Abstract
Northern California’s extensive logging history and lack of forest management has altered old-growth coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests, leaving dense, homogenous second and third-growth forest stands. This has led to the use of modern restoration techniques such as variable density thinning (VDT) which aims to rehabilitate old-growth forest conditions by improving stand heterogeneity and light availability for understory species. Our study was done in Headwaters Forest Reserve (HFR) along the Elk River (Hikshari’) Trail in Humboldt County, California. Initially, the project was supervised by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Arcata Field Office. However, the 2025 U.S. government shutdown ceased communications with our community partner, preventing their further support. Seeking support, communications began with The Wiyot Tribe Shawir Darrudaluduk, or Wiyot Tribe Natural Resources Department (WNRD), who co-manages HFR with BLM through the Good Neighbor Authority (GNA). The WNRD provided insight into forest restoration techniques used in HFR. We investigated three plots in a medium harvest forest by assessing the efficacy of two types of silviculture treatments: chop and drop and low thin. We monitored growth development in overstory, and understory species, specifically in berry-producing species, with additional attention to fuel loads for wildfire potential. We used ANOVA tests to compare differences in the chop and drop, low thin, and control plots. We found that there was no significant difference in the overstory and understory in all plots. However, these findings could be due to our limited data collection and sample size.
Date
Fall 2025
Department
Environmental Science & Management
Concentration/Emphasis
Ecological Restoration
Advisor/Professor
Dr. Daniel "Bubba" Lipe
Citation Style
APA 7
Included in
Botany Commons, Environmental Health and Protection Commons, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Food Studies Commons, Forest Management Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Native American Studies Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons