest driver of fire area burned are the climate drivers that make fire possible — warm, dry conditions lead to more fire activity,” says Harvey “A lot of area that is burning is not necessarily doing a lot of harm to human life, and sometimes the biggest fire years in terms of area burned aren’t the most damaging to human life. Other years, we see a relatively quieter fire year in terms of area burned but they cause a lot of societal damage because of where those fires are located.”

When discussing wildfire, many metrics contribute to how massive a fire year is, ranging from the location of fires and the proximity to infrastructure to total area burned. Our fire experts agree that the ingredients for fire are plentiful and abundant across the Western U.S. High biomass ecosystems (some at a natural level, some at a level higher than what is recorded historically) means fuel to burn, ignitions on landscapes are plentiful, and warm dry conditions are becoming more and more abundant to drive big fire years. History has proven that these conditions correspond with big fire events.

Raymond urges communities, especially those close to forest areas, to treat the fires season like preparing for any other natural disaster. “We need to recognize that we do get fires in western Washington and Oregon, and when they happen they can be big and severe. Start thinking now about evacuation and community response, and plan for it like you would an earthquake. How are you going to find each other and recover after a wildfire? Having these plans in place can really make a difference in the recovery process post fires.”

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University of Washington

It is graduation season, and with that comes well wishes for our graduates and an opportunity to shine a light on their accomplishments. In appreciation of their contributions to enriching the College of the Environment in numerous ways, the College has decided to fund a project jointly with the Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF). Recognizing our students are the next generation of leaders in environmental science and decision-making, we believe this is a contribution that showcases our collective commitment to the sustainability and the well-being of our Husky Community and our planet.

Based on the recommendation of our Student Advisory Council and a vote by our graduating students, the College will help fund the Native Gardens at UW Farm project. In partnership with wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ (the Intellectual House) and American Indian/Alaska Native & world indigenous student groups on campus, students designed and planted a garden of indigenous plants with significance in native food traditions. This is a step toward food sovereignty on the UW campus, allowing students, staff, faculty and the community to learn about, grow and consume traditional foods.

The project was designed for the students involved to plan the garden and events with campus and community partners, which are envisioned to include educational events, community gatherings, arts and storytelling. This project will contribute to biodiversity and restoration by reintroducing native plant species to the UW campus at two of the UW Farm’s growing sites. It will specifically focus on the reintroduction of edible and medicinal plant species, addressing food sovereignty, food insecurity and access to healthy foods, and will increase the amount of food grown on campus. These activities help address social and environmental sustainability issues.

Congratulations, class of 2021!

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National Center for Atmospheric research names Cleo Woelfle-Erskine to Early Career Faculty Innovator Program

The National Center for Atmospheric Research has named Cleo Woelfle-Erskine, assistant professor in the UW School of Marine & Environmental Affairs, to its Early Career Faculty Innovator Program.

The designation comes with a $400,000 award and Woelfle-Erskine is among the new program’s second cohort, working with School of Environmental and Forest Sciences doctoral student Sofi Courtney.

The Faculty Innovator Program aims to support faculty researchers in the social, policy and behavioral sciences and graduate students for two years as they develop interdisciplinary research projects in partnership with the center. They will begin their work this summer.

Woelfle-Erskine is working with the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources in northern California to study how cultural burning affects watershed hydrology such as snowpack, runoff and stream temperature. This is part of larger work to center floodplain restoration in Karuk science, culture and protocol.

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