Project Clearinghouse

UCSC Continuous Forest Inventory

Sustainability Problem and Proposed Solution: 

Biodiversity and forest cover are declining globally. A detailed knowledge of forest conditions can allow for management aimed at promoting biodiversity and the process that lead to it. Our project aims to provide baseline and long-term data to enable management of UCSC’s forest habitats in ways that can promote biodiversity, track demographic changes of time (recruitment/mortaility), and track the results of management efforts.

Jump to: Contact | Project Description | Funding Sources | How to Join | Metrics for Success | Results
Project Categories: 
Land, Habitat, Watershed
Project Status: 
In Progress
Affiliated Department, Unit or College: 
UCSC Natural Reserves
Project Location: 
On campus

Upper Campus natural lands


Stakeholder Contacts: 
Contact NameEmail AddressContact NumberDepartment
Alex Jones
asjones@ucsc.edu
459-4971
UCSC Natural Reserves
How to Join: 
Email Alex Jones at asjones@ucsc.edu to become an intern with the UCSC CFI project.
Funding Sources: 
UCSC Sustainability Office Working Groun Funds

Project Description: 

The UCSC Forest Inventory and Analysis Project (UCSC FIA) is a new program designed to involve undergraduate students in the inventory, assessment, and monitoring of forest conditions on UCSC campus natural lands. We will establish a network of circular plots across a stratified sample of UCSC’s forested vegetation community types. These long-term plots will be assessed for vegetation structure and composition, downed woody debris, fuel load, and other measures. We hope to make the UCSC FIA a large scale, long-term project that can support approximately 20 students per academic Quarter. The UCSC FIA will serve several functions:
• It will provide a large, long-term, and Quarterly intern program capable of giving undergraduate hands-on skills they can use in the job market and in graduate school
• It will provide numerous intern positions during Forest Ecology Research Plot (FERP) off-years (as well as on-years)
• It will provide detailed information on forest dynamics that can be compared with detailed measurements from the FERP
• It will have applied, practical applications including calculating fuel load and identifying areas of tree disease and mortality
Tasks include:
• Meeting with consulting forester (2/9/15)
• Meet with Cal-Poly Swanton Pacific Ranch to discuss regional protocols and their adaptation to UCSC (Feb or March 2015)
• Develop UCSC FIA protocols and database (March/April 2015)
• Pilot methodology in field (April/May 2015)
• Establish plot network (April/May/June 2015)
• Refine methodology (Summer 2015)
• Begin inventory work with student interns (Fall Q 2015)

Metrics for Success: 

We will use the numbers of student interns and the number of installed CFI plots (target of 112 plots within 5 years).

Result Categories: 
Data Collection & Analysis
Results: 

This project will provide baseline and long-term monitoring data for UCSC forests. This data can be used by campus planners, Natural Reserves staff, and UCSC Grounds staff to track changes over time, see the impacts of or guide future management efforts. We hope to detail fuel load estimates which can assist CalFire and could lead to management to reduce fire risk for the campus. The project will also provide numerous internship and student project/theses opportunities for undergraduates as they work as technicians on the project and have the chance to ask specific questions that can explored using the project’s data and project layout. We aim for the project to be ongoing, so there isn’t really a completion date. We will know the project is successful if we have lots of student interns in the field and our database is growing. Intangible results include the transformative experiences that some students will have through their involvement with the project.