Sagehen Events, 2006...

When hiking in the local forests, do you ever wonder about what you see? Who’s making these burrows? Why did these trees die? Who left this scrap of metal and what were they doing here? What did the forest look like when the first Europeans came?

"Come be a forest detective with other scientists from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., Saturday June 17th. At the 6 p.m. evening talk, we’ll put together all the clues we find to tell the story of Sagehen Creek."

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Amy Horne was Research Director of the Sierra Business Council from 1998-2004, during which time she produced two editions of the nationally acclaimed Sierra Nevada Wealth Index and Investing for Prosperity, a comprehensive guide to rural economic development. In October 2003, she was appointed to the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board. Amy has a Ph.D. in Forest Ecology from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. From the University of Wisconsin, she has a B.A. in economics and a Masters in Public Administration. Amy worked for the US Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest Research Station, where she wrote the Economic Assessment for the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project and many other papers about forest policy, recreation and management.

"Ethnic cultures & climate change at 6400 feet".

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My current anthropology research focuses on climate. I am particularly interested in the "human dimensions of inter-annual climate variability," especially the ways how people cope with El Niño events. I study such topics as traditional forms of forecasting among peasant and indigenous people; the use of forecasts in modern societies; and the influence of globalization on current responses to climate variability. In addition to my faculty appointment at UC Davis, I am also an adjunct senior research scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction at Columbia University. I also edit an anthropology journal, Current Anthropology.

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Doug Stoup

"Our Changing World Through The Eyes Of Adventurer Doug Stoup".

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Adventurer, Expedition Leader, Filmmaker, Climber, Ski and Snowboard Mountaineer, Educator, husband and father.

Doug Stoup has skied to both the North and South Poles. He has climbed some of the highest mountain peaks and traveled around the world. From the first ski and snowboard descent of the highest peak in Antarctica (Vinson Massif), to becoming the first American male to ski to the Geographical South Pole, he's experienced the beauty and mystery of nature up close, while exploring the most remote regions of the planet.

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"Communication between Plants".

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I have a bachelor’s degree from Haverford College and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. My thesis project was an attempt to understand the population dynamics of 17-year cicadas.

Since 1982, I have been a professor at UC Davis, teaching ecology, population biology and entomology. I have been primarily interested in responses of plants to attacks by herbivores. What changes in plants and do those changes reduce herbivore populations? I have worked on communication between sagebrush plants in the Eastern Sierra for the past ten summers.

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"Muybridge in Motion: Travels in Art, Science, and Murder".

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Arthur P. Shimamura, Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley, studies human memory and cognition from a biological perspective. His research includes studies of patients with neurological disorders and techniques to image brain activity (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI]).

Dr. Shimamura is author or co-author of over 100 publications, was the recipient of the 1996 Division of Social Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award, and has been Scientific Advisor for the San Francisco Exploratorium Science Museum.

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" SPLATS – What are they? Where did they come from? What might they mean?".

Field trip, 2:30-4:30

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Nearly a century of fire management in the Sierra has had the unintended consequence of placing millions of hectares of forest at risk of catastrophic fire. This regional assessment of fire hazard and fuel loads is reflected in the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment, in which modifying wildland fire behavior is a management priority. The preferred alternative is to apply strategic fuel management at the landscape level. The approach is based on the theoretical demonstration that disconnected fuel treatment patches that overlap in the direction of the head fire spread reduce the overall rate and intensity of the fire. Simulations have shown that with as little as 30% of the area in these strategically placed area treatments (SPLATs), fire risk can be decreased for the entire landscape. Despite the sound theoretical underpinning of strategic fuel treatments, there is uncertainty regarding their efficacy in modifying fire behavior and concern regarding potential impacts on forest health, wildlife and water resources. As part of a team of University of California researchers, we have been working for the last year to develop an effective approach to help answer these pressing questions.

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The USDA Forest Service and University of California, Berkeley announced the designation of the Sagehen Experimental Forest under the administration of the USDA Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) and the Tahoe National Forest.

Sagehen Creek Field Station will host the invitation-only designation ceremony. More information.