JRBP('O'O) April 2024 Newsletter
April 2024
Link to 2023-2024 JRBP ('O'O) Newsletters.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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50th Anniversary Symposium next Monday April 15, 2024
Many thanks for letting us know that you will join us for the JRBP(‘O'O) 50th Anniversary Symposium next Monday, April 15. We are at maximum capacity, very exciting! To view the full program, please click here.
Trail updates:
Trail 2 closed in the restricted areas. We have placed chains and signage at the closure points. Please respect the closure and avoid the areas until further notice.
We are seeking a 50% time Temporary Operations Assistant. Employee will perform routine and extraordinary maintenance on the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve buildings, infrastructure, equipment, and roads. Employee will assist the Operations Manager in the execution of special projects as needed. Pay Rate: $25-$30/hourly, commensurate with experience. For more information click on this link.
Watershed Restoration Podcast:
Listen to the new podcast with Professors Bill Barnett, Tad Fukami, and student Charlotte Kramer as they share their thoughts and outcomes of the 2023 Watershed Restoration conference. Topics ranged from the role of traditional ecological knowledge to the time restoration takes relative to climate change. Click here to access the recording of the podcast.
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RESEARCH
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New Research
Lihan Huang, a Living Lab Fellow for Sustainability, and her mentor, Esther Cole, surveyed redwood trees including data on the size and density of trees to estimate carbon storage as part of a larger project on carbon accounting and sequestration on Stanford’s natural lands. Jorge Ramos serves in the advisory committee for Lihan in this project.
Prof. Manu Prakash and his PhD student, Ethan Li, started collections in aquatic environments throughout the preserve to begin developing a framework for mapping how aquatic ecosystems evolve over time. He will leverage historic data from Searsville Lake as a benchmark going back 100 years.
Samantha Levine, PhD candidate in Dr. Richard Ree’s lab at the U. of Chicago, will investigate the genetic and ecological divergence of Pedicularis densiflora and P. aurantiaca across their range, including host-parasite collections and observations at Jasper Ridge.
New Publications
Couper, L. I., Farner, J. E., Lyberger, K. P., Lee, A. S., & Mordecai, E. A. (2024). Mosquito thermal tolerance is remarkably constrained across a large climatic range. Proc. R. Soc. B., 291:20232457.
Mathur, Y., Awosiji, V., Mukerji, T., Scheirer, A. H., & Peters, K. E. (2024). Soil geochemistry of hydrogen and other gases along the San Andreas Fault. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 50, 411-419.
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EDUCATION
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Fifty Years of Student-Driven Research at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma)
Read a new blog that showcases the summary of nearly 800 docent projects. Collectively, all students and docents have designed independent projects that span several disciplines and media. Can you guess which is the most frequent word in project titles? Click here to read Katie's blog and find out.
New Alumni Directory for Ecology and Natural History of Jasper Ridge Docents
We hope that this directory will support docents staying in touch with JRBP('O'O) and each other, and to show the scope of independent work done by past students. This directory is only accessible to alumni of the Ecology and Natural History of Jasper Ridge class. You can read more about it in the same blog post above. If you are an alumni and wish to explore the directory and update your information, please click here visit the complete directory. If you wish to submit an update, please contact Katie Glover and she will send you the correct form.
Education during Pile Burns
Among the many visitors during the pile burns included members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, and students from Michael Wilcox’s native plants class. Students had the opportunity to have conversations with members of the Tribe that led to very interesting and inspiring moments during the burn. Read Faculty Director Tad Fukami’s reflections on these teaching moments here.
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STEWARDSHIP
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Pile burn completed successfully!
The timing between storms was just right and we had a very successful pile burning the first week of March along the Westridge border. Nearly 200 piles were burned in the chaparral and oak woodland area. The project has now created a defensible fuel break in the event of a wildfire in the chaparral and oak woodland area. Read more about the role of introducing good fire to JRBP('O'O) in Sheena's new blog.
The success of this project was due to working with a great Burn Boss, skilled crew, and the effort of many Jasper Ridge and other Stanford colleagues working together. We are immensely grateful for the support from both Woodside Fire Protection District and CAL FIRE, as well as our Westridge neighbors, many of which enthusiastically supported our shared goal of mitigating wildfire risk.
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GRACIAS! THANK YOU!
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Thanks to our docents that helped lead tours in March of 2024: Mary Bernstein, Zander Opperman, Diego Perez, Paul Heiple, Katharina Stromeyer, Jerry Hearn, Klaus Porzig, Joyce Friedrichs, Claire Elliott, Jonathan Segal, Jeff Schwegman, Jane Moss, Kelly Benitez, Bohdan Kamets, Dan Quinn, Cheryl Gold and Vivian Neou
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PICTURE OF THE MONTH
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Tribal members, Monica Arellano (former vice chairwoman, left) and Gloria Arellano-Gómez (former councilmember, right), came to the burn site. They offered a prayer in the Chochenyo language in front of a burn pile as the fire crew lit the fire on that pile. Around the same time, Mike Wilcox (center), Senior Lecturer in Native American Studies, and about half a dozen undergraduate and graduate students from his native plants garden class also came to witness the pile burn. Picture by Harry Gregory.
