Political Anatomy of a Farmers' Market: Food Justice, Cultural Politics and Waste Management on the Plaza

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

My research examines the North Coast Growers Association's food access, cultural inclusion and waste management initiatives through a critical environmental justice lens. It highlights the efforts of Farmers' Market Incentive Programs such as SNAP, WIC and Market-Match in addressing food insecurity and attracting low-income and student participation to markets. I discuss the geography of waste management as it pertains to the 'zero waste' initiatives of NCGA, and touch on the general tendencies of California farmers' markets to construct themselves as 'white spaces.' My research offers several strategies to disrupt whiteness and the 'white farm imaginary' in these spaces.

Pollinator Response to Ultraviolet Light Reflection in Flowers

Carina Trentini, Wildlife Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

This research project was a the capstone project for my Wildife degree, in which I researched the impact short-wave UV light reflection by flowers affects pollinator behavior. Insects can see into the ultraviolet light spectrum, and plants are known to reflect these light wavelengths for aiding pollinators. I studied the correlation between pollinator visitation frequency and the proportion of flower surface area that is reflective of UV light. I focused on 3 main pollinator groups: bumble bees, native bees and flower flies. I found that pollinators are significantly more likley to visit flowers with high UV light reflection than flowers with low amounts of UV light reflection.

Pomo Water Rights in the Russian River Watershed

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

This poster will illustrate the relationships between the Northern, Central, and Southern Pomo tribal communities and the Russian River watershed in the context of their forced relocation to reservations and rancherias over the course of the nineteenth century. It will illustrate the effects of settler incursion in terms of genocidal campaigns, enslavement, western agriculture, urban development, and recreational water use. Furthermore, it will explore the effects that both the loss and subsequent restoration of federal recognition had on Pomo rights to ground and surface water in the Russian River watershed.

Post-Fire Seedling Recruitment by Burnt Trees at the 2017 Helena Fire

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

A regeneration survey was conducted in Weaverville by the 2019 Forest Ecology class at the 2017 Helena Fire students looking at post-fire seedling recruitment. Forty five 10-meter radius plots were established. Within the plots, seedlings and fallen seed cones were counted. We assumed that the seeds were mature when this site burned (August 31) and that all seedlings came from burnt trees; i.e. the seeds within the cones survived the flames. Thus, we hypothesized there would be a positive relationship between seedling and seed cone density. The results showed a positive correlation (R2 = 0.82) between seedlings and seed cones per plot, thus sustaining our hypothesis.

Post-fire seedling recruitment in the 2008 Siskiyou complex fire

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

The spate of recent high intensity (stand-replacing) fires in California has led some to wonder whether our tree species are adapted to such large burns. Many assume that regeneration will typically be so poor that many of these burns will be dominated by shrubs and herbs instead of forests. This study examines seedling recruitment of conifers as a function of distance across a 1 km-wide burn near Hoopa. Six transects, each 50 m x 4 m, were spaced along the 1 km transects, and seedlings and burnt cones were counted. Douglas-fir and white fir averaged 2903 ha-1 and 1996 ha-1 seedlings, respectively, and 75% of the km had >490 recruits/ha (the minimal acceptable density in California).

Post-Wildland Fire Prescribed Burning: Regeneration of Ponderosa Pine and Changes in Fuel Loads Following the Jasper Fire

Cristina Winters, Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

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.

Potawot Community Garden Combating Malnutrition

Mariyah Weldy, Biological Sciences Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

Research: The provision of organic produce to local community members via the Potawot garden

Potawot Community Garden: Moving Beyond Land Acknowledgements

Chrys Furrer, Other Undergraduate Student

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Potawot Community Garden serves as an exemplary model of the environmental and social health impacts of returning Indigenous land to Indigenous hands. The College Corps program, with Potawot as a community partner, gives student fellows the opportunities to serve in support of Potawot's mission of enhancing Indigenous food sovereignty while mitigating food insecurity, restoring the land, and supporting the cultural healing of Indigenous community members as well as the broader community. This project invites readers to take action through volunteer involvement with organizations such as Potawot, making monetary donations to the Wiyot tribe, and advocating for Indigenous land rematriation.

Potter Valley Project Relicensing: The Fate of Two Watersheds

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

At the headwaters of the Eel River stand two large dams. Not far from the Eel River is the Russian River, which has become hydrologically connected across a natural divide by a mile long diversion tunnel transporting water from the dammed Van Arsdale Reservoir in the Eel River into the Russian River. The dams will be up for relicensing in 2022, and as such stakeholders have come together to begin the political process. An interdisciplinary analysis of the current dialogue and data provides a critical tool in understanding the complexity of the relicensing process that will ultimately decide the fate of the two watersheds and the human and non-human communities that share the water.

Pre Counseling for Enhanced Recovery After Surgery

Ana Lilia Alaniz, School of Applied Health Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

Following the plan for Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) has many benefits for the post-operative patient. Pre-surgery counseling helps overcome some barriers that can prevent the ERAS pathway from being implemented. Addressing and including the patient in their post-operative care will increase the likelihood that patients will be compliant with the pathway. The ERAS pathway is designed to standardize and optimize post-operative care. Education during the preoperative period is essential to increasing the success and implementation of the protocols.