Sea-run salmon and trout populations are a critical resource for the tribes of the California coast. Yet, populations of salmon and trout all along the California coast have declined in abundance to the extent that coho salmon, Chinook salmon, and steelhead trout populations are listed on state and federal Endangered Species Acts. Declines in these populations are generally associated with habitat loss from human land use (logging, damming, mining, agriculture, urbanization) or water use. Conservation efforts often entail habitat enhancement or restoration in the freshwater nursery habitats of juvenile salmon and trout. My students and I work on evaluating the success of these habitat restoration efforts in order to determine what types of projects provide the most benefit to salmon and trout populations. Ongoing projects in my lab focus on coho salmon populations in small coastal streams close to Arcata as well as the Klamath/Trinity watershed.

Potential student projects include 1) documenting tribal forest management knowledge (including Traditional Ecological Knowledge) regarding prescribed fire and fire management; and 2) analyzing tribal land acquisitions in northern California. First, fire prevention and suppression have remained the de facto policy response to fire across the West (and in northern California), despite evidence that the loss of fire as an ecosystem process has contributed to deteriorated forest conditions and fire regimes that threaten natural resources and human communities. Pushback from Tribes has been substantial, for example the Karuk Tribe’s opposition to the US Forest Service-proposed Westside Fire Recovery Project, because of the project’s focus on fire suppression. Student researchers could document tribal views on fire management, both historical and current, and tribal knowledge of fire impacts on cultural resources. Second, the Yurok Tribe has acquired tens of thousands of acres of land from a former industrial landowner, and has created innovative management plans – including management focusing on carbon sequestration.

I have spent my entire career working on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation as a wildlife biologist in the tribe’s Forestry Department. Although my main duties have been to complete threatened and endangered species surveys and Consultations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I have also had an interest in a variety of research projects mostly addressing management issues. Ongoing research relevant to this REU project includes northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) demographic monitoring (initiated in 1992), barred owl (Strix varia) occupancy surveys, fisher (Pekania pennanti pacifica) habitat selection and demographic monitoring (initiated in 2005) and habitat selection of Pileated Woodpeckers (Hylatomus pileatus). We have also conducted research on black bear (Ursus americanus) cambium feeding behavior and its impacts to future timber volume production and more recently, its potential ecological services. Pileated woodpeckers, fisher and black bear all have cultural significance to the Hupa people and several other Klamath basin tribes.

The Yurok Tribe gained a small portion of their ancestral lands as reservation in 1864. However, much of this land was declared surplus and made available for settlement by non-Indians. Forests were logged and wildlife and fish were depleted. The Tribe re-organized under a new constitution in 1993 and a concerted effort is now being made to reclaim our tribal land base and restore our tribal fishery, water rights, wildlife, and forests. We have many projects that are required to restore wildlife populations ranging from assessing current status to reintroducing regionally extinct species. Current work includes: land assessments related to establishment of California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) release sites, scat collection for genetics based mark-recapture population assessments, monitoring of marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) nesting in relation to proposed timber harvest activities, monitoring of northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) nesting in relation to proposed timber harvest activities, and monitoring wood duck (Aix sponsa) nest boxes along creek restoration sites.