This gifted H.J. Andrews mug showing a diagram of old-growth Douglas-fir forests constantly wins the award for my favorite place to put my coffee.

New paper in Ecosystems: we mapped 30M ha of coastal Alaska & BC temperate rainforest, identifying 1.2M ha of old growth and 2.3M ha of mature forests. Summarized rather well by coauthor and advisor for this work @melissalucash.bsky.social doi.org/10.1007/s100...

tfw when we all realise that we should've decarbonized simply for energy security reasons alone and dgaf about who makes the gear; just install it and you're probably good for a couple of decades instead of relying on a constant stream of geopolitically vulnerable hydrocarbons.

As a fan of electric cars I think that having a way to tax their use makes a lot of sense. I don’t think the correct way would be a flat annual fee, but something in line with state and federal taxes on pumped gas. Not sure how this would work while charging at home though…

The Wayne Harrison Memorial Scholarship supports the academic and professional growth of students through funding research, management, or education projects related to wildland fire science. Applications are due April 15, and scholarships are awarded by May 31. https://ow.ly/wwBS50YsubN

Rare personal non-research post: Final push for Oregon Adaptive Sports – Ski For All! OAS helps athletes with disabilities get on the mountain with adaptive gear and instruction. Donations are currently matched, so your gift has double the impact. oregonadaptivesports.rallybound.org/ski-for-all/...

Interested in landscape modeling and are looking to use LANDIS-II? The LANDIS community is hosting a virtual workshop in May!

A great place to publish PNW-focused research just got better. Thanks to BioOne’s Subscribe to Open (S2O) program, @nwscience.bsky.social l will publish 2026 articles as open access, with authors paying only standard page charges.

Deadline for abstract extended to March 2nd

Great piece out today in Physics Today on historical origins, contemporary relevance, & fundamental irreplaceability of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which remains at imminent risk of dismantling for partisan political reasons.

Some really great speakers this year and up to $1000 towards student travel!

As I say here, there is no scientific justification to revoke the engagement finding. In fact, over the last 15+ yrs, the evidence of how climate change affects our health has only grown. Higher risk of allergies, dementia, fertility, heart disease, and death: that’s what’s on the line. @nature.org

My colleagues Calvin Farris (NPS) and Ellis Margolis (USGS) led a landmark study in paleofire reconstruction. In addition to showing that fire management can restore past fire regimes, the demonstrated methods are a first in dendrochronology. 1/6 esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

dplyr 1.2.0 is out now and we are SO excited! - `filter_out()` for dropping rows - `recode_values()`, `replace_values()`, and `replace_when()` that join `case_when()` as a complete family of recoding/replacing tools These are huge quality of life wins for #rstats! tidyverse.org/blog/2026/02...

To our senators: what contingency plans exist if a U.S. administration attempts territorial expansion in Greenland and triggers a diplomatic rupture with Europe? To the public: what actions can we take to signal to our allies that this is not actually what we want? The midterms seem pretty far out.

NWSA is offering up to $1000 to cover travel costs for students presenting at our meeting this March. Great opportunity to show off the regional research you have been working on.

I’m doing a fundraiser again this year for Oregon Adaptive Sports. Donations help raise funds that support adaptive equipment, instructors, transportation, and scholarships so everyone can access outdoor recreation year-round. Donate here: oregonadaptivesports.rallybound.org/ski-for-all/...

Seen at #AGU2025 in New Orleans

1/3 In our new peer-reviewed paper, we estimate that aboveground forest carbon storage is projected to decrease by 18% (796 Tg C) under +2°C climate warming in the western US. 🧪🌍 This has big implications for carbon offset programs! Next slide, please ...

Reading Jurassic Park for the first time and realizing it’s basically a novel warning data scientists about how bad assumptions lead to false statistical outcomes.

Join us for the 96th Annual Meeting of the Northwest Scientific Association! Registration is now open for our 2026 Annual Meeting, Resilient Science, held March 23–27, 2026 at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA.

Thinking of all my federal colleagues today, holding our government together by a thread while preparing for a potential shutdown from which they may or may not return. You all deserve so much better, and so do we.

Dang… looks like I’m not going to be buying #FC26 or any future EA games.

Anyone hear any updates for the MCC Switch 2 port? I’m dying over here. #halo #MCC #Switch2

Our paper takes a close look at managing designated wilderness in an era of unprecedented change. Please check it out. A great achievement by lead author @clareboe.bsky.social! 🧪🌍🔥

Today is the last day to comment on proposed rescission of the Roadless Rule! The 58 million acres of forest protected by the Roadless Rule store vast amounts of carbon, provide vital habitat for fish and wildlife species, and are more resilient to wildfire (despite false claims). Comment here 👇🏼

An emotional and very true telling of what was lost with the Garnet Fire.

As the Flat Fire finally dies down and my family is getting back into their house, I find myself continuously visiting Watch Duty to monitor the Garnet Fire. I’ve been lucky to spend a few summers collecting data in the old growth mixed conifer forests of the Teakettle Experimental Area.

Glad to see the efforts to keep the #GarnetFire out of the Teakettle Forest, one of the last old-growth forest areas in the southern Sierra and the site of a planned, collaborative 3800-acre prescribed burn that will include objectives to steward the area’s black oak orchards. @mhurteau.bsky.social

Best @melissalucash.bsky.social lab meetings are ones where we scheme how we are going to tackle #LANDIS-II related tasks as a team. In this case we are calibrating tree growth for a few different projects and landscapes.

With all the news of Pebble making a comeback with open software and a new watch, I dug this fun relic out for its first firmware update in 7 years.

Whitebark pine trees grow in some of the harshest and most spectacular mountain ecosystems of North America. Remarkably, the existence of these impressive trees depends on an ancient relationship with the bird that plants their seeds: Clark's Nutcracker. This video from @cornellbirds.bsky.social...

Fun to see that my ship is still out there making trouble :) www.navytimes.com/news/your-na...

Increasingly understanding "energy dominance" to mean energy authoritarianism. Rooftop and community solar helps democratize energy production, putting money in consumer pockets instead of centralized utilities. Illegally cutting these grants disempowers lower-income communities, in every sense.

Motherfucking wind farms…

We have a new paper that is the result of a working group on nature-based climate solutions using forests. We identify challenges in quantifying net cooling, durability, additionality, and leakage and provide solutions and research needs for each of the challenges. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Oh good, I was looking for some new fiction! Adding this report to tonight’s light reading list.

Lol

I seriously love my public library! They didn’t have a book I wanted to read, so I filled out a suggestion form on their phone app. Two weeks later I got a notice that the book was purchased and ready for pick up at my local branch.

NPR CEO statement on congress' decision to claw back $1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

As of today, all current NOAA Climate and Global Change postdoctoral fellows have been furloughed due to the Dept of Commerce not releasing the funding for the program. In addition no new Fellows were awarded this year. cpaess.ucar.edu/cgc

The US Global Change Research Program's website, including all its sub-domains that host the National Climate Assessments and related reports, is now offline. The 1990 Global Change Research Act (see below) mandates its research findings be available to all federal agencies & departments.

Public access being stripped from tax payer funded research. This data belongs to the American public.

Sad ending for an amazing resource.

Another day testing the limits of resilience. The Alexandria NSF building was designed for the NSF merit review process (gold standard), complete with a floor devoted to panels. Now we aren’t allowed to have in person panels. The loss of US science leadership will haunt this country for decades.

Keep the pressure on, even if this is dropped from the reconciliation bill. Selling off our Crown Jewels is their goal. #PublicLands

HUD Secretary: " What's the worst possible way we can show the public that we actually couldn't care less about responsible government spending and fostering US science and innovation? AH! Displace NSF and build an executive suite with a personal gym!!!" *jumping high-fives all around*

The House narrowly approved legislation Thursday to eliminate the next two years of federal funding for public media outlets. The measure passed 214 to 212, with two Republican lawmakers switching their votes from "no" to "yes" to push it over the finish line.

Kevin Heatley, former Crater Lake leader, joined OPB’s “Think Out Loud” to explain why he started working there, how Trump directives affected the park, and why he decided to leave: "I cannot, in good conscience, manage an operation that I know is moving in the wrong direction."

Great team, some nice maps, and some new insights on forest structure throughout the coastal regions of BC and Southeast AK!