Michelle Stern, PhD (Former Employee)

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) installed more than 40 climate and biodiversity monitoring stations, called sentinel sites, on public lands across the state. These sites collect detailed data on things like temperature, precipitation, soil moisture, and more to track how the environment is changing. Each site is meant to reflect conditions in the surrounding area, but...

Culturally prescribed burning has been long practiced by the Yurok Tribe for a variety of reasons. This study explores using culturally prescribed fire as a land management tool for increasing the resiliency of streams and watersheds.

Changes in vegetation in a large watershed due to wildfire can have a substantial influence on actual evapotranspiration rates and water availability. After a large, intense wildfire, evapotranspiration rates are expected to decrease. As vegetation reestablishes, the evapotranspiration rates increase over a period of years, back to pre-fire conditions. Watershed models typically use input layers...

Drought, along with recent wildfires, have had enormous impacts downstream on water quantity and quality. These conditions have greatly impacted the agriculture and the residents of the nearby Central Valley.

A partnership between the USGS, Pepperwood Preserve, and Black Swift LLC aims to map soil and fuel moisture over wildfire-prone landscapes.