The Northcoast Environmental Center is one of the oldest non-profit organizations in Northern California that has been protecting and conserving marine ecosystems since 1971. As a special project intern, this project focuses on the contributions of the Northcoast Environmental Center and how they’re volunteer events and ideas towards removing plastic waste have impacted beaches worldwide . The Coastal Cleanup Day was first established in 1979 through the Beach Beautification project, which is now practiced internationally every year.

This GIS research project provides info how clear-cut logging effects humans relationship to the forest and is threatening the Humboldt Marten. The Humboldt Marten, Martes caurina humboltensis, is historically found exclusively in Humboldt County and is currently registered as a “species of concern” or "threaten species" in the State of California and does not have an official “endangered species” status. As unsustainable timber harvesting continues, the Marten species faces threats to their home range and the impacts of logging include environmental, economic, and social aspects. This project is in support of the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) located in Arcata, Ca.

As high-intensity wildland fires occur more frequently and increase in size, the occurrence of reburn in burn scars is also increasing; however, the ecological effects of such reburn in Western coniferous forests are not well understood. Post-prescribed fire, we investigate the changes in woody fuel loads in high and moderately burned areas of the 2000 Jasper Fire and the patterns of ponderosa pine regeneration survival in those areas. Our findings can inform a management plan to restore historic heterogeneity in the Black Hills, a culturally and economically important region of the U.S., and increase resistance and resilience to climate change.

The function and use of small clay whistles in Mesoamerica has been debated in the archaeological record and theories for their use include ritual practice and imitations of animal vocalizations. In this experimental archaeology project I wish to recreate ancient Mayan whistles, more specifically the style of whistle located in Copan and the imported moulds from sites located in current day Honduras. The whistles themselves can take the form of a variety of figures that could include animals, individuals, and deities. I want to establish a better understanding of the amount of time, resources, and skill needed to manufacture clay whistles and how they were then distributed or traded.

Currently climate change is altering landscapes all over the globe and Native American communities are at the forefront of this ongoing battle. Tribes near low-lying coastal areas are most at risk when talking about climate change and the I've chosen to focus on three tribes in Alaska, two tribes in Florida in the Everglades and four tribes in the bayous of Louisiana. In this poster I'll be talking about how climate change will not only affect the tribes' abilities to continue their subsistence lifestyle and culture but also their ability to collect traditional food sources and maintain their water rights held by the Winters v. United States court case.

At Sunset High in Del Norte, I created and implemented several curriculums held as master class “skillshops.” The topics ranged from self-care to media literacy to healthy relationships. I used a mindfulness and Polyvagal/somatic approach, while being multicultural, anti-racist, critically and resourcefully informed. The skillshops were oriented through an alliance with the students, and relied primarily on established relationships and rapport with the students. Students left the skillshops with a deeper sense of understanding the gifts within themselves, along with a more critical, embodied, and curious way of interacting with the world around them.

Volunteers with Eureka's Westside Community Improvement Association transformed what was once Jefferson Elementary school, into the now Jefferson Community Center. The building itself is used as a place to hold meetings and recreational activities. Moreover, the center is dedicated to helping youth in the community by providing a safe, reliable place to learn and explore. Two projects that we have been volunteering for as Child Development students are the SEEDs project, and the Imagination playground. These projects provide the children with access to: homework help, a community garden, cooking classes, nutritious meals, educational exploration, and lots of FUN!

The California Floristic Province (CFP) is a global hot-spot of biodiversity. Creating a database of plant distributions for the CFP is pivotal to define species’s conservation status. Students associated with the Herbarium used R to create precise polygons for the range of 62 species in the CFP. We accessed publicly occurrence repositories for our target species and used a protocol to remove outliers. Using these cleaned coordinates, we created polygons of the ranges and inferred the area in square kilometers. This information was used to create a preliminary histogram for CFP plant distribution, highlighting a high percentage of plant taxa with ranges smaller than Humboldt county.

Fire suppression over the 20th century has created dangerous conditions in many western forests. Removing fire as a natural disturbance has brought about increased fuel loading and extreme fire behavior in many areas. This study researched the accumulation of duff mounds (decomposed plant material) around legacy sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) in the Russian Wilderness Area of the Klamath National Forest. Large amounts of fuel beneath trees poses the potential risk of tree mortality, even in a low intensity fire By assessing the dimensions, volume, distribution and physical properties of duff mounds, we can better the variability of how and where duff mounds accumulate.

The nitrogen inventory of Humboldt Bay has not been quantified in the last 50 years. Our goal was to compare and contrast the nitrogen content of the surface, sediments, biomass, and water column between Arcata and South Bay. Not only was nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium in the water column and pore water tested, but many other factors including: CTD, biomass, grain size, chlorophyll-a, loss of ignition, CHN, and metals. We used past peer reviewed papers to determine differences between the two study areas, and coupled NOAA cencoos and Wiyot data, with our own testing to get the best picture we could of Humboldt Bay. Testing spanned for three months in 2015: March, April, and May.