Paul Pettus has joined our lab

Paul has officially joined our lab as of 2/1/18 and will be working on our DoD grant with NC State University and the New England Conservancy. He will be leading the model simulation work that will improve our understanding of how climate change will affect one of the largest tracts of longleaf pine stands remaining in the U.S. His work will explore different forest harvest and prescribed burning treatments to ensure the long-term viability of lthe endangered red-Cockaded woodpecker, which thrives in longleaf stands on Fort Bragg.

We are happy to have him join our lab!

https://www.melissalucash.com/paulpettus

Come work in our lab!

I'm hiring a full-time technician here at Portland State to conduct LANDIS-II vegetation modeling in my lab.  Our research will be focused on Fort Bragg, NC, where managers are concerned about the negative impacts of climate change and hurricanes on Red-cockaded woodpecker habitat. Though the work will be based out of PSU, we will be collaborating with professors at NC State University and Harvard Forest.

https://sites.google.com/a/ncsu.edu/dynamic-ecosystems-landscape-lab/research/ecosystem-model-comparison

The job will start on 2/1/19 and end when the grant ends on 9/30/18. The position is listed as “open until filled” but if I get a decent pool of applicants, I'll conduct interviews the week of 1/21/19. Details below.

https://jobs.hrc.pdx.edu/postings/28597

SOCCR-2 report released, Dr. Lucash co-authored the chapter on forests along with 21 other scientists

Dr. Lucash was one of the co-authors of Chapter 9: Forests in the Second State of the Carbon Report (SOCCR2).

SOCCR2 is an authoritative decadal assessment of carbon cycle science across North America, developed by over 200 experts from the U.S., Canadian and Mexican governments, national laboratories, universities, private sector, and research institutions.

SOCCR-2 Report.PNG

New paper out in Forest Ecology and Management!

Our new paper from our NSF-funded Klamath grant (https://sites.google.com/a/pdx.edu/klamath-climate-and-fire/) was just published on-line.

This paper was truly a collaborative effort. The writing was led by Terry Marcey, NSF REU student in our lab, fieldwork was conducted by Maria Lopez Ortiz (Paraguay) and Jeff Shatford (BC), the study was designed by David Hibbs (OSU emeritus) and writing/mentoring was conducted by Melissa and Jonathan Thompson (Harvard Forest).

Our work shows that:

  • Management had no impact on Douglas-fir regeneration, the main species of concern in the region

  • Aspect (North vs. South-facing) overwhelmed management’s ability to influence composition and Douglas-fir regeneration

  • Managers should tailor post-fire management practices based on both objectives and aspect.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112718309095

Featured in the media:

https://www.pdx.edu/clas/news/psu-study-finds-salvage-logging-and-planting-are-not-necessary-regenerate-douglas-fir-after-klamath

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181031130921.htm

http://www.nwfirescience.org/biblio/post-fire-management-affects-species-composition-not-douglas-fir-regeneration-klamath

Dr. Lucash visits SUNY-ESF in Syracuse, NY

I met with many students and faculty in the Env Biology and Forestry departments at SUNY-ESF and gave a seminar on my research. It was great to see faculty I hadn’t seen in years (Russ Briggs and Tom Horton!!) and meet some new (and impressive) faculty at ESF. My host, Dr. Don Leopold, was awesome, laying out the “red carpet. He even treated me to a giant margherita to end my 2-week soujourn to the east coast. It was an exhausting trip, but also a lot of fun!

ESF_Seminar.jpg