By Jaquelyn Lugg, UC Merced While forest restoration is often associated with mitigating wildfire risk and improving ecosystem health throughout the Sierra Nevada, these actions will also have a dramatic impact on water use within forests and the amount of runoff that ultimately flows downstream. Since the Sierra Nevada provides over 60% of California’s water […]
By: Jaquelyn Lugg, UC Merced After timber harvest or fuel reduction thinning operations, sediment delivery to nearby streams and waterways can increase, potentially affecting water quality, drinking water supplies, habitat and recreational opportunities. To effectively reduce these adverse effects of harvest, foresters first need to know the precise causes of sediment increases. Historically, researchers investigating […]
Over the course of the Summer 2020 CECS Internship, the science communications intern team was tasked with creating a variety of materials to share the core issues addressed by the CECS project. These included a one-pager, an infographic, a brief explainer video, which all emerged from a completed Message Box, the communications tool developed by […]
By Erica Mendoza, UC Irvine, CECS Summer 2020 Intern The Sierra Nevada’s forests play an important role in the regulation of California’s climate by absorbing and storing carbon. However, instead of capturing and storing carbon, the forests are becoming a major source through fire and forest die off. As a result, the forests are contributing […]
By Juana Navarro, UC Merced, CECS Summer 2020 Intern Who suffers the most from the catastrophic fires? Is it specific industries or individual communities? With the dramatic headlines that the 2017 fires in northern California generated, it was presumed that the famous wine industry would suffer greatly. But realistically, fewer than 20 of the 900 […]
By Eden Marish Roehr, UC Davis, CECS Summer 2020 Intern When you picture overcrowding in California, I’m guessing you might envision traffic jams, rising home prices, lengthy grocery store checkout lines — probably not the lush forests of the Sierra Nevada. But these forests are also experiencing an overcrowding problem. Since the arrival of European […]
By Nicolette Balmaceda, UC Merced, CECS Summer 2020 Intern Our forests are critical to the state of California. They provide habitats and aesthetics that help our society and economy function, the air we breathe, timber to build shelter, and more. Trees can also decrease the amount of carbon in the atmosphere by absorbing it and […]
By Adela Contreras, UC Davis, Summer 2020 CECS Intern Forest management directly ties to the future of the state and must be prioritized. The water rivers and reservoirs store allow the state to get through hot, dry summers – doing nothing threatens California, the U.S.’s largest state economy, and one of the largest in the […]
By Jaquelyn Lugg, UC Merced Forest-management actions such as mechanical thinning and prescribed burns don’t just reduce the risk of severe wildfire and promote forest health — these practices can also contribute to significant increases in downstream water availability. New research from UC Merced’s Sierra Nevada Research Institute (SNRI) provides the tools to help estimate […]
Our goal at the Center for Ecosystem Climate Solutions is to develop new land management solutions for California in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. These solutions will be aimed at enhancing carbon capture in our forests, reducing wildfire severity, protecting watersheds, and increasing social and ecological resilience across the state. One outcome […]
Summer 2020 marks the first cohort of CECS project interns! Over the course of eight weeks, the interns are collaborating on a range of topics to support the CECS research team, including science communication products, data analysis, and more. In this blog post, get to know the interns and learn more about what they’re working on […]
We’re pleased to announce that the film “Beyond the Brink: California’s Watersheds” is available to view in full, thanks to the Association of California Water Agencies. The film, which was co-produced by the CECS, and features several project team members, delves into the issues California’s watersheds are presently facing. A sequel, diving more into the […]