Research by scientists at Humboldt State University and the University of California Cooperative Extension in Eureka indicates that the onset of sudden oak death in North Coast forests could have major implications for the area’s long-term forest fire threat.
The non-native disease, which was discovered in the Bay Area in the mid-1990s, is found in 14 coastal counties in California, from Monterey to Humboldt. It has infected 10% of the at-risk areas in the state.
Sudden oak death thrives in the coastal climate, and has killed hundreds of thousands of tanoaks and true oaks in the last 15 years. Tanoak, which dies quickly from the disease, is one of the most flammable oaks in California. It is also the hottest burning hardwood in North America.
Dense stands of tanoak blanket Humboldt County. Morgan Varner, a Humboldt State professor who specializes in fire behavior, says land and forest management officials are confronting an infestation that is hard to track and contain across the North Coast landscape. It could present major complications under wildfire conditions.
Although only one percent of Humboldt County is currently infected, the disease is spreading and many areas are in jeopardy. Portions of the Van Duzen and Mattole River basins are at risk, as are portions of the Kings Range and the Eel, Mad, Klamath, and Trinity River riparian belts. Within affected areas, the disease could eventually remove most if not all tanoaks, causing a potential cascade of ecological effects of unknown magnitude.
Varner warns that the most tragic potential location would be an area somewhere in the Klamath basin. “The basin is home to tremendous tanoak forests on the Trinity, Klamath, and Salmon Rivers,” he notes. These areas are also prone to wildfire, and recent research by Varner and others shows that sudden oak death can be a game-changer when it comes to fuels and fire.
The disease drastically reduces the moisture content of leaves and foliage. Dead trees devoid of moisture pose a high risk of crown fires, which burn with exceptional heat and speed. They can also cause prolonged ecological damage. Owing to their height, crown fires are also more likely than ground blazes to be whipped up by prevailing winds.
The danger is intensified by a specific characteristic of the disease: tanoaks that die from sudden oak death experience prolonged leaf retention, up to two years or so. Crowns bear heavy fuel loads for extended periods, primed for ignition by extreme dryness.
Eventually, these dead leaves drop to the forest floor, further compounding the fire threat. It is both a short- and long-term risk, stretching out in phases for as long as 10 years. Tanoak leaves drop, then the branches. Eventually the tree itself topples.
“These unnatural fuel arrangements can lead to fires so intense that you can’t combat them with standard, ground-based firefighting tactics,” Varner said. “You just have to move back, and let them die down.”
This is one of the principal findings of a new research paper published by Varner and Yana Valachovic, adjunct HSU faculty member and UCCE Forest Advisor, in the journal Forest Ecology and Management (posted at www.elsvier.com/locate/foreco).
Their second key finding is that fallen tanoaks contribute greatly to fuel loading on the forest floor, and it can take years for those fuels to break down. As Valachovic says, “In this way, the disease creates a hazardous fuels situation that is passed on to firefighters during wildfire—
they must combat blazing downed trees, patches of increased winds and fire behavior and other physical and logistical obstacles.”
Hugh Scanlon, an HSU alumnus and Chief of CAL FIRE’s Alder Conservation Camp, helped co-author the paper with Valachovic and Varner. He comments, “In many cases, modeled wildfire conditions in sudden oak death-affected forests exceed safety thresholds for handcrews, calling for changing suppression tactics and strategies. This can mean more heavy equipment, aircraft use, indirect lines and more area burned with higher intensity.”
This is partly because of the deadly link between fire intensity and flame length. As flames grow longer, their intensity increases exponentially. According to Varner, “when a tree crown is on fire, it’s not just that the flame is twice as long, it’s that the heat intensity is many times greater.” Fighting fire by hand under these conditions is neither safe nor feasible.
Heavy rains and consecutive wet springs speed up the spread of sudden oak death. After the wet spring of 2010, UCCE and its partners have seen more pathogen spread in Humboldt County than in previous, drier years.
The pathogen survives on the branches and leaves of most affected plants and is easily dispersed. Laboratory tests are required for diagnosis because the symptoms of sudden oak death mimic those of other agents, like insects, fungi or bad environmental conditions.
The California Oak Mortality Task Force, founded in 2000, provides state residents with the latest information about the disease. It cautions citizens to learn, for example, about the sources of the firewood they purchase for their homes. For more information, visit suddenoakdeath.org.
When Kenneth Boehr instructed his fifth grade class at Border Star Montessori School in Kansas City, Mo. to build molecules with modeling kits, he didn’t expect one of his students to make a scientific discovery.
But that’s what happened when Clara Lazen, 10, randomly arranged a unique combination of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon atoms. The result was a molecule that Boehr had never seen before.
So he emailed longtime friend and HSU Chemistry Professor Robert Zoellner, a computational chemist who uses computer software to mathematically model the properties of molecules.
“Ken sent me a picture of the molecule on my cell phone and usually I can tell right away if it’s real,” Zoellner says. This time, he couldn’t.
So he plugged the arrangement into Chemical Abstracts, an online database searchable through the HSU Library that contains chemistry-related literature published since 1904.
Only one paper came up, Zoellner says. It was for a molecule with the same formula but a different arrangement of atoms than Lazen’s.
Zoellner dug a little deeper and determined that not only was Lazen’s molecule unique, it had the potential to store energy. It contains the same combination of atoms as nitroglycerin, a powerful explosive. If a synthetic chemist succeeded at creating the molecule—dubbed tetranitratoxycarbon for short—it could store energy, create a large explosion, or do something in between, Zoellner says: “Who knows?”
Zoellner submitted a research paper on his findings to the January issue of Computational and Theoretical Chemistry. Both Lazen and Boehr are listed as co-authors.
In an interview with local media, Lazen said she never thought she’d be a published author by age 10.
“Most 10- or 11-year-olds don’t get their names in a science paper,” she told the Kansas City Star.
Zoellner says it still remains to be seen how the research paper will be received. Since scientists are always looking for new ways to harvest energy, synthetic chemists might try to create the molecule, he says. If they succeed, they could discover a new way to store energy.
Regardless of what happens, the experience has already strengthened Lazen’s interest in science, Zoellner says. She is particularly interested in biology and medicine. It’s refreshing, Zoellner says, because so many women shy away from science careers as they get older.
“Women are often better prepared for high school and college than men but they decide not to pursue science careers for whatever reason,” Zoellner says. “If I’ve been able to keep her and some of her classmates interested in science, I’ve succeeded.”
Part art, part home and part eco-ingenuity, the Flock House project is the newest collaboration between artist Mary Mattingly, instructor Lonny Grafman and Engineering students at Humboldt State University.
Inspired by waterfront cranes surrounding the city, Flock House is a group of self-sustaining dwellings designed to perch on existing structures and even join together into a massive unit. The dwellings’ fiberglass exteriors, made from recycled materials, are fitted with interchangeable components making them adaptable to wherever the unit migrates.
$smallimage3$Mattingly is currently working to debut the structure during summer 2012, in New York’s iconic Times Square. Two resident artists will live in the pod, in the midst of skyscrapers, interacting with neighborhoods around sustainability issues. The structure’s life support systems, like food and energy production, are provided thanks to the help of seven Humboldt State student projects from Grafman’s Engineering 215 class.
Student team Apple Skins designed and built walls, doors and even vegetable planters from plastic sheeting made from recycled shopping bags and bubble wrap. By gathering a number of these plastic bags and heating them with an iron, the students created a material that can be shaped into almost anything. With the planters designed by Team Apple Skins, Flock House residents can grow their own food wherever the dwelling is stationed. On the walls, the air pockets preserved in the ironed bubble wrap provide an added layer of insulation. “Their work on the walls is inspiring,” Grafman says. “That hasn’t been done before.”
In another project, students in Team Excergy created a power generation system resembling a hand-powered railroad pump cart. Their unique design utilizes recycled bike parts and hand-assembled circuit boards to convert elbow grease into electricity, which can be stored in the Flock House’s batteries. “We wanted to do something no one had seen before,” says Baron Creager. The payoff of the team’s design is a surplus of power. “Even with 100 LED lights, we may actually be providing all the lighting for Flock House,” says student Alberto Jasso.
Flock House isn’t Mattingly’s first venture into creating sculptural, migratory and sustainable habitats. Nor is it the first time she’s collaborated with Humboldt Engineering students. In the summer of 2009, Mattingly’s Waterpod project, a sustainable living space built on a barge and constructed from recycled materials, took to the waterways of New York. On board with six visual artists were several appropriate technology solutions, also created by students in Engineering 215.
Humboldt State University has opened a new and expanded workout area, the Student Recreation Center West, to provide additional program space and exercise equipment for students and the campus community.
The new space occupies the old weight room adjoining the West Gym and will reduce crowding in the existing Student Rec Center. The area has received an extensive facelift with new flooring, new cabinetry and refreshed walls.
New weight and cardio equipment has been installed and the enlarged facility is designed for general users. For instance, beginners can use weights for circuit training instead of more advanced free weights.
Also available are a large stretching space and a new bouldering wall, which stands 12 feet high and 28 feet across for a variety of climbing routes. The wall features an overhang for more challenging climbing.
“The remodeling and new equipment have really transformed this space; it’s an added benefit to the campus community as we kick off spring semester,” said Dave Nakamura, executive director of University Center. “We are anticipating that this is the first part of a complete renovation of the entire West Gym Complex into a full-scale Recreation, Fitness and Wellness Center.”
Hours for the new Student Recreation Center West are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday. It opens Jan. 17.
Marimar White-Espin (’12, Journalism) remembers the days when the 2.5-mile bike ride from her Bayside apartment to campus would leave her tired and rushing to get to class.
“I’d be so hot and sweaty by the time I got to school that I’d need an extra ten minutes just to cool down,” she recalls.
White-Espin’s daily commute got a lot easier a few months ago when she asked a friend to attach a lithium-ion battery to her Kona brand bike, making the vehicle electric-powered.
The battery means she can alternate regular pedaling with a power-assisted boost when she needs an extra lift. The technology has made her life a lot easier and cut her 15-minute trip in half, she says.
White-Espin is one of growing number of Humboldt State students, faculty and staff using electric-powered bikes get to work, class and run day-to-day errands. The silent, rechargeable bikes have become popular in recent years as commuters around the world turn to cheaper, more energy-efficient ways to get around.
Mike Conway (’12), a graduate student in HSU’s Environment and Community Program, serves on the board of Green Wheels, an Arcata non-profit that promotes alternatives to driving. He says that electric bikes are popular among people looking for physical assistance, a way to save money and reduce their carbon footprint.
“The economic, environmental and health benefits of riding an electric bike are definitely better than driving a car,” Conway says. Compared to a car, riding an electric bike can translate into significant cost savings. At today’s gas prices, an 8-mile trip with a car that gets 20 miles to the gallon could cost around $1.50. The same trip with an electric bike would cost 5 cents.
Electric bikes are powered through a rechargeable battery attached to the bike. The battery is activated through an on-off switch and the motor starts by turning the handlebar throttle. When the bike is idling or coasting downhill, the battery automatically charges. Depending on the battery type, a full charge lasts between 15 and 40 miles. Most have a shelf life of between 500 and 1,000 charges. A typical conversion costs between $1,000 and $2,000 and can include a digital screen that displays battery voltage and energy use.
Mike Radenbaugh (’12, Industrial Technology) estimates that he’s built around 50 electric bikes since starting his company, Rad Power Electric Bikes in 2007. A native of southern Humboldt, Radenbaugh grew up in an energy-conscious family and played with electric engines as a kid. He had a chance to hone his expertise by majoring in industrial technology at HSU, which includes classes in design and electronics. Radenbaugh says that a quarter of his customers have been HSU students, faculty and staff looking for an alternative to biking and driving.
HSU Art Lecturer Mimi Dojka says she used to battle headwinds when pedaling from campus to her McKinleyville home. Since converting her mountain bike to an electric bike last year, however, she has shaved 15 minutes off her commute.
“Not only does the motor allow me to carry more weight while I’m riding, it’s definitely an attractive option given the parking situation on campus,” Dojka says.
In larger cities, some companies are turning to electric bikes to conduct business. SoupCycle in Portland uses electric-assist bikes to make soup deliveries and B-Line Delivery relies on electric cargo tricycles instead of trucks and vans to make businesses deliveries. Electric bikes have been around for years in densely populated China and are starting to outnumber cars in some cities, according to news reports.
White-Espin says she sometimes startles motorists when riding her soundless electric bike in Arcata.
“I probably get the weirdest looks when I come to stop signs,” she says. “They’ll look over, roll down their window and be like what is that?” White-Espin says. “And I just tell them, it’s an electric bike.”
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