Oct 24, 2017

Dan Brown named director of UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences

Man with blonde hair and dark-rimmed glasses, wearing a blue sport coat, khaki pants and a tie sits on a bench. He is smiling at the camera, and has one arm propped up on the back of the bench. Stairs are in the background.

UW Environment is pleased to announce that Dan Brown will be joining the University of Washington as the new director of the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, effective January 1, 2018. As director, Dan will play a vital role in guiding the School’s academic growth and developing new initiatives, providing leadership and management of its programs, centers, and research grants, allocating its revenues in a manner that supports its mission, and enhancing its sizable and growing endowment.

Study points to win-win for spotted owls and forest management

Two spotted owls sitting on a tree branch.

Remote sensing technology has detected what could be a win for both spotted owls and forestry management, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis, the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station and the University of Washington. For 25 years, many forests in the western United States have been managed to protect habitat for endangered and threatened spotted owls.

Research on West Coast fisheries and human nutrition receives pilot grant from UW Population Health Initiative

“Our work is part of a movement to democratize local food movements and make them more accessible to more people.”

Old fish few and far between under fishing pressure

A bright orange fish fish swimming in dark water near the rocky ocean floor.

Like old-growth trees in a forest, old fish in the ocean play important roles in the diversity and stability of marine ecosystems. Critically, the longer a fish is allowed to live, the more likely it is to successfully reproduce over the course of its lifetime, which is particularly important in variable environmental conditions. A new study by University of Washington scientists has found that, for dozens of fish populations around the globe, old fish are greatly depleted — mainly because of fishing pressure.

Climate change challenges the survival of fish across the world

grass and rock covered terrain, with a meandering river cutting through the landscape and distant mountains.

Climate change will force many amphibians, mammals and birds to move to cooler areas outside their normal ranges, provided they can find space and a clear trajectory among our urban developments and growing cities. But what chance do fish have to survive as climate change warms up waters around the world? University of Washington researchers are tackling this question in the first analysis of how vulnerable the world’s freshwater and marine fishes are to climate change.