Impacts of Climate Change on the Pacific Northwest

2019

Dates: August 18th – August 27th, 2019

This was a workshop for participants from the School of Geography and Ocean Sciences at Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, hosted by the Precision Forestry Cooperative (PFC), in the School of Forest and Environmental Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle. The participants arrived on August 18th, 2019 in Seattle, spent 10 days traveling and learning about the geology  and the ecological and human impacts on the Pacific Northwest (PNW) region, and flew back home on August 28th, 2019.

The participants selected for this workshop traveled over 800 km (general route is shown on the map below) through the PNW and explored the region through the lens of climate change implications on the ecology and human impacts on the state. They learned about the geology of this region to better understand the context of these impacts.  A more specific Google Earth KMZ link.

This is your daily agenda for the workshops, the readings links are hyperlinked in the agenda, you are expected to do them to prepare for the next day, but feel free to do the readings ahead of time, even before you leave for Seattle.

Today Begin by reading the introductory section of your “Field Guide to the Cascades & Olympic“ by  Rob Sandelin and Stephen R. Whitney. This guide should be in your daypack during the workshop so you can use it for plant and animal identification.

After the workshop We want you to do the 4th and final blog post after you return home. Take 3-5 days to reflect on your excursion and the things you learned. Now compare these to climate change issues in Nanjing, how are these the same, how are these different, are the solutions being applied to these issues similar? For example: is urban canopy cover same or different between Nanjing and Seattle, and what are the policies behind this, how are these serving the populations of these two cities, can these be improved by learning from each other? You can use pictures from Nanjing to demonstrate your point.

2019 Agenda

Sunday, August 18th, 2019
          Mid-day Arrive at Seattle International Airport – Sea-Tac on flight Asiana OZ272. Meet the whole group at Baggage Claim 1 from where we will all walk together to our chartered bus. The participants will be transported to the UW/SEFS Pack Forest near Eatonville, WA where dinner will be provided. We will spend 3 nights at this location. Room assignments will occur upon arrival at Pack Forest.

Drive (1.5-2 hours): General Geology discussion on the drive, including volcanic activity in the region (Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens), for example we will point out the lahar flows from one of the Mt. Rainier eruptions (more on this topic here) visible in a road bank-cut near Pack Forest. Ecology will focus on suburban, light agriculture to forests landscape transitions. We will discuss forest types, wildlife habitats, from salmon to elk, wolfs and bears. We will also touch on riparian habitat, shading and water quality. Human issues we will touch upon include transition of land use as we leave Seattle as well as population growth in PNW and the drivers of that growth. We will touch on industry from origins in forestry to today’s technology sector. We will conclude with a discussion of American Indians of the PNW.
          Early afternoon Hike (1-1.5 hours) the recreational trails at Pack Forest and introduction to tree species of the PNW; maps of the trails for the hikes will be provided at check in.
          6:00 PM WELCOME DINNER salmon and native berries will be served, and a dinner discussion will focus traditional native foods in the Puget Sound; here is a story related to this issue, and another here.
          7:30 PM Lecture on general geography of the PNW and go over the trip details including a video about Mt. St. Helen’s eruption (time permitting, this is 47 minute video).
          8:30 PM Discuss participant assignments and grading and participants will work in 3 groups: Geology, Ecology & Human Impacts.
Monday, August 19th, 2019
          6:30 AM BREAKFAST & PACK YOUR OWN BAGGED LUNCH
          7:15 AM Depart for Mount Rainier National Park (MORA), Paradise Visitors Center, we will spend most of the day in the park. In the morning, we will learn about Human recreational opportunities and social trail usage in the park. We will see a water reservoir and evidence of historic logging along highway 7 at Alder, WA, as well as evidence of abandoned railways in Elbe, WA.
          NOON BAGGED LUNCH at Paradise Visitors Center and after lunch lecture by Dr. Meghan Halabisky from UW and CSP (we will meet her inside of the Center) on wetland Ecology, function, mapping and conservation under climate change. Short hike to a wetland discussed in this paper, and hopefully we will spot some polymorph salamanders. We will also discuss topography (and microtopography), in relations to existing Geology and how it drives some of the functions of the wetlands. We will depart Paradise Area for Pack Forest by 3:00PM; the drive back is about 1.5 hours.
           6:00 PM DINNER Dr. Greg Ettl, the Director of Pack Forest will discuss the management and research operations at this experimental forest and Center for Sustainable Forestry.
           7:30 PM Free time to begin working on assignments and readings, instructors will be available.
Tuesday, August 20th, 2019
          6:30 AM BREAKFAST & PACK YOUR OWN BAGGED LUNCH
          7:15 AM Depart for Mount Rainier National Park (MORA). Stop at Longmire Parking Lot, to discuss snow melt and run off on the Nisqually River on our way to Paradise Visitors Center. Afterwards, we will  stop at the Naranda and Christine Falls on our way up to Paradise to further discuss fresh water related issues in the PNW.
  We will spend the day exploring hydrological features in the park. We will learn about Ecological functions of riparian zones, from a wildlife habitat perspective (salmon), but also from Human water resources side and population safety side (damn vulnerability and need for woody debris monitoring). We will talk about the public water for the city of Seattle, the Cedar River Watershed and relationships with snow-pack and hydrology of the region; here is a recent story. Also, on the drive back we will address volcanic activity and earthquakes in the PNW (Geology).
          NOON BAGGED LUNCH after our bagged lunch we will depart for a trip on the Crystal Mountain Gondola (weather permitting). Across from the ski resort, we will get a change to see the regeneration at the 2017 Norse Peak Fire, where one of our SEFS Professors, Dr. Brian Harvey started a new research project. This will allow for a discussion about human use of the landscape and ecological consequences as well as interactions such as wildland fires, related to this landuse. We will leave for Pack Forest at 3:00 PM; the drive back is about 2 hours.
          6:00 PM DINNER
          7:30 PM Lecture and lab on remote sensing (Dr. Zheng) and LiDAR lecture and demo of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS which can be used for gathering forest inventory and leaf area index) by Jonathan Batchelor.
          late evening All groups are expected to post their 1st blog stories from the 3 perspectives of Geology, Ecology and Human Issues.
Wednesday, August 21st, 2019
          6:30 AM BREAKFAST & PACK YOUR OWN BAGGED LUNCH
          7:15 AM Pack bags, check out, and depart for UW/SEFS Olympic Natural Resource Center (ONRC) Participants will spend 3 nights at this location. Room assignment will occur upon arrival.
Drive to Ruby Beach, part of the Olympic National Park (the drive is about ~3.5 hours), on the way there we will stop at the Quinault National Fish Hatchery in Humptulips, WA. We will discuss road-side Geology, Ecology and Human landscape use as we travel through the landscape and transition to the Olympic Peninsula. We will also talk about marine wildlife including the Southern Resident killer whales (orcas).
           NOON BAGGED LUNCH We will have lunch at Ruby Beach and explore the area on foot. We will also discuss tsunami Human risks in the region and the Geology such as earthquakes, involved in creating these risks.
          4:30 PM Arrival and check in at ONRC.
          6:00 PM DINNER
          7:30 PM Evening lecture, Dr. Bernard Bormann the Director of UW/SEFS Olympic Natural Resource Center (ONRC) will discuss the management and research operations at this experimental forest. There are many projects focused on salmon recovery in this region, you can read a recent news letter related to these efforts here.
Thursday, August 22nd, 2019
          7:00 AM BREAKFAST & PACK YOUR OWN BAGGED LUNCH
          8:00 AM Depart for Hoh Temperate Rain Forest in the Olympic National Park. We will tour the forest discussing the Geology of the region and the Ecology of this forest.
          NOON BAGGED LUNCH and discussion with local forest industry practitioner, Joseph Murray (JMurray Forestry) and PFC Board Member, to get a Human perspective of this region.
          6:00 PM DINNER at ONRC . We will have a dinner talk by Megan O’Shea, the Program Manager at the UW Precision Forestry Cooperative, on practical tools for collecting environmental field data such as forest inventory information. Much of the data we collect in the field follows the Forest Inventory Protocols of the USDA Forest Service, you can find more information on these protocols here.
          7:30 PM Depart for a sunset viewing and bonfire on Realto Beach.
Friday, August 23rd, 2019  
          7:00 AM BREAKFAST & PACK YOUR OWN BAGGED LUNCH
          8:00 AM Depart for Neah Bay, WA (about ~1.5 hour drive) to tour the Makah Cultural Research Center and Museum. We will explore the Native American culture and history of the region and the Human dimension of this area; we will participate in workshops and lectures for 1/2 of the day at this location. We will also focus on the Geology of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the function it plays and an international boarder of Canada and USA, as well as the Ecological implications of this border specifically on the marine wildlife of this region, we will also discuss the concepts of invasive species and tropic cascades.
          NOON BAGGED LUNCH  We will drive the 20 minutes to the Makah National Fish Hatchery, we will explore the hatchery and then proceed to the Cape Flattery Trail, from this very northwestern tip of the continental United States is a platform for viewing Tatoosh Island and where the Pacific Ocean and the entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca meet. We will potentially see activities at Makah days and before we head back to ONRC we will visit the Forks Logging Museum.
          6:00 PM DINNER
          7:30 PM Lab time to work on the 2nd blog post by 3 groups, you should also begin working on your final project, specifically any data processing you might have to do, the instructors will be available to help you with this work.
Saturday, August 24th, 2019  
          7:00 AM BREAKFAST & PACK YOUR OWN BAGGED LUNCH
          8:00 AM Pack bags, check out, and depart for Seattle. On the way We will do a short stop at the Elwa river crossing and discuss dam removals and the impacts we observed here.  We will continue to Dungeness Spit National Wildlife Rescue from where we will be able to see the New Dungeness Lighthouse (unfortunately we will not have enough time to hike to the lighthouse; this is a drive of ~2.5 hours.  We will have lunch near the ferry in Kingston and discuss Hurricane Ridge – Olympic National Park. On the drive we will discuss the Geology of the region, including the formation of the Dungeness Spit and Hurricane Ridge, as well as the Ecological (such as wildlife) implications of these landforms. We will discuss economic trends and impacts on Human issues in the area including global shipping industry.
          NOON BAGGED LUNCH you will have an opportunity to eat your bagged lunch on the beach or the WA State Ferry crossing of about 1 hour, or you can purchase your own meal on the ferry.
          2:00 PM Tour of Boeing Production Facility in Everett, WA
          6:00 PM We will drive towards Seattle for ~2 hours and arrive at University of Washington (UW), Seattle. Check in to UW dormitory rooms (you will stay here for 3 nights). We will depart on foot at 5:30PM for UVillage for DINNER at The RAM at the UVillage closes at 9:00 PM, you will have at least 1 hour to explore the shops at the UVillage.
Sunday, August 25th, 2019
          7:00 AM BREAKFAST
          9:00 AM  Bus to UW Arboretum and a walking outdoor tour of UW Arboretum with Cascadia Forest Therapy exploring the concept of Forest Bathing.
          11:00 AM  Depart for a bus tour of Seattle with Quick Tours stops will include: Pike Place Public Market, International District, Lake Washington, Capitol Hill, floating homes on Lake Union, Fremont Troll, Kerry Park, Gas Works Park, Golden Garden Park.
          1:00 PM LUNCH at the Pike Place Market.
          2:30 PM Continue tour to Hiram M. Chittenden Ballard Locks; here is a recent news story related to the topic.
          6:00 PM DINNER  Catered by Pecos Pit BBQ at Golden Gardens Park
          9:00 PM Bonfire (if no burn ban) and sunset over the Olympic Mountains on the beach.

This event is weather permitting, if the weather is not favorable, we will return to UW and you will have access to the computer lab to work on your projects. Regardless, you are encouraged to discuss your projects with our groups during this time.
Monday, August 26th, 2019
          7:00 AM BREAKFAST
          8:00 AM A quick tour of UW, we will point out main attractions of the campus as well as locations of various departments and research centers. Tour of the UW Pacific Northwest Seismic Network Facility, with Doug Gibbons. Meet in Johnson Hall 070 at 9AM.
          10:00 AM We will continue our tour of UW  on our way to the Natural Hazard Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Rapid Experimental Facility with Dr. Jeffery Berman. A reading about the work conducted at facility is here. Meet Inn More Hall 116 at 10AM.
          11:00 AM Lecture by Dr. Matthew Dunbar from the UW Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology. We will also hear a research talk by Xinguang Fan, PhD in Department of Sociology, CSDE, and Center for Statistics and Social Science. Meet in Raitt Hall 114 at 11AM.
          NOON LUNCH at Pagliacci Pizza in the SEFS courtyard and a discussion with Dr. Michelle Trudeau, the Director of the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences Student Advising Office, about SEFS graduate programs at the University of Washington.
          2:00 PM Lab Time to work on the group projects and 3rd blog post.
          6:00 PM FAREWELL DINNER A hors-d’oeuvres dinner in the historic SEFS Forest Club Room (Anderson Hall 207).
          7:30 PM Final Group Presentations 3 presentations, 20 minutes each
Tuesday, August 27th, 2019  
          7:00 AM BREAKFAST
          9:00 AM Pack bags, check out, load bags on bus and depart to visit the UW Bookstore.
          8:30 AM Depart for Airport (Lunch & visit Gift Shops at airport).

2019 Assignments

The course focuses around 3 themes: of geology, ecology and human issues, and all assignments will assure that you integrate these themes in the work that you do. You grade will be comprised of 2 components:

  • Group Blog Essays (4) at 40% of your grade – template is here and grade rubric for the blog posts is here
  • Group  Project 60% of your grade – grade rubric for the final project presentation is here

Group Blog Essays

Before arriving in Seattle, you have self-sort to groups/teams covering the 3 themes, that resonate the most to you (we  want about 5 students per team). Each team will post blog essays illustrated with pictures and short videos to the course website, discussing and documenting their experience from the perspective that their team is focused on, but also connecting the perspective to the other two teams. These should utilize graphic elements that you create in support of your story such as pictures, videos and maps. If you are interested in seeing examples of UW student workshop based blogs, here is a recent one from the College of the Environment.

For example: when we are at Mount Rainier, the geology team can discuss volcanic eruptions in the PNW and the impacts on the ecology and humans in the region. The ecology team can discuss riparian forest and function and how these are driven by geology and impact humans (water quality, dam safety). The human issues team can discuss social trails in relations to geological features (human safety) and impact on ecological biodiversity.

You will be posting 4/team of these blog posts (12 total):

  • 1 from Pack Forest
  • 1 from ONRC
  • 1 from UW (Seattle)
  • 1 final post  once back in Nanjing. We want you to do the 4th and final blog post after you return home. Take 3-5 days to reflect on your excursion and the things you learned. Now compare these to climate change issues in Nanjing, how are these the same (?), how are these different (?), are the solutions being applied to these issues similar? For example: is urban canopy cover same or different between Nanjing and Seattle, and what are the policies behind this, how are these serving the populations of these two cities, can these be improved by learning from each other? You can use pictures from Nanjing to demonstrate your point.

You should be aware that these will be viewed by the UW/SEFS Communications Office and might be used for news stories or to provide information on the workshop to other media outlets. The workshop assistant (Jonathan Batchelor, a PhD students in UW/SEFS/PFC/RSGAL) will assist with final edits of these posts, you do not need to edit or commentate the short videos (if you are using videos in your blog).

Group Lab Projects

The second part of your grade will comprise of a lab exercise utilizing geospatial data to address issues that are on theme with the focus of your group. We will be collecting some of this data, such as  Terrestrial Laser Scaninf (TLS). Additional data (aerial LiDAR and imagery) will also be available for you. To make your project successful you will need to familiarize yourself with LiDAR software, at UW we use FUSION. We also expect that at least one of your group members is proficient in GIS, UW provides ArcGIS. Your workshop assistant and faculty will be available to help with this work. You will be expected to produce a PowerPoint presentation and present it to the glass and a guest audience on the 9th day of the trip.

We have selected three topics for you to explore:

  • The geology group will look at deriving microtopography from TLS data and how that compares to aerial LiDAR data. Microtopogrphy is a critical component of the landscape related to wetland function (one of the workshops guest presenters, Dr. Halabisky from the UW will be discussing this, also see this paper).
  • The ecology group will focus on solar insolation (shading) derived from terrestrial and aerial LiDAR and how such knowledge is important to understand other ecosystem functions such as stream cooling; see this paper.
  • The human issues group will use aerial and terrestrial LiDAR to develop a ‘forest bathing‘ index (you will learn more about this on the UW arboretum tour) for the trail network in Pack Forest.

2019 Core Workshop Team

2019 Guest Speakers

  • Dr. Matthew Dunbar – Matt joined CSDE’s Methods and Data Core in 2008 to lead the development of a research infrastructure for spatial analysis. He came to CSDE with over seven years of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) research experience. At CSDE he has developed relationships with and supported the spatial analysis research needs of our center’s faculty affiliates to use GIS to collect/create, store, manage, display and analyze spatial demographic data. Broad areas of GIS services provided for affiliates’ research includes mobile data collection (phone devices with GPS), mapping/cartography, geocoding/address-matching, GIS database creation, archiving, and management, spatial data acquisition, spatial statistics and customized programming. In 2010, he received his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Kansas. In 2013 he assumed the role of Assistant Director of CSDE to better integrate our faculty’s research needs and our center’s administrative and service capacities. In 2016 he became an Affiliate Assistant Professor in Geography.
  • Dr. Meghan Halabisky – landscape ecologist, conservation biologist, and remote sensing scientist with a background in GISciences, environmental policy, and conservation management. Her research interests lie in understanding historic and future changes to ecosystem dynamics  across spatial scales through the development, integration and application of high-resolution remote sensing tools. Meghan got her dual MSc degree in SEFS and Evans School of Public Policy and Governance (Dr. Craig Thomas), and her PhD in SEFS with Dr. Moskal.
  • Prof. Greg Ettl is a forest ecologist who studies, broadly, the impacts of harvesting on forest ecosystems, and the response of forests to climatic change. He works to design harvest practices which are worthwhile to the harvester, enhance wildlife habitat, and help to restore historic forest conditions. His current research focuses on forest management, the delivery of ecosystem services in the Pacific Northwest, and through his graduate students’ work in Ghana, and Venezuela. He is Director of the Center for Sustainable Forestry at the Pack Forest, UW’s 4,300-acre experimental forest.
  • Prof. Bernard Bormann is the director of UW’s Olympic Natural Resources Center (ONRC) in Forks, Washington, as well as a professor of forest ecology and physiology at the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. He is most interested in research that develops and further studies creative, win-win solutions that can improve both ecologic and community wellbeing especially in rural human-forest ecosystems. Before coming to the College of the Environment, he spent 34 years as a scientist with the U.S. Forest Service, where he led the Long-Term Ecosystem Productivity Program for the Pacific Northwest Research Station.
  • Prof. Dan Brown, as director of the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, Dan plays a vital role in guiding the School’s academic growth and developing new initiatives, providing leadership and management of its programs, centers, and research grants, allocating its revenues in a manner that supports its mission, and enhancing its sizable and growing endowment. In addition, he also sits on the Natural Resources Board of Washington State, which oversees the management of state lands. Dan recently served as interim dean for the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan, where he was also a professor in the fields of conservation ecology and environmental informatics. His specific research interests focus on land use change and its effects on ecosystems and human vulnerability. His work connects a computer-based simulation of land-use-change processes with GIS and remote sensing based data on historical patterns of landscape change and social surveys. Dan is the Corkery Family Environmental and Forest Sciences Director’s Endowed Chair.
  • Dr. Michelle Trudeau from SEFS Student and Academic Services.
  • Joseph Murray from JMurray Forestry, has worked as a professional forester for nearly 40 years, principally for Merrill & Ring as an inventory and silvicultural forester for thirty-five years. Additional activities have included work on public access, education, history and policy.
  • Prof. Jeffery Bermanis a Professor in UW Civil Engineering, and runs the Natural Hazard Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Rapid Experimental Facility
  • Doug Gibbons will give a tour of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network Facility where he is the Field Engineer/Seismology Lab Coordinator.
  • Cascadia Forest Therapy’s Michael Stein-Ross takes groups of people into the woods for three hour forest bathing sessions.
  • Xinguang Fan, PhD in Department of Sociology, CSDE, and Center for Statistics and Social Science