umboldt H
G eographer
SPRING 2019 VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1
Humboldt Geography students and faculty take a breather during a hike at Lassen.
HSU Geographers Explore Impacts of Carr Fire, Continue to Lassen On a weekend in late September 2018, more than twenty Humboldt State Geography students, led by professors Matthew Derrick and Rosemary Sherriff, hopped in vans for a three-day field study that included an investigation into the impacts of the recent Carr Fire and an exploration natural beauty of Lassen Volcanic National Park. The Carr Fire, reported as one of the most destructive fires in California’s history, started on July 23, 2018, near Whiskeytown off Highway 299. Before being fully contained in late August, the conflagration spread nearly 230,000 acres across Trinity and Shasta counties, destroying more than 1,000 residences—mainly in and around west Redding—and claiming the lives of three firefighters. On the first day of the field study, the Humboldt geographers met with Tom Garcia, a firefighter at the National Park Service, and Eric Knapp, a research ecologist with the US Forest Service. Starting at the Whiskeytown
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Humboldt State University Department of Geography CONTENTS From the Chair
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Student Highlights
3-7
Alumni Updates
8-11
Faculty News
12-15
Geovisualizations
16-19
Humboldt in the World
20-35
Department Happenings
36-38
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FROM THE CHAIR
HSU Geography… Tradition and Much More Among the many joys of chairing Humboldt Geography is welcoming visitors, showing off our students’ work and the highlighting department’s strengths. Our guests quickly learn that geography, especially as taught at HSU, is so much more than maps and place-name memorization (see related story at right). HSU Geography is an intellectual tradition that balances inquiry into the spatial dimensions of the human world, the physical environment, and geospatial systems. Geography as taught and practiced at Humboldt is a twenty-first-century discipline that, in its special ability to integrate various fields of inquiry and apply the latest in geospatial technologies, is particularly well positioned to examine and help provide solutions to some of today’s most pressing challenges, such as coping with climate change, designing smarter cities, and managing natural resources, to name but a few. Our students inherit a tradition of excellence, but the department is not content to rest on its laurels. We are actively working to ensure that our curriculum prepares our students not only with the latest in geographic thought, but also equips them with sets of skills that are in high demand in the marketplace. This issue of the Humboldt Geographer provides some insight into the excitement surrounding the department, including activities by current students and faculty as well as the adventures—in work and travel—of some of our alumni, providing illustration of that our tradition of geographic excellence continues.
Matthew Derrick Department Chair
Humboldt Geographer EDITOR IN CHIEF
Matthew Derrick mad632@humboldt.edu
MANAGING EDITOR
Claire Roth
Humboldt State University Department of Geography 1 Harpst Street Arcata, CA
Founders Hall 109 (707) 826-3946
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Geography Chair Matthew Derrick (second from right) welcomes Jim Ritter (far right) and McKinleyville students to the department.
Local High School Students Visit Geography Department On Friday, October 12, 2018, a group of McKinleyville High School seniors, accompanied by Jim Ritter, leader of the Career Exploration Pathways Program of the Northern Humboldt Union High School District, visited Humboldt State’s Department of Geography to explore the college experience and learn more about geography as a potential major. Greeted by Geography Chair Matthew Derrick, the students were given a tour of the department and its facilities, including the Kosmos Lab, where current majors explained the dynamic, integrative nature of geography and contemporary spatial analysis as taught at HSU. Then the students, along with Ritter, attended a Derrick’s Human Geography class, taking in a lecture that touched on historical-geographic developments that inform current social and political undercurrents in Afghanistan and the surrounding region. Afterward, Derrick and the guests discussed the dynamism and eclecticism that characterize today’s geography as a discipline. “I personally learned a lot about how geography is connected to so many disciplines and plays a huge role in how we understand our world,” Ritter said. “It was really cool!”
Keep up to date on the department through Facebook (@HSUGEOG). Also coming soon to Instagram and LinkedIn
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STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS
Humboldt Geographers Win Top Awards at 2018 California Geographical Society Annual Conference in Sacramento
Humboldt came home with several top awards from the 72nd Annual California Geographical Society (CGS) meeting, held in at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento on April 27-29, 2018. Eighteen students, along with several faculty and alumni, attended the event and represented HSU Geography with strong enthusiasm and professionalism. The department had three student awardees. Samuel Wood won first place for the Cartography Paper Competition. Joshua Shindelbower took second place for the Cartography Paper Competition. And Quint Migliardi landed third place for the Digital Cartography Competition. Several of our students landed Student Travel Awards. Humboldt geographers are already gearing up to make the long trek for the next CGS conference, which will be held at the Lodge in Big Bear on May 35, 2019.
Above left: HSU geographers celebrate following the conferenceconcluding banquet. Above right: Amy Lautamo shows off her research poster. Right: Stewart Millar discusses his research on Arcata’s McKinley statue. Below: CGS President Scott Crosier (far right) hands out Student Travel Awards to Humboldt geographers.
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STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS
Humboldt Cartographers Journey to Montreal and Norfolk for NACIS Meetings, Take Top Prizes
Above: Geography faculty member Amy Rock (far left) gathers with Humboldt cartography students and alumni at the 2018 NACIS conference. Right: The Humboldt contingency checks out map swag.
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A sizeable contingency of Humboldt cartographers, along with Geography faculty members Nicholas Perdue and Amy Rock, traveled to Norfolk, Virginia, October 17-20, 2018 for the annual meeting of the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS). Student attendees included Gilbert Trejo, Brian Murphy, Melissa Collin, Josh Shindelbower, Quint Migliardi, Sam Wood, Kathleen Johnston, and Evan Dowdakin. Murphy won first place in student research with his map about the growth of the Hobet Coal Mine in West Virginia over forty years, illustrating how the practice of mountaintop removal and valley fills creates unmitigable impacts to nearly all aspects of the geography, from geology and hydrology, to human health and economic development. HSU was also in attendance at the previous year’s NACIS meeting, held in Montreal, Canada, on October 10-13, 2017. Nathaniel Douglass (class of 2017), following up on previous conference victories, won the Best Cartographic Design for the Student Map and Poster competition. He received a $500 award and interest from organizations such as National Geographic, ESRI Maps and Data, and several graduate schools. He poured his heart and soul into the map he presented, depicting a snowcovered Sierra Nevada mountain range. For greater details of Douglas’s award-winning map, please see Pages 18-19.
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STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS
Quotable: HSU Mapmakers on the Norfolk Conference
NACIS 2018 Maps and Their Makers
“During this year's NACIS in Norfolk, VA, I took away two important lessons. The first thing that inspired me at NACIS was Sarah Bells’ hand-painted maps and hillshade technique, which made me rethink how I could create a map and combine it with a fantasy map or even its implementation in how I think about creating real-world maps. There were so many wonderful presentations and cartographers that it was hard not to totally geek out. I don't think that I can say that I liked just one presentation because they spanned such a broad spectrum of topics from women's cartography and representing minorities in maps and in the cartographic world to north is a social construct. Plus Geo-Jeopardy was super fun.”
Quint Migliardi
Gilbert Trejo poses with his innovative map of coastal Los Angeles.
“I learned a lot techniques and tricks, and gained insight into the past and future of the industry. The most insightful thing I learned was at Vanessa Knoppke-Wetzel's final talk of the conference. She discussed how micro-aggressions have a serious effect on how we perceive ourselves and our place in the cartographic community. I learned from her that we all belong here and each one of our perspectives is valuable. Before this conference, I was having serious doubts about my future in my field. I didn't feel like I was trying to do something that the rest of the community valued or even considered acceptable. The whole conference, community, and Vanessa really made it clear that there is a space for me and my skill set, and that I don't have to compromise my creativity in order to create something of value.”
Brian Murphy
“Experiencing NACIS validated me as a cartographer and designer and gave me a great look at where the industry is today.”
Josh Shindelbower shows off his map of northern Appalachian land cover.
Gilbert Trejo
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STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS
2017-18 GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS DR. JOHN L. HARPER MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP Miyako Namba HERRING GEOGRAPHY SCHOLARSHIP Hartford Johnson DR. JOSEPH S. LEEPER GEOGRAPHY SCHOLARSHIP Quint Migliardi SUZANNE WETZEL SEEMANN GEOGRAPHY SCHOLARSHIP Kevin Greer WEBB BAUER AWARD Amy Lautamo NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION AWARD Andrew Gibbs KOSMOS AWARD Joshua Shindelbower Gilbert Trejo
GAMMA THETA UPSILON INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL HONOR SOCIETY INDUCTEES Andrew Gibbs Hartford Johnson Amy Lautamo Quint Migliardi Stewart Millar Sheamus Vaughan
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Invited by the Geographic Society, a student-run club of geographers, National Geographic Emerging Explorer M Jackson delivered a public lecture at HSU.
Student Clubs Build Community, Apply Geographic Education The Humboldt GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY plans volunteer and social activities on and off campus, including hiking, kayaking, and camping trips. The Geographic Society serves as a place of community for many students, especially incoming transfer students new to the area. The club coordinates peer-review practice presentations and feedback sessions before California Geographical Society (CGS) and other academic conferences. Additionally, the Geographic Society puts in the majority of the work for Geography Awareness Week, and helps faculty and staff coordinate department events such as semester and end-of-the year gatherings. This past year, the Geographical Society took a lead in inviting M Jackson (pictured above), a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, to deliver a public lecture at Humboldt State University. The Humboldt CARTOGRAPHY CLUB focuses on improving the art of mapmaking and helps students across campus improve the quality of their map products. The club has hosted various skill shops, Mapathon events in collaboration with the Peace Corps, and brought to campus distinguished professional cartographers to give a lecture and workshop on map design. In addition, the Cartography Club helps support student travel to the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) annual conference (see related story on Pages 4-5).
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STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS
Carr Fire… Continued from Page 1 National Recreation Area, students listened to Garcia as he discussed the origins of the fire and the damage it inflicted in and around the park. Garcia also explained, through a guided—and nearly off-road—tour of park land impacted by the Carr Fire, the National Park Service’s efforts to ameliorate the worst effects of forest fires through controlled burns. After surveying some of the fire’s impacts to the park land, the HSU geographers continued with Knapp to examine some of the devastation inflicted on human settlements, including the destruction of homes and human life by what has been reported as the state’s worst-ever fire tornado. According to Knapp, the fire vortex, which claimed the life of Redding-based firefighter Jeremy Stoke, was so unusual that fire ecologists and other experts are still grappling to understand it. Students and faculty alike were struck, sometimes on a very emotional level, by the landscapes of destruction they viewed in relatively wealthy neighborhoods located in west Redding at the wildlandurban interface. Fire razed some homes to their foundations while neighboring homes stood seemingly unscathed, leaving an impression of randomness in scorched path. However, as Knapp explained, while a degree of randomness characterized the fire, choices in home building materials, efforts to stave off air flow in and out of houses, relative location vis-à-vis the wildland, and other variables help explain resultant geographic patterns of destruction and clemency. Following their examination of the Carr Fire, the geographers traveled east to Lassen Volcanic National Park, where they set up camp for two days. Faculty led explorations, including ascent of Lassen Peak, surveying the park’s wonder and natural beauty.
Above: Eric Knapp, research ecologist studying the Carr Fire, explains some of the destruction at the wildland-urban interface. Below (A): A makeshift memorial site erected to a firefighter killed in the Carr conflagration; and (B) students take a rest during a hike in Lassen Volcanic National Park.
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ALUMNI UPDATES
Paul Castaneda (Class of 2013)
“Put Your Passions to Work” Soon after graduating from HSU, Paul Castaneda (class of 2013) accepted a job offer from Davey Resource Group, a natural resource and utility consulting firm. During this time, he traveled throughout SoCal to work on different contracts as a utility inspector and was trained on how to use surveying equipment to collect quantifiable data for input to Spida-CALC, a pole-loading software used to run analysis on a span of utility poles. At the time, he was excited to have a job that allowed him to travel around SoCal and to get paid for it. Approximately two years ago, Castaneda was hired on by CN Utility Consulting as a utility forester. It was here that he strengthened his utility knowledge and applied his geography skills using LiDAR point clouds for utility inspections and methods of data acquisition. The team at CNUC values professionalism and knowledge, so they offer reimbursement incentives for certifications and continuing education related to the industry. In 2016, Castaneda returned to school to get his master’s degree in Geographic Information Sciences at Cal State Long Beach and also became a certified arborist. In August 2018, Castaneda completed the requirements for the MSGISci program at CSULB. Shortly afterwards, he began working toward becoming a certified utility specialist. After certification, he plans to work toward becoming a technical applications supervisor at CNUC, where he can put to work his MSGISci degree and utility knowledge in various applications related to the utility industry. In three to five years, Castaneda sees himself working as a GIS specialist or planner for a utility company. He may also remain in the consulting side on the industry doing GISrelated work for utility clients. For current HSU Geography students, Castaneda recommends establishing an academic rapport with their professors, seeking out summer internships, and getting involved in research and clubs affiliated with the department. “Put your passions to work. I enjoyed my first few jobs after graduation—and I have my studies at HSU Geography to thank for it—because they allowed me to travel throughout California while getting paid and earning relevant work experience in my field of choice,” Castaneda says. “Also, don’t shy away from opportunities in your career—I got my first internship at Sequoia National Park from networking with a fellow Geography student, and have looked back on that experience many times. Gathering as many skills and building a professional network makes you a versatile candidate for the next step in your career.”
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Above: Castaneda on the job in the San Bernardino National Forest. Below (A): As part of his post-HSU Geography work as a utility forester, Paul helps ensure that trees are safe from electric lines, and (B) he sometimes has the welcome surprise of comingling with local wildlife.
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ALUMNI UPDATES Monica Moreno-Espinosa (Class of 2016)
“Intern, Intern, Intern! It Will Pay Off”
“Since completing my Geography degree at HSU, I've solo hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and worked as a camp host in Yosemite. I'm now halfway through a Climate Science and Solutions master’s of science degree with a River Studies certificate at Northern Arizona University. I work in a laboratory on campus, researching how crowdsourcing hydrology data can improve flood prediction and response.” Kelly Bessem Class of 2017 “After graduating from Humboldt State University last May, I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, and have been working for the federal government at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a Geospatial Data Developer. I absolutely love it. Majoring in Geography at HSU was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
After graduating from HSU Geography, Monica Moreno-Espinosa class (class of 2016) worked with the City of Eureka as a GIS analyst. Her projects included doing analysis for the voter ward redistricting, housing density, historical density, some public safety, and several economic development analyses. In some of these projects, she was fortunate enough to supervise interns. Moreno-Espinosa took a month off last summer to work as a data collection technician in Alaska for Geographic Resource Solutions. Moreno-Espinosa works as a research analyst (GIS) for Caltrans in Eureka. Though she no longer works for the City of Eureka, she hopes she is able to volunteer and continue to stay involved with the city. She also wants to further develop and eventually publish her senior capstone research (see related story on Page 35), and then apply to graduate schools to get her master’s degree. She loves doing GIS analysis, and hopes that her future involves an environment where she is still doing research. Moreno-Espinosa feels that the HSU Geography program taught her to explore, ask questions, and develop stellar research skills. In terms of advice for current HSU Geography students, Moreno-Espinosa says, “Intern, intern, intern! As much as you can, get experience even if it's unpaid. It will pay off in the long run when you are job searching after graduating.”
Geography Alumni Tie the Knot The Department of Geography sends its heartfelt congratulations to Norma "Chula" Solis and Toby ValdesDapena. The two are alumni (class of 2015), meeting while studying Geography at HSU, who took their wedding vows this fall in Menifee, outside of Los Angeles. We wish them a wonderful, happy life together!
Andrew Gibbs Class of 2018
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Emanuel Delgado (Class of 2013)
“Visualize What You Want and Do It!”
Emanuel Delgado’s education through Humboldt’s Geography Department prepared him in many ways for what he would accomplish following graduation. Through the department, he was encouraged and mentored in presenting at conferences, winning an opportunity to participate in the National Geographic summer internship program and getting accepted to graduate school in Geography at San Diego State University. After graduating as Outstanding Student of the Year (2013) at HSU, Delgado started the master's program in the Department of Geography at San Diego State University (SDSU). He was selected for a research assistantship that paid for half of the program. Part of his duties as a graduate assistant included grading assignments for a World Geography class, but Delgado was mainly assigned to working with Pascale Joassart Marcelli and Fernando Bosco on their research project titled “Food, Ethnicity and Place.” Delgado was chosen for this position because of his training in geospatial sciences. The research consisted of establishing methods to understand the disparity between food access and availability in poor neighborhoods and gentrifying, wealthier neighborhoods in San Diego. Delgado and his advisors developed a survey and surveyed all the food stores; he then had the job of mapping all the data collected. Marcelli, Bosco, and Delgado then published “Challenges and Opportunities in the Food Above: Delgado is all smiles, digging life with an advanced Geography degree and teaching the subject he loves. Right: Delgado developed Latin dancing skills to maintain balance while in graduate school at San Diego State University.
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Landscape in Southeast San Diego.” They found that the poor neighborhoods were food swamps, not food deserts as designated by the USDA, which means that there is a lot of junk food, high-sugar, low-nutrient foods in the poor neighborhood. The team made explicit the connection between resident health and a real need for better food sources in the neighborhood. Delgado describes experiencing culture shock when arriving in San Diego and being the only Chicano/Mexicano in a cohort of twenty-five graduate students. He thought that because they were so close to the Mexican border that he would be among his cultural peers. “Don't get me wrong, I love my cohort—we would go for hiking trips, camping trips, and barhopping get-togethers,” Delgado says. “It was fun, but I couldn't relate with people of similar background. For my own sanity, I had to maintain relationships and networks outside of academia. Mexica (Aztec) dancing has been a key way for me to be with my family away from family, to pray for myself and surroundings, and to exercise. I also developed my Latin dancing skills. I found a ballroom Latin dance club on campus that would bring professional Latin dance teachers to teach us salsa, bachata, and some tango.” For his thesis research project, Delgado explored gentrification in Barrio Logan, a historically Mexican-American neighborhood adjacent to downtown San Diego. He used US Census data from 1970 to 2010 to illustrate that redlining maps of San Diego, though made illegal in the 1940s, continue to show the impacts of disinvestment and racial segregation in barrio and ghetto neighborhoods today. He made a map series that depicts the demographic distribution in this neighborhood from 1970 to 2010, and also did qualitative research by spending much of his time in Chicano Park, the only space that
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ALUMNI UPDATES
has been taken back by the After finishing his thesis, Delgado public after the city used its was contacted by his first Geography eminent domain to build mentor, Armando Mendoza at Cypress freeways that divided the College, who asked him to come work at Mexican-American Cypress College. Delgado has now been neighborhood. His teaching two World Regional Geography investigation showed classes for a year, and he loves it. displacement of Chican@s “I think my job is to wake students in Barrio Logan up to 2010 up,” Delgado says. “If they're sleeping, and the influx of Whites. He from the monotony of everyday life, I try then fused this historical to help them find their own passions and setting with interviews, to catapult them toward a successful participant observations, academic or professional career. My and archival research to tell students make me so proud.” a unique story of urban Delgado hopes to have a full-time redevelopment in the barrio. teaching position within the next few For Delgado’s oral years. He is currently starting another presentation at the San project that will attempt to connect Diego State Student environmental justice in southern Los Research Symposium, he Angeles and gentrification along the Los was awarded the Angeles River. He focuses on constantly Presidential Award for expanding community networks that help Research in 2015. Once his underprivileged populations through thesis was completed, writing, but also through organizing. Delgado made copies and As for current HSU Geography Mexica (Aztec) dancing is an important way for Delgado distributed them wherever students, Delgado says, “Take full to maintain cultural connections. they may be needed, advantage of your professors, mentors, including Chicano libraries in program directors and peers—they will gentrifying neighborhoods; a open many doors if you work hard at your representative from the Arts Develop your research interests My job is to wake students craft. Commission in the City of and skills. GIS is a growing field, take full San Diego even took it for up… My students make me advantage of that training. Visualize what reference in making some you want, write a list of daily, weekly, so proud.” changes in the city. Delgado monthly yearly goals to accomplish, and and his advisor revised the do it! Disregard obstacles, climb over thesis in to a 24-page article that they are working on them, believe in yourself. Have a strong grounding with family publishing. peers, and a higher power, if you believe in that. Love yourself and don't stop moving forward.”
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“Since graduating from HSU, I landed my dream job working as a park ranger for the National Park Service at Santa Monica Mountain National Recreation Area, which is the world’s largest urban park. I help visitors from all over the world understand the unique natural and cultural treasures of the region. I always wanted to work for the Park Service, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without HSU Geography. HSU Geography professors connected me to an internship at Redwood National Park during my first semester, and the skills I learned during this time—endurance, commitment, teamwork—are ones integral to my work today. HSU Geography helped me believe in myself and accomplish my dreams” At left: Derakshan with a kitty friend at work at the National Park Service.
Mithra Derakshan Class of 2017
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12 RODOLFO CURIEL is approaching completion his master’s degree in Natural Resources: Forest, Watershed and Wildland Sciences. He has spent the past three years researching wildfire management on nonindustrial private forests in the mid-Klamath River watershed basin. Specifically, he has focused on the implications of property ownership and boundaries on landscape-scale fire management. Rodolfo instructs GSP 101 labs, introducing students to basic geospatial concepts and skills. He hopes to continue a career in geographic education in community colleges. MATTHEW DERRICK spent the 2017-18 academic year on sabbatical as a Fulbright Scholar. Based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, he conducted research on new religious landscapes in post-Soviet Central Asia, and taught Political Geography at American University of Central Asia, the region’s premier higher education institution. In that period, he presented his research at conferences in cities of four different countries, including New Delhi, India; Almaty, Kazakhstan; Bishkek; and Sacramento. Matthew authored and
FACULTY NEWS co-authored articles that appeared in the 2018 issue of the California Geographer, a peer-reviewed journal he co-edits with HSU Geography colleague Rosemary Sherriff. He continues to work as an active member of the California Geographical Society, currently serving as vice president of the organization. Matthew spent most of the summer of 2018 traveling, first spending three weeks with friends from graduate school journeying—by planes, trains, and automobiles—along routes of the historical Silk Road; and, upon returning to the United States, he spent most of July on road trip, meandering from his parents’ house in Kentucky back to California. Upon returning to Humboldt, Matthew assumed department chair duties for Geography. LAURA JOHNSON, after teaching across several departments and programs at HSU, is excited to settle in Geography. Over the last year she taught GEOG 105: Human Geography, GEOG 300: Global Awareness, and GEOG 301: International Environmental Issues and Globalization, in addition to courses in Environmental Studies and Anthropology. She also developed a new Area E course (AHSS 108: Nature, Culture, and
Food), which was incorporated into the curriculum of Global Humboldt, a new first-year student learning community. Laura also served as major advisor for Environmental Studies and faculty advisor for student clubs including the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology (CCAT), Healing Vibrations, and Earth Guardians. Additionally, this fall she participated as an invited panel speaker in Waste Reduction and Resource Awareness Program’s (WRRAP) 2018 Zero Waste Conference, “Waste Not, Want Not: Redefining Waste in the Age of Capitalism.” Laura recently published three articles that emerged from her dissertation research, focused on community food systems and spaces of agrofood (re)connection, in the Journal of Rural Studies, the Journal of Sustainability Education, and Gender, Place, and Culture. She has also written for non-academic publications including the North Coast Journal, Lion’s Roar, and Taproot Magazine, and she began teaching community yoga classes after earning her certification last spring. Finally, last June, Laura and Nick Perdue (both HSU Geography faculty!) got married in the beautiful little town of Elk on the summer solstice. They spend much of their free time building a permaculture homestead at their home in Eureka and frolicking in Humboldt’s forests, rivers, and beaches with their dogs, Moxey and Okja.
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FACULTY NEWS NICOLAS MALLOY, in collaboration with HSU Geography colleague Amy Rock, is working on transforming the GSP 101/ GSP 101L course to offer more flexibility and to increase student success. The course redesign moves from a heavily paper-based format to a hybrid format with tutorials and activities designed to provide students with essential skills in geospatial science. Nick’s goal is to prepare students for the workforce with the knowledge and proficiency to hit the ground running. Nick and Amy are also working preparing the Geospatial Concepts textbook for official publication. NICHOLAS PERDUE, now in his third year as faculty in the Geography Department, is starting to feel at home in Humboldt. Over the past year he published two peer-reviewed articles in the California Geographer, one of which was coauthored with a former student. Nick also accompanied eight students to the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) annual meeting in Norfolk, VA, where, for the third year in a row, an HSU student won one of the national map
competitions. He is currently coediting the 41st Issue of the Humboldt Journal of Social Relations on GIS in the Social Sciences, and is developing new courses for both Geography and the Environment and Community graduate program. This fall Nick gave an invited talk at the 2018 Humboldt State University Zero Waste Conference about Homesteading and Regenerative Design. SARAH RAY is on sabbatical for the 201819 academic year.
AMY ROCK has been busy during the last year working on publications to enhance geographic thinking and geospatial analysis. The year 2018 saw the release of Mapping with ArcGIS Pro, a book Amy co-authored; another publication on using GIS to evaluate community participation in public projects was released in late spring. Along with Geography colleague Nick Malloy, Amy is revising the text for the introductory geospatial course. Another project, which is still in the early stages, involves investigating the
relationship between company towns and economic resilience. She is also the director of the Geospatial Certificate Program, a fully online geospatial course series for graduates and professionals. “Doc Rock” is also working with the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Center for Community Based Learning on a survey and professional development opportunities for faculty interested in embedding community learning in their courses. TONY ROSSI continues to teach his popular regional courses on Tibet and the Himalaya. For the summer of 2019, he is reviving his ever-popular field study course, planning to take a group of HSU students back to Tibet and China to study the region and conduct original field research. ROSEMARY SHERRIFF is excited about new directions for the department and, after four years as chair of the department, looks forward to new leadership by Matthew Derrick. This year Rosemary has been the program leader for the Environmental Studies program
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FACULTY NEWS Geography is excited to welcome back ALMA ZECHMAN as the Administrative Support Coordinator for the department! With several years of experience in managing offices and personnel in various academic settings, Alma is key to maintaining organizational order and smooth daily operation of the program, ensuring that Founders Hall 109 is an inviting, friendly space where students and faculty always feel welcome and at home. Alma holds a bachelor’s of science degree in Child Development from Fresno State University. After a decade of employment at CSU-Fresno, Alma arrived in Humboldt in 2012, running the Geography office until 2015. After a few years in other HSU departments, Alma returned to Geography this fall—we are so happy and fortunate to have her back!
while Sarah Ray is on sabbatical, and also is the faculty leader of Global Humboldt, a new first-year student learning community. Rosemary published three peerreviewed papers in 2018 with students and researchers from the Dendroecology Lab. These publications stem from years of collaborative work producing research studies with the Park Service in the southwest Alaska network of National Parks (Ecosphere), and master’s theses in oak woodland ecosystems of northern California (Ecosphere), and in a dry, mixed-conifer ecosystem in northern California (Forest Ecology and Management). Additional highlights from the Dendroecology Lab for the year include Laura Lalemand’s master’s thesis completion on forest management, drought and competition effects in redwood and Douglas-fir forests in Redwood National Park; completion of fieldwork for Jill Beckmann’s master’s thesis (HSU Geography alum) in oak woodlands; and
completion of fieldwork for Zach Wenderott’s master’s thesis on mixed-conifer forests in Lassen National Park. Rosemary also published two other co-authored papers with colleagues this year on bark beetle impacts on socioecological systems in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment and on advancing dendroecological studies of fire in the new journal Fire. She also continues as co-editor of the California Geographer, among other activities such as parenting two children who are currently five and twelve years old. AARON TAVERAS, who teaches laboratory sections for Geospatial Concepts and helps manage the Kosmos Lab, completed his master's degree in Environmental Science and Management this past fall. He also
began working as a part-time cartographer and map editor for Apple Valley Publishing, and had 35 maps published between two fly fishing guides for Stackpole Books. Aaron is excited to start 2019 not working on his thesis, but instead developing a handful of 3-D and web cartography workshops, instructing GSP 101 labs, and assisting the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences with web design and marketing. He also continues to coparent a dog, some rabbits, and a horse. CHELSEA TEALE has had a busy year, with two papers and a book review published and another paper and book review on the way. One paper focuses on wetland history in the Northeast, another on a pre-Last Glacial Maximum site in central New
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FACULTY NEWS York, and the third on the historical ecology of a coastal California marsh. Over the summer, Chelsea attended the Missouri Botanical Garden’s R Basics Workshop in St. Louis, the US Ice Drilling Program’s School of Ice in New Hampshire, and the Canadian and American Quaternary Associations joint meeting in Ottawa. There, she presented on the paleoecological implications of historical wetland use in the Northeast. More recently, she remotely attended a summit of the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections program as part of her volunteer efforts at the HSU Herbarium. As a continuation of a fall 2017 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Grant, which funded the participation of three Geography majors in the California wetland project, Chelsea also oversaw their poster presentation at this spring’s IdeaFest student conference.
Making the most of retirement, Mary Beth Cuhna glides beneath the eastern boundary of Yosemite (photo by Stephen Cunha).
Wishing the Cunhas the Best in Retirement After more than two decades of teaching Geography at Humboldt State University, Stephen and Mary Beth Cunha officially retired last spring. The tandem played crucial roles in the program. They will be missed by HSU colleagues, students, and members of the non-university community alike. “Serving as an HSU professor will always be the professional honor of my lifetime,” Stephen stated while announcing his retirement. “I absolutely loved sharing my discipline with our varied and interesting students. This post launched me into intellectual and physical places on six continents...It’s a big world out there, and my trusty travel companion and I want to see more of it before the lights go out.”
HSU Geography Faculty Co-edit the California Geographer Geography professors Matthew Derrick and Rosemary Sherriff co-edited the 2018 issue of the California Geographer, the flagship peer-reviewed journal of the California Geographical Society. The volume—weighing in at more than 270 pages, the largest in journal’s nearly six-decade history— features articles from HSU Geography faculty, including Derrick and Nicholas Perdue, and former students, including Nathaniel Douglass and Eric Fowler, as well as academic geographers from throughout the state. The 2018 issue marks the second year of Derrick and Sherriff editing the journal; the full 2018 journal can be accessed at the following link: http://scholarworks.csun.edu/ handle/10211.3/203086
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Brickley Lands Top Cart Prize at 2017 CGS
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hrough the lens of critical cartography this map is a geo-visual representation of human emigration from Colombia during a period of civil war between Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the national government. This map was inspired by a firsthand exploration to Colombia in 2010, as well as discussing with fellow students the idea to create a geographic representation that links geographic knowledge of warfare with political power. Thinking back to my time spent in MedellĂn, I recall the modern high-rise apartments placed against old cathedrals, favelas, and parks; and I recall recognizing areas of damage inflicted by FARC. I was astounded to find low population movement in the late 1980s into the early 1990’s, the era of Pablo Escobar and guerilla warfare. Additionally, the extreme spike between 2006 and 2007 and the years following was unexpected. This spike was the result of United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) adding two subcategories: (i) people in refugee-like situations (included under refugees), and (ii) people in internally displaced persons (IDP)-like situations (included under IDPs). I feel proud of what this map represents as an individual piece, and I hope others can gain perspective on what effects major conflicts can have on the well-being of people. Thanks for the support and encouragement from my classmates and advisors; without their help this opportunity would not be as successful, positive, and important as it has proven to be. Torrie Brickley Class of 2017
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ince my first time attending the conference in 2016, winning a top prize at the annual meeting of the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) has been a goal of mine. After witnessing my classmate Patrick Wood win the year before, I knew what it took to accomplish my goal and I felt prepared for the challenge. I was initially inspired by a Mapping the Sierra course, team taught by Stephen and Mary Beth Cunha, I had taken the semester before; I felt the topic was very relevant at the time. More than 100 hours of love and dedication were poured into this map, and it wouldn't have been possible without the help of many in HSU’s Department of Geography. In particular, I would like to acknowledge Mary Beth Cunha, Nicholas Perdue, Amy Rock, and Aaron Taveras. Nathaniel Douglass Class of 2017
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Sierra Nevada in Detail
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The early months of 2017 marked the highest snow cover levels for the Sierra Nevada Range in more than a decade. The land cover class in this map was created from Landsat 8 imagery collected January 1 through March 30. The snow cover class was created by taking Landsat 8 imagery and creating a false color composite image that colorized areas covered by snow and ice. I was then able to apply filters to give me the look I was seeking. My goal was to capture the dramatic increase in snow cover while attempting to portray the breathtaking beauty of the Sierra Nevada.
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Blending the land cover classifications and manually labeling every feature was the most time-consuming and depleting part of the process. For this, special thanks goes to HSU friends Luke McCarthy, Claire Roth, and Joshua Shindelbower for necessary emotional support.
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Working on the Lake Tahoe portion of the map was my favorite part. As it does for many, this area holds near and dear to my heart and I was very happy with how it turned out.
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Turtuk: Hidden Himalayas By Jesse Vad
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n the far northwest of India lies the mountainous Himalayan region of Ladakh. Home to some of the world’s tallest mountain peaks and passes, this part of the world boasts a drastic physical landscape that has ignited a booming tourism industry. It was in Ladakh where my friend, Kris Anderson, who also graduated with a Geography degree from Humboldt State University in 2014, and I traversed the mountains by motorcycle. It would take more than one lifetime to fully explore Ladakh, but Kris and I only had a month in the summer of 2017. Our journey began in Kashmir, taking us north on a fourteen-hour ride to the Ladakhi city of Leh. From there, we embarked on multiple circuits throughout the region, skirting the Pakistan border and stopping in many towns on our way further northeast. Eventually, we headed south to the Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh, where we concluded our adventure. Dotted with ancient monasteries, vibrant
high-altitude lakes, and elaborate palaces, each destination in the Himalayas was seemingly more striking than the last. But it was not until riding as far north as the road would take us that we found the most memorable location of our journey. At the very top of Ladakh is the Nubra Valley, a valley that stretches into the border of Pakistan. Nubra is speckled with isolated villages, smatterings of lushness contrast within the cradle of the brown and white high desert. Nestled along the snaking Shyok River, less than ten miles from the Pakistan border, is the village of Turtuk. When Kris and I rode into Turtuk we were taken aback. It felt as if we had burst into a vivid oasis of color. Seas of neon green barley and wheat fields swelled in the wind, and all throughout the narrow, little roads grew clusters of trees and thickets of flowers. The town looked paradisiacal and surreal, especially set against the lunar backdrop of the surrounding mountains.
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Left (previous page): A house sits against the dramatic mountain scenery of Pakistan. Right: The village of Turtuk nestles the Shyok River. Below: Author Jesse Vad (left) and Kris Anderson, both HSU Geography class of 2014, take a rest while motorcycling in Ladakh (all photos by Jesse Vad).
But it isn’t just an overwhelming appearance that sets Turtuk apart from the rest of Ladakh—it is its history and culture as well. Ladakh is dominated by Buddhism, and almost every village is obviously linked to the religion with Buddhist designs, symbols, and artwork being a common sight around even the smallest towns. Turtuk, however, is an anomaly.
Turtuk is a Muslim village and part of Baltistan, a region primarily situated within Pakistan. In fact, Turtuk was part of Pakistan from 1947 up until it was annexed to India in 1971 as a result of the Indo-Pakistani War. For many years afterward, Turtuk remained closed off even to Indians due to its politically sensitive location on the border. It finally opened up to tourists in 2010. When it comes to the people of Turtuk there is no concrete story of specific origin, but they supposedly descend from a mixture of many backgrounds such as Tibetan and Aryan. Baltistan was a significant region of trade and cultural exchange during the Silk Road era, so it makes sense that Turtuk’s residents could stem from a combination of different ethnicities. Though Turtuk only opened up to the outside world relatively recently, the structural landscape of the town indicates that it has been impacted by tourism. As Kris and I wandered the alleys, crops, and winding stone pathways, we passed many guesthouses. These houses have been repurposed to accommodate visitors, some
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Above: Verdant fields of Turtok contrast with the lunar mountain backdrop. Right: A wooden carved bird watches over the front entrance to Kacho Mohammad Khan’s fifteenth-century home.
even equipped with their own restaurants and cafes. Signs in English, most often directing guests to lodging options, are not an uncommon sight. Still, compared to the rest of Ladakh, Turtuk is fairly remote. For the most part, it felt as though Kris and I were the only ones visiting.
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s we explored the town, we walked through the twisted lanes and past countless old mud, stone, and wooden homes. Eventually we stumbled upon a courtyard and an unusually large house, the front gate of which was adorned with a wooden carved bird. We soon learned that this was the fifteenth-century home of the king of Turtuk. The current king, named Kacho Mohammad Khan, welcomed us into his home and led us to a makeshift museum where he displayed artifacts from his family’s past. Khan gladly described each item and told us stories of his family’s history. The position of king in Turtuk is no longer a true seat of power
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HUMBOLDT IN THE WORLD Keft: Kacho Mohammad Khan, king of Turtuk, poses with a family member. Below: Local children pick flowers at the base of the mountains in Turtuk.
or authority. Instead, Khan now runs his small exhibit and teaches tourists about his family. Our exploration continued and we wandered through fields, groves of trees and eventually up the side of a cliff where we sat perched atop Turuk and stared up the mountain corridor. The snowy peaks of Pakistan sat just ahead in the distance, a looming reminder of the difficult past events and tension that has plagued Turtuk over the years. Though caught in an unlucky position between the push and pull of two nations, Turtuk and its people persist and continue to attract visitors with their beauty and charm. For Kris and me, it was a glimpse into history and an opportunity to learn about a pocket in the Himalayas that is quite unlike any other.
JESSE VAD graduated from Humboldt State University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in Geography. After graduating Jesse moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he teaches elementary grades K-4. When not teaching, Jesse is usually planning his next trip abroad. “Humboldt Geography instilled in me a passion for exploration and also equipped me with research skills that I apply to every trip I take,” Jesse says. “HSU taught me to read the landscapes that I interact with when I travel, allowing me to continue my research everywhere I go.”
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Making Tea in Nepal By Lucia Wittenberg
Rice paddies in the village of Salyan in Myagdi district (all photos courtesy of Lucia Wittenberg).
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he key to making good Nepali tea is black pepper. Its distinctive heat and aroma shines through the spice of the cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon. Making good Nepali tea is important. Tea is the cornerstone of Nepali society. Nepalis drink tea two to three times a day: once in the morning, once in the afternoon and sometimes before dinner. They gossip over tea, they laugh over tea; they share their stories and observations of the changing weather over tea. They cry over tea and sit in silence over tea. Tea is a social fly trap; if a neighbor sees you walking by they promptly ask if you’ve drunk tea that day, and whether the answer is yes or no they insist you come over for a cup, or two, or three. Drinking tea with friends and family is not just a way to pass the time, it’s a way to build relationships and talk about goats. So, making good tea is important. If you make a good cup of tea people will be happy to come to your home to sit and drink with you. Your home will soon become a hub for community, and a cascade of good gossip about your tea making skills will spread. Drinking tea was the easiest way to integrate into my community. It was the best excuse to meet new people. Drinking tea led to conversations about their families, which then led to an invitation to a wedding or worship, which then led to me wearing a sari and dancing like a fool. Drinking tea also led to conversations about their fields, which led to a Q&A sessions about problems in their fields, which eventually led to a training about various ways to over come crop failure, improve soil health, or trying a new crop. In short, drinking tea with people meant doing Peace Corps work and vice versa. HSU Geography class of 2014, LUCIA WITTENBERG served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal 2016-18. She is currently working on a master’s degree in International Trade and Economic Diplomacy at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
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A. My host amaa (mother) placing red “tika” on my forehead in celebration of the festival of Dashain. B. Kids from my village (Salyan) posing for a picture before running off to play volleyball. C. Rice planting party in my village. Using oxen to plow the rice paddies, they break up the mud and rocks to make it easier for the rice planting party to hand sow the seedlings. It is traditionally the woman's role to plant the rice, plowing left to the men. D. My amaa posing with her favorite goat. She named him “Kali,” which means “black” in Nepali. E. My host cousins and I dressed up for a wedding. The woman in the middle dressed in the red saree is the bride. F. The village of Nar in Mustang, a high mountain village in northwestern Nepal with deep Tibetan ancestry.
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HSU Geography Announces China-Tibet Field Study for Summer 2019
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s part of its continuing global outreach, the HSU Geography Department is again offering the China-Tibet Field Studies Program. Since the beginning of the program in 2000 HSU undergraduate students have pursued a wide range of topics while exploring and documenting the rapidly changing natural and cultural landscapes of these regions. The design and implementation of a community service project on the Tibetan Plateau will be a hallmark of next year’s program. The program is open to all majors, and will consider non-Geography majors; prerequisite courses are scheduled for Spring 2019. For more information, contact Tony Rossi, program director at afr2@humboldt.edu. We had a chance to catch up with Rossi and pose some questions on the program. Tony, you’re widely recognized as an expert on China, Tibet, and the broader Himalaya region. How did you became involved in this part of the world? What originally attracted and has continued to attract you? Taking a Mandarin class in high school was a fun experience that I followed up with history courses on China at HSU. Recruited to teach geography in Australia in 1974, I would eventually find myself in China. Much of the experience that I have used in designing and managing this program I draw from my own personal experience in China, which dates back to 1977. As a student at Monash University in Melbourne, I was fortunate to join a field trip to the People’s Republic. At the time, this was unusual for an American and led to my being invited to teach in Beijing in 1980. What began as a two-year commitment led to my family and I exploring
and documenting China in depth for nearly a decade. Every province was visited, some repeatedly, the Silk Road, beginning in 1980, Tibet in 1984 and the southern and northern borderlands throughout the early 1980s. Much of our focus was on the physical and cultural landscape of China, especially its distinct ethnic and regional characteristics. Events in the spring of 1989 necessitated our departure, but this brief interruption has been followed with nearly annual return trips. Continuing to witness the tremendous change that is sweeping these ancient landscapes remains a primary interest. When did you first take students to China-Tibet? The program began in 2000. In the thirteen years that we have explored Tibet, 129 HSU students have pursued a wide range of topics. Building on each year’s success we have covered virtually the entire Tibetan Plateau, an unprecedented accomplishment for an undergraduate program. The often extremely challenging conditions that exist in Tibet demand a high level of maturity and responsibility. That our program has successfully continued for over a decade is a testimony to the personal resources that our students develop and to their growing sense of professionalism. A lot of work goes into planning the summer field study to China-Tibet. What motivates you? Through the late ‘90s my course on China’s geography had generated interest among students in exploring the country and with the advent of a new summer semester schedule the possibility of having a field studies program became a reality. I initially designed the program to provide greater awareness and
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Left (previous page): Rossi leads an open-air classroom in Ropong, eastern Tibet, in 2009 (photo by G. Rossi, 2009). Top right: Geography major Tina Connolly shares notes with Tibetan monks in eastern Tibet (photo by G. Rossi, 2004). Bottom right: Geography major Josh Hocherl shares photos with Tibetan nomads in western Tibet (photo by T. Rossi, 2008).
understanding of the land and people of China and Tibet by developing a broad range of research, documentation, and presentation skills. Inspiration for beginning and carrying out a field studies program includes my geographic education at HSU, especially my participation in Professor John Harper’s Lindsey Creek Study and my own exploration of China. The program process begins with prerequisite courses taught in the spring. As a summer text, I write and provide a field guide that doubles as a journal that students use to document their findings. Upon returning to HSU a number of collaborative projects are required including the creation of an illustrated poster, the editing and publication of a group field journal, and a campus presentation. For many participants the program has provided a career focus and an inspiration for, or preparation for graduate school, or careers in teaching, or the Peace Corps and NGO work. What are some of the greatest memories you’ve had on the summer field studies? As an instructor it is very rewarding to watch our students fulfill their ambitions in the field and in their subsequent careers. In the course of the journey, it is also fun to see the positive interaction that participants have with the people of China and Tibet. Much of the program’s success can be attributed to the acceptance and support shown by our host communities. As an expression of our gratitude, we have tried to engage in community-based service projects whenever possible. Existing conditions have not always made this feasible; nonetheless we began in 2004 by helping renovate a health clinic in eastern Tibet. Partnering with a local Tibetan NGO, we have carried out a number of projects over the last decade. In 2005 we installed donated bunk beds in a remote, newly opened boarding school for nomad children in northeastern Tibet. Noticing that the school was without reliable electricity, one of our Geography majors offered to design a solar power system. After graduating the following year, he preceded our 2006 group and had the entire system ready to for us to install upon our arrival.
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Trees Tell Complicated Climate Change Story in Southwest Alaska From Humboldt Now (5/4/2017)
Lake Clark National Park sets the backdrop for Professor Rosemary Sherriff’s field research in Alaska (photo by National Park Service).
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n the face of climate change, white spruce trees at scientists and land managers better understand how the highest elevations in southwest Alaska are trees respond. “Recent changes in temperature and responding to increased temperatures with positive precipitation are altering high-altitude forests, although growth, while lower elevation trees appear to be the specific effects depend on the biogeographical experiencing reduced growth setting,” the researchers write. and susceptibility to attacks by Observers know the forests are spruce beetles according to a changing, but where these transitions The study tells new study recently published are occurring and how climate the complicated story variability plays into these dynamics is by HSU faculty and alumni. Geography Professor Rosemary relatively unclear. The study sheds about the effects Sherriff—working with light on how white spruce responds in of climate change on trees in recent HSU graduates Kelly maritime versus boreal ecoregions Alaska and helps scientists Muth, Madelinn Schriver, and near the boundary of boreal forests of and land managers better Rebecca Batzel, and the North America. The study also notes National Park Service—recently that precipitation is having a understand how published “Spruce growth significant effect on tree growth in the trees respond.” responses to warming vary by years after 1985 compared to prior ecoregion and ecosystem type decades when tree growth appeared near the forest-tundra boundary in south-west Alaska,” to be stable despite variances in rain and snowfall. in the Journal of Biogeography. Amy Miller, manager of the monitoring program for The study tells the complicated story about the the Southwest Alaska Network of National Parks, points effects of climate change on trees in Alaska and helps
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out the importance of the research. “The study provides information to the parks about where spruce are showing increased growth in response to warming, and where growth has been declining in recent decades. In areas of decline, stands may become vulnerable to damage by insects or disease, which has direct effects on wildlife, subsistence activities, and visitor experience.” Muth, Schriver, and Batzel helped Sherriff analyze data on the tree-ring record of more than 1,200 trees throughout Lake Clark and Katmai National Parks and Preserves in Southwest Alaska. The students also analyzed climate records from King Salmon and Port Alsworth, Alaska, to evaluate monthly temperature and precipitation effects on tree growth. Kelly Muth (foreground) and Madelinn Schriver (background) provide research As undergraduate students, the students assistance in Geography Professor Rosemary Sherriff’s Dendroecology Lab (photo by Rosemary Sherriff). worked with Sherriff in HSU’s Dendroecology Lab to understand the effects of climate change across a wide range of forest techniques involving measuring and dating tree rings, ecosystems. running statistical software, and developing databases The Dendroecology Lab supports both that will be used by future student researchers.” undergraduate and graduate research in biogeography, For Muth, a co-author of the study, working in landscape ecology, forest the lab gave her the chance to hone ecology, climate change and skills that added to her education. I’ve been incredibly “Even though I did not take formal forest disturbance ecology, dendrochronology, and impressed with the forestry or statistical analysis classes, environmental applications research skill level I was one of the primary research of GIS and related spatial assistants on various projects and our undergraduate analyses. publications while working in the lab. I students carry out at HSU.” According to Sherriff, had support from Dr. Sherriff when working in the lab affords needed, and was encouraged to students the opportunity to Rosemary Sherriff, problem solve and troubleshoot before gain valuable experience as getting an automatic answer or fix Geography Professor researchers while also from Dr. Sherriff.” developing skills in teaching. The study is available online at https:// “I’ve been incredibly impressed with the research onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbi.12968/full. skill level our undergraduate students carry out at HSU” said Sherriff, “These three students also went on to train other students in the lab, including graduate students, on
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Direct Experience in the American West By Nicholas Perdue
HSU Geography students take in the view atop the Steens Mountains (photo by Dan Barton).
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hen news broke that a group of armed militants had seized the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on January 2, 2016, people around the country grasped for context to understand what was happening and why. What they may have found is that the refuge and its surrounding areas of Harney County are spaces in which issues of federal lands, ecosystem conservation, rural economics, libertarian politics, indigenous rights, and human-animal relationships converge in a unique, but not entirely isolated way in the broader geographic region of the American West. But understanding these convergences in more than superficial ways, Map of Malheur National Wildlife Refugee (map by Mark Nowlin). especially for people not from the rural intermountain west, requires time spent departments at Humboldt State University, students sitting high in the desert mountains or driving down traveled to the desert mountains of Eastern Oregon to endless dirt roads. It requires listening to locals as they experience the western landscape and learn about the share a sense of place and a careful study of the plants relationship between rural politics, environmental and animals that encode the stories of the landscape. It processes, and wildlife habitats shapes the American requires, in short, direct experience. In September 2017, in an interdisciplinary West. The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, with an collaboration between the Geography and Wildlife Continued on next page
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entangled history of white settlement, ecological Located in arid southeastern Oregon, the Malheur Basin conservation, and cowboy economics that can be was home to one of largest cattle empires in the country directly traced through history to the recent occupation, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. After served as an ideal landscape to experience this unique years of unregulated hunting and environmental set of geographic relations in the intermountain West. alterations in the Blitzen Valley, including the channeling The goal of the field course, taught in parallel by two of streams and draining of wetlands, migratory waterfowl Geography and one population was in Wildlife faculty steep decline. The members, was to Malheur National allow students from Wildlife Refuge was both majors to place established in 1908 their studies into a and expanded during new context by Great Depression interacting and recovery programs sharing disciplinewith intensive specific knowledge restoration work. with each other, From the beginning, constructing multiple there was opposition ways of seeing the to the refuge and all world within one federally owned land experience. Our in the area rooted in assumption going in the belief that the Buena Vista Overlook at Malheur National Refuge (photo by Josh was that fostering refuge was a this interdisciplinary Shindelbower). government conversation would allow students to converse and learn overreach, a tool or rich urban East Coast elites to take from each other as they moved between scales of money from poor rural ranchers and cowboys: “Much of analysis ranging from the landscape to the individual the opposition to the refuge had been, at least on the species. surface, on economic grounds. Locals had warned that The course centered around a five-day field trip to the refuge would take land out of the economic tax base the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge with a total of thirty and also put an abrupt halt to development� (Langston -six students. During this trip, we camped and 2003, 96). This narrative continues to this day and is the experienced the remote high desert of southeastern primary libertarian philosophy underpinning the Malheur Oregon together, had conversations with local experts to occupation and cowboy economics more broadly. understand more about the history of the area and local Although remote and with specific conditions unique views on the recent conflict, and learned about to the area, the Malheur Basin possesses a myriad of ecosystem restoration and wildlife habitat through direct ecological and political conditions indicative of the entire experience and observation. During the trip we required intermountain west. This includes a complicated history students to read the landscape of a particular location, with the indigenous population in which a genocidal past documenting with text and visual images how a folds into contemporary land use/land rights arguments particular site of interest reveals a unique intersection of that exclude entire populations. The area has a unique cultural, historical, and ecological processes. cooperative rangeland management system, a wild In many ways, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge horse population that threatens the local sagebrush serves as a perfect field trip location to study the environment, and contains one of the largest freshwater interconnectedness of human and physical geography. marsh ecosystems in the western United States and a
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critical stop for migratory birds on the Pacific Flyway. The collection of these factors, along with the recent history, creates an ideal site for direct-experience geographic education.
community, most notably in debates about the regulations detailing how, when, and by whom cattle grazing is permitted on refuge grounds. Being at the refuge allowed us to observe the landscape and put into context the contesting claims of the space, one of which favored scientific analysis and environmental management practices while the other oriented toward the ranching tradition, neoliberal economic structures, and the minimization of scientific findings. Longcore wrote in his 2016 op-ed, “The armed takeover of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is, therefore, not just an attack on a federal property. It cuts deeper than that. It is an attack on the modern science-based approach to land management and it is an attack on the value and worth of science and scientists in the United States.” Our visit to Refuge Headquarters reinforced the land use politics we had discussed in class prior to the trip, while engaging students in active forms Road to South Steens Campground (photo by Josh Shindelbower). of learning and full sensory experiences of he direct field experience in the Malheur the environment. Wildlife Refuge area allowed students not only We could see firsthand the management practices to put the recent occupation into context, but of the grasslands, read interpretive signs about the also to gain an appreciation of the deeper sediment accumulation and invasive carp species in the history and hidden undercurrents of conflict within this lake, and hear birds as they passed over us. This region and more broadly across the American West. experience gave deeper value to the hard scientific landDue to the sensitive nature not only of the Malheur use management work people do in the unforgiving occupation and the continuing residual impacts on the rangelands of the Great Basin. local community, but also the broader debate that has We were able to further explore the politics of land recently emerged about the role of the federal management when we first arrived in the greater government in Western land-use policies and practices, Malheur area and were making our way up Steens this recount of the fieldtrip will focus less on specifics Mountain Road on the way to our campground. During from the conversations that we had with a host of local this trip we came across the famous “Hollywood Herd” of experts and instead focus on transformational aspects wild horses, named so for their familiarity with people and unique insights from the experience. and apparent willingness to pose for pictures. The scene One such instance was during our visit to the refuge was a surreal experience, one that caused us all to headquarters, where we were able to witness the site of pause with a sense of wonder and awe. In many ways, the occupation and get a sense of the unique geography wild horses are the quintessential symbol of the and cooperative land-management practices of the American West, deeply entrenched in cowboy refuge and surrounding areas. As with many other rural mythology, romanticism, and a sense of freedom. We western counties, the federal government is sat and watched the horses for some time, witnessing simultaneously the largest employer in Harney County firsthand what we would later learn to be a microcosm of and a target of widespread resentment from within the the complicated story of land use in the American West.
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Wild horses in the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area (photo by Josh Shindelbower).
The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act is one of the more controversial management practices regulated by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This act strives to maintain an ecological balance of horse population on rangelands and, with strict mandates against culling and exportation to foreign slaughterhouses, has resulted in the establishment of numerous holding pens across the West to absorb populations removed from federal lands. Even with a relatively successful adoption program, there are currently more than 67,000 horses on federal lands (three times the estimated range land capacity) and an additional 49,000 in federally operated holding pens. We entered this landscape at a contentious time for the wild horses, one where pushes for deregulation and potential massive changes to federal land management practices have created political upheaval and an influx of contentious discourses. The issue of wild horse management is a deeply entrenched, complex problem
that is not as simple as either side of the political debate makes it out to be. Horse advocacy groups claim that the BLM, despite explicit laws from Congress to protect wild horses, intentionally misleads the public about their impact, inflates population estimates, and are beholden to ranching special-interest groups. Advocacy groups promote new methods to reduce the fertility of wild horses, including field-based methods that do not require the herding of horses into a centralized facility, while the federal government argues that fertility control efforts are a failure and nearly impossible to carry out, asking for Congress to repeal regulations against the slaughter, exporting, and euthanasia of excess horse populations. The wild horse debate is one that cannot be easily reduced to the simple and most politically divisive discourse without directly experiencing the landscape in which these events are taking place. While the concept of field-based sterilization of horses on the surface holds
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haul study-abroad programs, and increasing faculty-service obligations, collectively producing an uncertain future concerning field trips and direct-experience education. In the case of this particular trip, the direct experience of the landscape and interactions with local actors were essential to put the 2016 occupation and larger issues surrounding the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge into a broader context. It can be hard, for example, to understand how scientific practices produce contested landscapes, to consider the complications of the wild horse debate without seeing the animals move through the environment, or to acknowledge multiple perspectives on place without having direct conversations Sunset from the South Steens Campground (photo by Nicholas Perdue). with people. Experiences like this one are promise to control the population on multiuse public important, not only to help students achieve a more land, the practice is controversial on both sides of the meaningful connection to the topical course material and debate and requires the mobility of field agents across stronger personal relationships with both faculty and often vast expanses of remote, rugged territory. Only other students, but to remind faculty of what when immersed in the environment, seeing these fundamentally matters in education: passion, animals, and getting a sense of the geography of the introspection, wonder, disorientation, complication, area do you get a true sense of the complexity of the heartbreak, joy. It is critical that geography faculty issue. Direct experience in field studies allows students continue to advocate for field experiences at multiple to take in the romantic sense of grandeur and wonder administrative and curricular levels to ensure not only that comes from watching wild horses run across the greater student success and engagement, but also high desert grasslands while simultaneously witnessing transformative life experiences and deeper firsthand how federal programs, regulations, and special understandings of the world. -interest groups dictate socioecological relationships on the ground. Works Cited Langston, Nancy. 2003. Where land and water meet: A irect field experiences for undergraduate western landscape transformed. Seattle, WA: students provide the opportunity to learn in University of Washington Press the world and potentially develop a nuanced Longcore, Travis. 2016. I stand with Linda Sue Beck. understanding of complex social, cultural, January 9: https://medium.com/@travislongcore/iand ecological issues. It is crucial that we continue to stand-with-linda-sue-beck-a651895b71ce advocate for the integration of field experiences into NICHOLAS PERDUE is assistant professor in the standard curriculum and degree programs. Local- and Department of Geography. He joined the faculty in the regional-based field experiences are continuously fall of 2016 after completing his doctorate at the threatened by several factors, including budget University of Oregon. This essay is excerpted and efficiency models, technological advancements in virtual adapted from an article featured in the 2018 issue of fieldtrip models, resources being shifted toward longthe California Geographer, which can be accessed at http://scholarworks.csun.edu/handle/10211.3/203095
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Geographer Reveals Italian Attitudes Toward African Refugees From Humboldt Now (12/9/2016)
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s a Geography student, Monica Moreno-Espinoza (class of 2016) wasn’t about to let a research opportunity slip through her fingers during a two-month trip to Italy. With serious questions about refugees in mind, she paired sightseeing at the Roman Coliseum with 845 interviews of Italian college students from eight universities. She wanted to know what the students thought about the recent upswing in refugees coming to Italy from Africa. Her results would inform a poster presentation that brought the undergraduate student shoulder to shoulder with graduate and doctoral students,
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Top left: Monica Moreno-Espinoza (class of 2016) visits Rome’s coliseum while conducting fieldwork for her senior capstone project. Top right: Depicted cartographically, Moreno-Espinoza surveyed more than 800 Italians in eight different cities (map by Monica Moreno-Espinoza).
and faculty members from colleges throughout the Pacific Coast region. The trip was a two-month visit to see her aunt in Italy and Moreno-Espinoza added stops at universities in Milan, Padua, Florence, Rome, Naples, Palermo, and Catania. As the daughter of immigrants, Moreno-Espinoza has long been interested in issues surrounding immigrants, political refugees and others who have faced leaving their home country. She wanted to investigate the attitudes of Italian students, whose homeland was receiving the majority of African refugees bound for Europe, and to see how those feelings meshed with what Italians were telling her. “I wasn’t sure whether the news specifically was making people racist. However, it was an opinion that some people I encountered would express,” she says.
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Students and professors share ideas in an experimental class titled Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Climate Change, a collaboration between Geography and Environmental Studies (photo by Humboldt Now).
Geography and Environmental Studies Collaborate on Climate Change From Humboldt Now (11/10/2016)
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f co-teaching sounds like it could lead to some conflicts, you’re not wrong—especially when it comes to a charged topic like climate change. It’s part of the reason why it’s rarely done in academia. But working through those disagreements, even in front of the class, is part of the point. This semester, Geography Chair Rosemary Sherriff joined forces and Environmental Studies Professor Sarah Ray and invited other HSU professors across different disciplines to teach students about climate change. Sherriff and Ray share a common interest in environmental issues, but their backgrounds and
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expertise sometimes bring them to different conclusions about how that goal should be achieved. That’s a good thing, and its usefulness is especially appropriate when it comes to a topic like climate change. Climate change, of course, is a high-profile issue, and even in the scientific community where it’s largely accepted as true, there are disputes over how to study, measure, address, and teach about it. While it’s a common topic of debate in political circles, it is also widely misunderstood by the general public—or, at least, there’s a glut of questionable information out there.
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Sherriff and Ray’s goal in the course (GEOG 473/ENST 480: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Climate Change) is to bring a variety of disciplines and perspectives to the topic. Climate change affects a huge array of topics—Hurricane Katrina, for example, included physical sciences like engineering and meteorology, as well as social science subjects like politics and race. Sometimes, experts in those disciplines think they know what needs the most resources, or what should be the highest priority when tackling climate change. But Ray says a subject so complicated needs broader, more Joshua Diaz and Brandi Monreal film a climate change public service interconnected analyses. announcement on the quad (photo by Humboldt Now). So, they’ve been challenging students semester, Sherriff says, almost every hand would have to think outside their own perspectives to solve an issue, gone up. Being forced to challenge their own to get over the dead-end of “who’s going to solve the understandings of climate change has produced some problem better.” doubt. But again, that’s a good thing. The video project with the journalism class hroughout the semester, they’ve invited HSU encourages all of the students to dismantle their climate professors from a variety of science fields change perceptions and repackage them for a broad such as hydrology, oceanography, and audience. And it comes at a perfect time in the course, wildlife, to share how their work provides Sherriff says, when the students had reformed their context for climate change discussions and offer a ideas about climate change and are ready for a critical view of the effects of and responses to it. communication tool to repackage their ideas. Sherriff and Ray also invited professors from Sama says it’s valuable to her students as well. “We humanities and social science fields, like Journalism have the means to communicate messages, and they Professor Vicky Sama, whose Introduction to Video have messages they need to communicate,” she says. Production class had spent the semester creating news “It’s a valuable collaboration and can be replicated with and informative videos. Sherriff, Ray, and Sama pretty much any discipline and department on campus.” partnered to have students in both classes create 30So, while one group of students goes to the quad to second public service announcements about climate film reactions to Donald Trump quotes about climate change. change, another group performs a rap about melting When Sama introduces herself to the class, she polar ice caps with props and a polar bear costume. asks how many of them know exactly what climate Between takes at another video shoot, change is. Only a few hands out of the seventy-plus Environmental Studies major Claire Roth says the students go up. “If we are feeling doubt about what experimental undertones are the point of a class like climate change is,” Sama says, “the general public’s this. “This is one of my favorite classes in my four years understanding is just as unclear, if not more so.” here,” she says. “It displays the interdisciplinary nature Sama’s question highlights another point of the of environmental studies.” collaborative climate class. At the beginning of the
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A. Humboldt State Geographers pose for a photograph to celebrate the spring 2018 potluck. B. Michael Fincher plucks the guitar. C. Emeritus Geography Professor Joseph Leeper presents Quint Migliardi with the Dr. Joseph Leeper Scholarship Leeper Geography Scholarship. D. Strumming, Nathaniel Douglass shares a laugh with Doc Rock. E. Geography students socialize, partake in the potluck edibles. F. Geography faculty Tony Rossi and Rosemary Sherriff present Miyako Namba with the Dr. John L. Harper Memorial Scholarship. G. Emeritus Geography Professor Dennis Fitzsimons (far right) joins current HSU cartography instructors Amy Rock and Nick Perdue in presenting Gil Trejo (front) and Josh Shindelbower (back) with the first-ever Kosmos award in honor of their cartographic excellence.
