Our lab regularly houses graduate and undergraduate students, and hosts visiting scientists.
Director
Dr. Jeff Kane: I am an Associate Professor of Fire Ecology and Fuels Management at Cal Poly Humboldt Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources. I am generally interested in a broad array of topics related to the ecology and management of fire-prone ecosystems. The purpose of my research is to better understand the impacts of fire and other distrubances on wildlands and to provide information that will improve the management, restoration, and conservation of these ecosytems. Additionally, I use my research to actively involve undergraduate students both inside and outside of the classroom. I use a combination of field and laboratory techniques for my research including standard forest and fire measurements, dendroecological (tree rings) approaches, and laboratory burns.
Graduate Students
The Fire Lab supports 3-5 graduate students each semester. Prospective students interested in studying fire ecology and fuels management-related research questions should read the Grad Student and Current Opportunities pages for more information.
Current Graduate Students and Projects
Madeleine Lopez (BS Cal Poly Humboldt)- Seed maturation rates of five California conifers and their implications for facultative serotiny
Heather Rickard (BS University of California, Berkeley)- Factors contributing to legacy hardwood mortality following prescribed fire in the Klamath Mountains
Jackson Carrasco (BS Cal Poly Humboldt)- The role of redwood stand conditions in wildfire severity
Past Graduate Students and Projects
Abigail Jones (BS State University of New York)- Fuel treatment effectiveness to wildfire in chaparral stands of northern California
Alexis Bernal (BS University of California, Berkeley)- Effectiveness of variable density thinning and prescribed fire for promoting resistance to drought-induced bark beetle-caused tree mortality
Caroline Martorano (BS University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)- Long-term vegetation response to mechanical mastication in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area
Bret A. McNamara (BSc Natural Resources, Evergreen State College) Post-fire regeneration and fuel succession patterns in Baker cypress (Hesperocyparis bakeri) forests Spring 2018
Andrew Slack (BS University Colorado, Boulder) - Old-growth sugar pine resiliency and mortality in a fire-excluded mixed-conifer forest Fall 2016
Amy Livingston (BS Cal Poly Humboldt) - Understory vegetation response to restoration treatments in Quercus garryana woodlands and prairies of northern California (Advisor: J. Morgan Varner) Spring 2014
Current Undergraduate Research
The Fire Lab supports motivated undergraduate students to conduct independent research for academic credit and as paid assistants on funded research projects.