Fire can heal you!

Nisogaabokwe Melonee Montano,a graduate student at University of Minnesota, who works as a TEK Outreach Specialist and for the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, spoke at ESF about collaborating the natural and technical world's resources in order to save the land.

Montano discussed the connections between knowledge, cultures, climate change, and fire which can result in revitalization and healing. Montano illustrated the importance of and approach taken to weaving together Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Western Science for Climate Change focused work at Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission. This work led to a similar approach being used when analyzing fire research on cultural lands of the Ojibwe people, and the unexpected outcomes.

Montano believes it is important to balance all aspects of life, and her work symbolizes the importance of being open minded when problem solving and looking for solutions.

About the speaker: Nisogaabokwe – Melonee Montano, is a mother, grandmother, and an enrolled member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Outreach Specialist for Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) where she helps assess climate change impacts on treaty resources and potential threats to Ojibwe culture and lifeways. She is also a Grad Student at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities in the Natural Resources Science & Management Program under the Forestry Department. Prior to GLIFWC she was Red Cliff’s Environmental Programs Manager where she has also served on various committees including EPA’s Regional Tribal Operations Committee, Alliance for Sustainability, Treaty Natural Resources, the Integrated Resources Management Plan, and is currently serving on the Great Lakes Compact Commission. She holds a B.S. degree in Healthcare Administration with a Native American and Environmental Studies emphasis. Lastly and most importantly, she is a lifelong student of her cultural ways.

The presentation was jointly presented by the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, the Adaptive Peaks Seminar Series (sponsored by the Department of Forest Biology), and the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series (sponsored by the ESF Women's Caucus).

As part of the requirements for FOR 797, Perspective on Career and Gender students share  responsibility of reporting on a subset of class discussions, including those that are part of the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series (WiSE Professions). The preceding was prepared by Liv Grogan, Ph.D. student in environmental chemistry.

Re-usable menstrual products

ESF has received a $5,000 award to further look holistically at the campus' materials ecosystem and to build a zero-waste campus infrastructure that effectively addresses accessibility, equity, and systemic oppression from the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling (NYSAR3) and the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP21). 

With the grant, ESF will purchase menstrual cups and materials for reusable pads. This effort will build upon the College's zero-waste and inclusivity goals and move closer to becoming a zero-waste campus by 2025. ESF launched its campus-wide composting program in August 2019 and has seen a 27 percent decrease in trash (by weight) since that time.

Lack of access to menstrual products (AKA "Period Poverty") also negatively impacts quality of life for far too many individuals.  Such supplies are in constant demand at food pantries and other social support structures.  This can prevent full participation in school and field work; menstrual cups in particular can  Thus the Office of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity has also pledged funds, and the Baobab Society has pledged their supplies of menstrual cups that the had purchased for a tabling event for Womyn's Herstory Month, as well as assistance in tabling.  As a cost saving measure, PIs budgeted funds for fabric, rather than cloth pads, and hope to recruit student groups and volunteers to make pads, and to teach others to do the same.

Read the press release from The Office of Communications & Marketing here.

Morningstar discusses healing socio-ecological wounds through plants and land justice

As an herbalist, academic, activist, and indigenous ethnobotanist, Stephanie Morningstar has learned to see the world through multiple lenses. She visited SUNY-ESF on March 4th, 2020 to discuss how these different worldviews have helped her in her work addressing socio-ecological problems of today. The talk was sponsored by the ESF Women’s Caucus and the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.

The lecture, titled “Co-creating Indigenous Futures: Finding My Place as a Haudenosaunee Woman in Academia, Land Sovereignty and Healing Justice”, began with the Haudenosaunee thanksgiving address, an expression of gratitude for all that supports life – from the sun to the plants to the animals to the soils. Morningstar encouraged the audience to envision where we find peace in nature, and center ourselves on that image. She then guided us into recognizing the ways that our relationships with land have been damaged over the years, and how we can learn to heal those broken relationships. Morningstar’s life work has focused on this mission, and she approaches it from both a social and a biological perspective. In her many different roles, she says she is always grounded in service to community.

As an herbalist at Sky World Apothecary + Farm, Morningstar develops relationships with plants and uses their gifts to help people heal. As an academic, Morningstar works with Global Water Futures, bridging western and traditional ecological knowledge in water research projects. And as an activist, Morningstar works with the North East Farmer’s of Color Land Trust to help return land to people who have been denied it for generations - specifically black, indigenous, and people of color (BI-POC). She noted that in the United States, BI-POC farmers and stewards own less than 1% of farm land. Morningtar encouraged us to recognize how historical injustices are continued today, and that we must actively work to correct them.

Throughout her talk, Morningstar helped the audience diagnose the ecogrief we may be feeling about the state of the world today. As environmentally-minded citizens, many of us feel the heavy weight of climate change upon us and the loss of beloved ecosystems. In addition to ecogrief, she also described the psychological toll of ethnostress - losing one’s sense of place in the world. These harms weigh especially heavy on indigenous people who have been cut off from their land and culture due to colonization, boarding schools, and land theft. Morningstar’s work to heal these wounds has led her to working for both ecological restoration as well as restorative social justice. 

Morningstar’s lecture ended by asking us to envision once again our wild place of peace, centering us on a vision of a healthy future. Despite the many environmental and social wounds we carry today, she showed us that there are also many paths for healing. To learn more about her work, you can visit her personal website and blog (www.skyworldapothecary.com), her research at Global Water Futures (https://gwf.usask.ca/projects-facilities/indigenous-projects.php), and the work of the North East Farmers of Color Land Trust (https://nefoclandtrust.org/)

              For more information about the ESF Women’s Caucus, and upcoming speakers, please visit: https:/www.esf.edu/womenscaucus.

As part of the requirements for FOR797 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility for reporting on presentations in the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series. The preceding was prepared by By Lauren Tarr (Environmental Science, PhD).

The Ocean is Losing its Breath: A Marine Scientist’s Call for Action

For years, ESF has celebrated Earth Week, a long-standing tradition where instead of only celebrating Earth day on April 22^nd, the school plans an entire week of events in order to celebrate what defines our campus community: a shared love of the environment.

Now a tradition for staff, faculty, and students alike, this year’s Earth Week had a variety of community clean-ups, sustainability-themed events, and guest speakers.  Amongst these speakers was Dr. Denise Breitburg, a Senior Scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland. As a part of the semester long Adaptive Peaks seminar series, Dr. Brietburg’s lecture, “The Ocean is Losing its Breath,” presented an overview of ocean deoxygenation, its effects, and its solutions.

As the leader of the Global Ocean Oxygen Network, Dr. Breitburg has now invested years into researching various anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment. In the beginning of her talk, Breitburg was very quick to clarify, “I’m also talking about coastal waters like estuaries, and also semi-enclosed seas like the Baltic sea, and not just the open ocean.”

Following her introduction, Dr. Breitburg immediately jumped into her presentation. First, she acknowledged that low oxygen levels do occur naturally in the ocean, however, the current concern amongst marine scientists is that oxygen is now declining beyond areas where these naturally low levels have been traditionally observed.

According to her presentation, ocean oxygen levels globally have dropped 2%. While to many, a 2% decline in oxygen does not sound substantial, declining oxygen levels affect organism of all sizes. Specifically, a lack of oxygen affects an organism’s ability to respirate, photosynthesize, and reproduce. While marine deoxygenation has many causes, Dr. Breitburg stated that the primary sources of this global phenomenon are agriculture, human waste, and the burning of fossil fuels.

When discussing any environmental problem many people are often left wondering what they can do to make a difference, especially communities that are inland and like Syracuse, NY, thousands of miles from the nearest ocean. But, Dr. Brietburg pointed out that “it is not all gloom and doom” and that there are actions that we can take.

Dr. Brietburg presented many different pathways for one to make a difference. She pointed out that while we have developed an incredible understanding of the impact of ocean deoxygenation on the marine environment, there is currently no thorough research on the impact of ocean deoxygenation on us. She then explained that, by extending research on this issue to its impact on human health, we can raise awareness of the severity of this ocean deoxygenation, and gain the attention of politicians and other global forces who have the power to influence this problem. Aside from further research, she recommended changes in various agricultural and aquaculture systems. Furthermore, she said with a serious tone, “carbon capture and sequestration need to be added to the equation.”

During her conclusion, Dr Breitburg stated, “The big challenge is to increase engagement, both with civil society, and policy makers. And to do that, we need to increase and improve our communication on these issues.”

While ESF offers a few courses, and a minor in marine science, it is not often that a marine scientist visits campus. While ocean deoxygenation is like all environmental issues- complicated, Dr. Breitburg instilled hope within her audience, and showed that with further research, communication, and engagement with policy-makers, solutions to this issue are not as far-fetched as they might seem.

Dr. Breitburg directs SERC’s Marine & Estaurine Ecology Lab and thinks up new ways to investigate the impacts of dead zones and acidification on Chesapeake Bay’s fish and invertebrates.  Breitburg has also served as  Participating Faculty, Graduate Program in Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences, University of Maryland System.  She was previously Curator, Marine/Estuarine Ecology, Ichthyology, at The Academy of Natural Sciences, Estuarine Research Center and Adjunct Professor, and Graduate Faculty member within other departments at the University of Maryland.   She earned a BS and MA in Biology from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara,  where she looked at Marine and estuarine ecology; relationship between behavior and community ecology; and the behavior and ecology of fishes.

This chapter in the Adaptive Peaks Speaker Series is cross-listed with Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions and is sponsored by Department of Environmental and Forest Biology and ESF Women's Caucus.  As part of the requirements for FOR496/497 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility for reporting on presentations in the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series. The preceding was prepared by Lydia Torres, BS 2019, Environmental Studies, with a concentration in Environment, Communication, and Society and a Minor in Environmental Writing & Rhetoric. 

Afrofuturism and the Environment

On April 12^th, Robyn Reed, Head of Access Services, Schaffer Library, Union College,  lead the community in a conversation about Afrofuturism and the Environment.   Reed shared a short film titled Pumzi. This award-winning film is a Kenyan science-fiction story written and directed by Wanuri Kahiu. The film is set to take place in the future, 30 years after World War III – the water war. Life on earth is now largely nonexistent. The story line follows Asha, who curates a museum in an East African territory with exhibits including long gone plant and animal life. Asha receives a package that suggests that the planet outside her strictly enclosed community might be viable.

Struck by the possibility, Asha leaves her community to plant a seed. Trading her own security for the survival of the seed, she travels across the landscape to search for viable land. The film ends in a scene of sacrifice and hope.

Following the film, Reed facilitated a discussion, prompting viewers for their impressions; some saw themes of hope, while others saw hopelessness. The crowd praised the poignancy of the film, which projected a future in which resource scarcity has driven communities to war and insecurity. This theme is perhaps especially relevant for much of the African content, which may disproportionately feel the effects of climate change and resource depletion. 

Afrofuturism is a genre of speculative fiction that, unlike many science fiction stories, projects a future where black culture is significant and central. Afrofuturism addresses the fact that mainstream fictional futurism has failed to include black culture and black bodies from narratives. Further, as a sociopolitical thought movement, Afrofuturism expresses that solutions to social and environmental crises cannot and will not come exclusively from white voices, asserting a space for black culture in ideas for future innovation. While some see Afrofuturism as hugely speculative, like all good science fiction, it is potentially deeply prescriptive as is drives viewers to consider the possible.

Throughout her presentation Robyn Reed provided suggestions of further movies, books, anthologies, and artists in Afrofuturist genre. These include but are not limited to the anthologies Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturim and Beyond and Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora; works from authors such as Octavia Butler, Nalo Hopkinson, Nnedi Okorafor, and Samuel Delaney; art work such as Farbice Monteiro’s The Profecy series; and perhaps most notably the Black Panther movie, which has been hugely successful in theaters. To add a personal reference, much of Janelle Monet’s work has brought Afrofuturism to the popular modern music world.

This event served as a fantastic introduction the Afrofuturism. Perhaps most notably, Robyn Reed’s presentation on Afrofuturism serves to remind the ESF community to actively include the perspectives of minority individuals in conversations about environmental stewardship and the future direction of our college.

Reed's research interests include studying the intersection of race and science fiction in film and television, Afrofuturism, and information literacy. As a librarian, Reed expressively aims to combat “fake news” by guiding library patrons to more reliable sources for their work.

This event was cosponsored by the Friends of Moon Library and ESF Women's Caucus.  For more information about the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions speaker series, visit http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/speakers.htm 

As part of the requirements of FOR797, Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility for reporting on the WiSE Professions speaker series.  The preceding was written by Claudia N Victoroff, Megan Gallagher and Maisie Baronian.

Dr. Nacoulma explores Elephant Attacks on Baobab Trees in Burkina Faso

On February 22, 2018, Dr. Blandine Marie Ivette Nacoulma - a Fulbright Scholar from University Ouaga 1 Professor Joseph KI-ZERBO serving at University of California, Davis as an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science – presented “Why do elephants attack Baobab trees in protected areas of Burkina Faso? Toward the elaboration of a strategy for species conservation.”  This presentation was a join presentation of SUNY ESF’s Advaptive Peaks Seminar Series and the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series. The Department of Environmental and Forest Biology Department sponsored the seminar with the Fulbright Outreach Lecturing Fund and the ESF Women’s Caucus. 

            Dr. Nacoulma discussed a variety of characteristics of Baobab trees that may indicate a high likelihood of elephant attack, in which the tree is debarked to some degree, including bark texture, bark color, tree shape, and diameter at breast height (dbh).  The research area consisted of a group of protected areas or parks with various management plans in Eastern Burkina Faso.  As this research is ongoing, final conclusions were not presented.

            The presentation began with extensive background information regarding the setting of this research: Dr. Nacoulma’s home country, Burkina Faso, which is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Dr. Nacoulma also provided a primer on the country’s “Big Two” species.  Elephants and Baobab trees are “charismatic flagship and keystone species” important to ecology and economy of the region, and “indirectly in conflict.”    The Baobab trees surveyed for Dr. Nacoulma’s research were found within three adjacent protected areas in Eastern Burkina Faso, each within a different ecological zone and with a corresponding management plans: Arli National Park, W Burkina Faso National Park, and Pama Reserve.  In these areas, debarking of Baobab trees by elephants has been observed repeatedly.  Only one other study exploring this phenomenon has been completed in Western Africa.

  Dr. Nacoulma’s research utilized feedback and input from local people to identify distinct characteristics of Baobab trees, including bark texture (smooth, rough, and cracked), bark color (pink, white, dark, and intermediate), tree shape (“broom”, flattened, round, and “sunshade”), and tree size (dbh).  Tree size was the only characteristic that had a noticeable correlation to debarking, in that larger trees were more likely to have been attacked.  No other measured characteristics had significant correlation to elephant attacks, indicating that these characteristics do not predispose the trees to attack.  Nutrient analyses are still underway.

Local people provided potential reasons that elephants attack Baobab trees, including for a nutritional supplement, as a source of water, because of a need to destroy, and because elephants compete with Baobab trees to be the largest organism on the landscape.  Finally, local people gave suggestions on how to address the problem and protect the trees, including fencing in each tree, providing additional water holes for elephants, planting more Baobab trees, and culling the elephant population. 

During the discussion the day prior and the reception following her presentation, Dr. Naclouma shared many interesting stories about her country’s economy and the financial benefits of Baobab trees. It is obvious that Baobab trees facing threats from the unsustainable tourism and illegal hunting which very common in Africa.

Dr. Nacoulma holds a Ph.D. in Plant Biology and Ecology from the University of Ouagadougou, where she focuses on the diversity, production, uses, ethno-ecology, ethnobotany and conservation of indigenous trees important for the livelihood of rural communities in Burkina Faso. Dr. Nacoulma is studying the functional traits of the baobab as a baseline for its conservation. 

The next presentation in the WiSE Professions series will be March 27, 2018 with Dr. Christine O’Connell of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science “Communicating science to the public.”  For more information about the WiSE Professions Series, please visit http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/Speakers.htm or the SUNY ESF’s Women’s Caucus at http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/. 

As part of the requirements of FOR496/797 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility for reporting on the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series.  The preceding was prepared by:  Xue Dong, PhD student in Environmental and Forest Biology; Megan Gorss, a BS student majoring in Natural Resources Management, in the Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management Department; and Colin Mettey, a MS student focusing on Ecology in the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology.

Antibiotic Resistance as an Environmental Contaminant

As part of the requirements of FOR /496797, Perspectives on Career and Gender, student share responsibility for reporting on the WiSE Professions Speaker Series.  The following was prepared by Stacy Furgal, a MS student in EFB.

              Dr. Amy Pruden, of Virginia Tech, presented her research relating to antibiotic resistance and opportunistic pathogens as environmental contaminants on Tuesday, April 26.  This lecture was part of SUNY ESF’s Women in Science and Environmental Professions Spring Seminar Series.

              The lecture focused on the problem of antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) and opportunistic pathogens (OPs) found in our water (both municipal and well), and the potential problems this could cause from a public health perspective. The water infrastructure in our country is antiquated and aging, and poorly suited to address these new contaminant issues. Current regulatory monitoring requirements do not apply to ARGs and OPs, but rather were designed with ingestion exposure type pathogens, like Cholera, in mind. Now the primary sources of water associated outbreaks are like Legionnaires’ Disease, which is acquired via breathing in particles that contain the bacteria, not ingesting infected water.

With that in mind, her multidisciplinary team is working to blend engineering and biology to find solutions to this complex issue. Dr. Pruden explained, using some of her and her colleagues’ work in Flint, MI, an examples. As most people know, a crisis occurred in Flint when the source for city drinking water was switched from Lake Michigan to the Flint River. The water from the Flint River had a higher salinity content, which corroded the pipes and caused lead to leach out into the water. Less well known is that this also released iron that acted as fuel for Legionella bacteria to grow. Her team investigated the increased number of reported cases of Legionnaires’ Disease and was able to link it to the corroded pipes through genetic markers.

Her team was also involved in a project that compared the amount of ARGs and OPs in regular potable water versus water that had been treated and reused, or  “recycled.” The study found that recycled water had more microbial activity, and more abundance and diversity of ARGs. It was also clear that the water tested at the water treatment facility had a different “resistome” (collection of ARGs) than water coming out of a tap in a home receiving water from that facility.

Both of Dr. Pruden’s studies highlighted that there should be a shared responsibility between utilities (water treatment facilities) and homeowners. Water quality at the point of use, i.e. in homes, is of the greatest concern to public health. Using a holistic approach, we need new frameworks and updated mitigation strategies to handle the new and emerging issue of antibiotic resistant genes and opportunistic pathogens. This is best done by a multidisciplinary team, like Dr. Pruden’s, that brings biologists, engineers, chemists, utility managers, and more, together to tackle the problem.

Dr. Pruden received her B.S. in Biology and Ph.D. in Environmental Science from University of Cincinnati. She is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Associate Dean and Director of Interdisciplinary Graduate Education in the Graduate School at Virginia Tech, as well as a W. Thomas Rice Professor. She serves as the Director of Strategic Planning for the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Sciences Water Sustainability Thrust, is an Associate Editor for the journal Biodegradation, and serves on an advisory panel on Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) in recycled water. Dr. Pruden has published more than 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters on subjects pertaining to bioremediation, pathogens, and antibiotic resistance.

For more information about the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series, please visit http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/speakers.htm .

Dams as a model for shared decision making and management.

How do we communicate for social-ecological resilience? Communication research to connect science with coastal and freshwater management and policy.

As part of the requirements for FOR797 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility for reporting on presentations in ESF's Women in Scientific and Environmental Speaker Series.  The following was prepared by Mariela Cavo, MS student, Forest and Natural Resources and Management, SUNY ESF.

Dr. Bridie McGreavy, Assistant Professor of Environmental Communication in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of Maine, studies communication within sustainability science teams in coastal and freshwater management contexts. She is currently the lead investigator on the New England Sustainability Consortium’s Future of Dams Project. This project, funded by NSF-EPSCoR, links science with decision making about systems of dams.

              On January 26, 2017, Dr. McGreavy launched this semesters Adaptive Peaks and Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions (WiSE Professions) Speaker series with the preliminary results of her research Save Beaches and Shellfish.  Her presentation focused on answering the questions, “How do we communicate for social-ecological resilience?” and, “How do we  link science with decision making related to coastal and freshwater management and policy?”

              Attention was first put on describing the most challenging ecological, economic and social-cultural threats identified by the project: the coast of New England has been warming at a higher rate than other similar areas.   They have noticed significant changes in precipitation, t various kinds of pollution in the area, and a green crab invasion because of the increase in temperature. It was also noted that the decline of resources like clams, as well as the price fluctuation and the market power in the shellfish market, have been making stakeholder’s income prediction quite challenging, leading to economic uncertainty. Regarding the social and cultural aspects, the clam industry was identified as the second most important industry in the area of Maine.  The fisheries industry faces pressing social and cultural issues, including biases, restricted access to new technology, and the decline of local knowledge, cultural traditions, and food sources.  In addition, the physically demanding work puts workers at risk of pain and injury, which can lead to opiate and alcohol addiction. 

              The research in question has found that a well-designed “co-management strategy” could improve the shellfish industry. To date, this industry has been co-managed with shared decision making among the fishery industry, municipalities, state agencies, civic groups and private businesses. Co-management is most effective when well designed with opportunities to implement knowledge gained from research.  Topic areas include water quality, natural resources management and barriers to participation. 

Dr. McGreavy also depicted the methods they use to communicate social ecological resilience: incentivizing the participation of the different stakeholders, using an adaptive and iterative engagement through interviews to share information regarding the progress and to get feedback, and being responsive to information and partnership needs. Regarding the linking of science with decision-making for resilience, the project has a decision support team that has been mainly focused on watershed cluster analysis.  

Learning from failure, partnership redundancy and diversity, getting muddy with stakeholders create a shared, dynamic experience that help mold the deliberate, conceptual framework.   To conclude, the professor recommended conducting yearly needs assessments with the towns, improving and leveraging fishermen’s forums, exploring organizational restructuring to expand shellfish science and monitoring, building municipal partnership and infrastructure and increasing the sharing of the information and collaboration across sectors.  

Dr. McGreavy received her B.A. in Political Science from Bates College, her M.S. in Environmental Studies/Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England, and her Ph.D. in communication with a concentration in sustainability science from the University of Maine. Her research has been published in journals such as Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture, Ecology and Society, and the International Journal of Sustainable Development.

This presentation was sponsored by the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, with the assistance of the ESF Women’s Caucus. For more information about SUNY ESF’s Adaptive Peaks Seminar Series, please visit http://www.esf.edu/efb/calendar.asp.  For the WiSE Professions series, please visit:  http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/speakers.htm.  

               

               

FNRM Awards Ceremony Farnsworth Lecture: Katie Fernholz speaks on: “The Challenges and Opportunities of Sustainable Forestry”

Trees are making a comeback from would-be extinction, changing rhetoric like “Save a Tree” to “Sustainable Trees,” according to Katie Fernholz, Executive Director of Dovetail Partners.  She says, “land use has changed over time,” necessitating modern sustainable forestry practices and effective public policy which has turned trees into efficient, renewable, productive resources.  Fernholz was the Farnsworth Lecturer for the FNRM annual awards ceremony held March 26, 2015 on the SUNY-ESF campus. 

Ms. Fernholz spoke about improved forest use to include tall wood building, ecosystem services in terms of climate change, policy for implementing green building code, getting wood out of landfills, more stringent rules on illegal logging, and rebuilding public trust in forestry.  Fernholz states, “My work touches many areas such as urban forestry, recreation, and silviculture.”  Other issues surround private forest land ownership, one of America’s biggest challenges and the appropriate frequency of fire.  During the ceremony preceding the lecture, the C. Eugene Farnsworth Fellowship was granted to Ph.D. student, Matt Kelly, and M.S. student, Yang Yang.

Fernholz grew up on an organic farm in Western Minnesota.  After earning her degree in forestry from the University of Minnesota, Fernholz worked for an environmental services department and eventually Dovetail Partners.  She has also served on several committees, boards and societies and is a forest certification lead auditor.  Fernholz travels and lectures internationally and has worked with the U.N.  She credits her success to “creativity and expertise through certification” and adheres to a holistic lifestyle.

Dovetail Partners, Inc., is an environmental nonprofit that uses info about forestry in a historical context to envision a future of forests as a sustainable energy source, as well as diversity of forest products from paper to fuelwood, informed land use, and nonwasteful, stable forestry to fulfill their objectives but also to enhance the natural beauty and function of forests.  Initiatives toward educating youth through internships and mentoring programs are also goals.  Fernholz is collaborating with Prof. Bob Malmsheimer of FNRM toward policy aimed at effective management for trees grown for their use as carbon sinks but with a goal toward sustainable harvest practices.

The event was cross-listed as a Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions lecture.  For more information about the WiSE Professions Lecture Series, please visit:  http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/speakers.htm. 

As part of their class requirements, students share responsibility for reporting on speakers in the WiSE Professions Speaker Series.  The preceding was prepared by Julie Grinstead (EFB 2015).

CONTACT:  Ms. Katie Fernholz, Executive Director, Dovetail Partners, Inc., 528 Hennepin, Ave., Suite 703, Minneapolis, MN  55403, Tel. (612) 333-0430.  Website:  http://www.dovetailinc.org.

The Great Lakes – Today’s Issues and Tomorrow’s Concerns

As part of the course requirements for FOR797, Environmental Career Strategies for Women, students share responsibility for reporting on  WiSE Professions Events.   The following was prepared by Becki Walker, a MS student in the Graduate Program in Environmental Science.  Becki's studies are focused on Environmental Communication and Participatory Processes.

On Tuesday, March 25, 2014, members of the ESF campus community listened in fascination as Professor Helen Domske described a truly “hands on” experience with one of her research subjects – a sea lamprey.  Her lecture, “The Great Lakes – Today’s Issues and Tomorrow’s Concerns,” was part of SUNY ESF’s Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Spring Seminar Series.

In order to learn more about the invasive eel-like creature from a parasitized fish’s perspective, Domske submerged her arm in a tank of cold water for twenty minutes (in order to mimic the body temperature of a cold-blooded creature) and had an associate place a lamprey on her arm.  “You could see the indentations from each of its individual teeth!” Domske said, with the excitement in her voice that is the hallmark of a scientist truly immersed in her research.   Sea lamprey were only one in a parade of invasive creatures Domske discussed in her presentation.  

The Great Lakes are a special ecosystem, but they are threatened by a number of factors.  Invasive aquatic animals such as quagga and zebra mussels, round gobies, and water fleas (as well as the aforementioned sea lamprey) are wreaking havoc in the ecosystem.  Invaders compete with native species for food and habitat, and are even capable of altering the nutrient composition in the Lakes. 

Some of the emerging threats to the Lakes are thanks to another species – humans.  A recent study of water quality in 139 streams conducted by the US Geological Survey identified 82 contaminants in the water column.  Contaminants included a number of prescription drugs, ranging from anti-seizure medications to estrogens from birth control pills.  Personal care products such as face and body washes are also part of the problem – many of these contain tiny plastic “microbeads.”  Because these microbeads appear similar to eggs, many fish may consume them by mistake.  Microbeads also tend to attract other contaminants, posing additional problems for aquatic species.

Domske’s presentation wasn’t all doom and gloom, though – she provided some concrete ways we can all work to protect the Great Lakes.  We should remember we all live in a watershed, and avoid flushing any prescription medications that could wind up downstream.  She also suggested seeking out natural alternatives to personal care products containing plastic microbeads.  Through relatively simple actions such as these, we can help to insure that the Great Lakes remain worthy of their name.

Helen Domske is a Senior Extension Specialist for New York Sea Grant/Cornell Cooperative Extension and Associate Director of the Great Lakes Program at the University of Buffalo.  She is also the Education Coordinator of New York Sea Grant and the New York leader for the Center for Great Lakes literacy. She holds an MS degree from SUNY Buffalo, and has completed post-graduate coursework at Ohio State University and the University of Buffalo.  Her lecture was sponsored by the Great Lakes Research Consortium and the ESF Women’s Caucus. 

For more information about the WiSE Professions Speaker Series, please visithttp://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/speakers.htm

Dr. Paige Warren speaks about human influences on species interactions in urban communities

As part of the requirements of FOR 797, students share responsbility for reporting on speakers in the WiSE Professions Speaker Series. The following was prepared by Amanda Gray, Amanda Pachomski, Jennifer Potrikus, Emily Van Ness, and Qing Ren.

Dr. Paige Warren, Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Conservation at U Mass, Amherst, presented her research as well as the research of several collaborating scientists on human influences on species interactions in urban communities at ESF on Thursday, February 6, 2014. This presentation launched three spring SUNY College of Environmental Professions speaker series: Women in Scientific and Environmental (WiSE) Professions, GraduateStudent Association (GSA) Speaker Series, and Adaptive Peaks. The Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, GSA and the ESF Women’s Caucus jointly co-sponsored the seminar.

Dr. Warren discussed findings from five different cities (two in the Western US (Fresno,CA and Pheonix, AZ) and three in the Eastern US (Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, and Raleigh, NC)) that looked at human influence as the dominant mechanism of species presence and interaction in urban communities. She determined that for the cities in the Western US, water use is the main driver of species presence and interaction; for the cities in the Eastern US, forest cover is a more important driver. Other human-driven factors are also at work in each city and so the actual role of species interaction in determining community structure is still unclear.

The most direct human influence on species presence and interactions in each city relates directly to the two driving factors mentioned previously. Landscaping decisions in each city has a huge affect on which species appear in urban areas and the species interactions within the urban areas. In the western city of Phoenix, AZ where water is the major driving factor, there is a stark contrast in types of yards, largely dictated by neighborhood. There are xeric yards which are drier and support native and non-native vegetation similar to the surrounding flora of the region, and then there are mesic yards which are wetter and more lush that support some native, but mostly non-native vegetation that is very dissimilar to the surrounding vegetation. These different vegetation types support different types of animal species and can therefore influence the presence and interactions of species in the city. In the eastern city of Baltimore, MD, where the primary driver is forest cover, a direct correlation was seen between the canopy cover and amount of dead branches in the area and the number of woodpeckers present.

Under these more direct human influences, there are a variety of human influences that are likely to be interacting with the primary driver in each city that affect species presence and interaction. For example, in Phoenix, there was a pattern seen between the income level of a household and the type of food being fed to birds. The higher income families often left nectar and thistle for birds, which attracted more specialist bird species, whereas lower income families often left bread crumbs, which attracted more generalist bird species. The resulting consequences of these different food types include differences in species richness, competition, and the giving up densities of the birds at each location. Dr. Warren’s research looks at wealth as well as many other social science factors such as policy, institutional investment, consumer tastes and lifestyles to try and untangle the complex association of humans and the unban ecosystem.

Dr. Warren received a B.A. in biology from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in Zoology, from the University of Texas-Austin. Before she joined the faculty at U Mass, Amherst, she served as a Research Scientist at Virginia Tech and a Post Doc in the Biology Department and Center for Environmental Studies at Arizona State University. Dr. Warren was also recently on sabbatical as a Visiting Scholar in the School of Sustainability and School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University.

For upcoming lectures at ESF, please visit the College Calendar at http://www.esf.edu/calendar. 

Revitalizing Baltimore: A better city through environmental discovery

As part of the course requirements for FOR496/797, students share responsibility for reporting on the WiSE Professions Speaker Series.  The following was prepared by Olga Shevtsova

Jackie Carrera, president and CEO of Parks & People Foundation in Baltimore, concluded ESF’s 2013 Women in Scientific and Environmental (WiSE) Professions Series with Revitalizing Baltimore: A better city through environmental discovery on Tuesday, April 23. The seminar was jointly sponsored by the Graduate Student Association and the ESF Women's Caucus.

Parks & People began with the idea that there is one park, a city within a park, that is, rather than many parks within a city as the greenspace and corridors provide a network for a healthy community.  Ms Carrera discussed problems in the city of Baltimore, including significant property abandonment as a result of suburban sprawl, lack of opportunities for young people, stream erosion and non-point source pollution, uncoordinated approaches to natural resource management. These examples demonstrated the urgent necessity of the Urban Resources Initiative which works towards sustainability through applied ecosystem management principles. This working group learned that “Urban greening programs influenced the health of the city—they bring people together in a way they are not used to working together.  This increases their social capital, enabling them to take on bigger community issues like schools and crime.  They also have an economic benefit by increasing property values.” 

Carrera also focused on the power of partnership between governments at all levels, nonprofits, academia, businesses, and communities. Defining the most important steps of planning process through discussion of how to meet the goals and how they’ve changed is a key to achieve urban ecological restoration. The Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) has enhanced increased public support of scientific research. Parks & People Foundation affords opportunities for BES scientists to communicate their knowledge for practical application in community organizing and public policy. Initiating different workshops, annual meetings, trainings and science presentations all contributed to the project’s success.  It is imperative that on the ground management strategies use sound scientific approaches; and that science research is informed by practical needs. The process “is established, then fixed, then tweaked, in an iterative way” to assure that everyone at each level are at the same table.  

Watershed 263 is a classic example. "The city had an unfunded mandate to clean up pollutants flowing into the city.   This watershed featured lots of impervious surfaces, a lot of city owned land, and significant but dispersed open space. What, they wondered, would happen if they could reduce the asphalt?  The removal of back parking lot of Franklin Square Elementary School, coupled with other projects increased the area available for infiltration."

Good Science is the key, and a technology committee capable of communicating science with practitioners, is the tipping point.

About Jackie Carrera
Jackie Carrera has been instrumental in the development of a 15-mile urban greenway, community forestry and watershed restoration programs numerous youth sports and camp programs which continue to be integral to the revitalization efforts of some of that city’s most underserved communities. She also chaired Revitalizing Baltimore, a US Forest Service urban and community forestry project and is a co-principal investigator for the Baltimore EcosystemStudy, a National Science Foundation-funded, long term ecological research project.  Ms. Carrera represented the Chesapeake region in preparing for the Obama Administration’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative and the Urban Waters Initiative.  She served on a national task force initiated by the US Forest Service, Vibrant Cities and Urban Forests: A National Call for to Action. Ms. Carrera was voted one of the Daily Record’s Maryland’s Top 100 Women and 100 Most Influential Marylanders by The Maryland Daily Record and was named the 2008 University of Baltimore Distinguished Social Entrepreneur. Ms. Carrera is a graduate of the Greater Baltimore Committee Leadership Program and the Weinberg Fellows Program. She earned a BA, Business Administration degree in Finance from Loyola College in Maryland.

For more information about the WiSE Professions Series, please visit http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/speakers.htm