About the Event

www.madriverbrewing.com/
Our monthly Science on Tap event encourages intentional collaboration among our local natural resource advocates. We hope to build a platform for idea sharing to inspire generational resilience for regional environmental restoration. Along with this, we wanted to create a space to welcome people of all backgrounds into the environmental community and increase accessibility and access to knowledge in a fun and casual setting. 

We want to thank our supporters and partners for all their help in keeping this event going, especially the Paskenta Mad River Brewery, and Maddy Rifka who works for the Yurok Tribe Wildlife Department and is a conservation filmmaker and photographer. We could not do it without them! 

May 2025 Event


California Mountain Meadows: Scenic but Stressed
Friday, May 30th talks start at 6:00pm
​Paskenta Mad River Brewery
101 Taylor Way
Blue Lake, CA 95525

Karen Pope
Presentation Topic: Condition and Restoration Potential of Mountain Meadows

Up until recently, Karen was an aquatic ecoologist at the US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Statiion where she studied ecological restoration options for moutain meadows with a goal of increains the pace and efficacy of restoration for landscape gains. She has a Ph.D in Ecology from UC Davis and a Masters in Biology from Cal Poly SLO.
Emily Cooper-Hertel
Presentation Topic: Scaling Up to Integrated Meadow Restoration with the Klamath Meadows Partnership

Emily has lived in Northern California for 10 years. She has been Coordinator for the Klamath Meadows Partnership since January 2024. She has a background in fisheries habitat assessment and restoration, stream ecohydrology, and native plant revegetation. She has her MS in Natural Resource Sciences from Humboldt State University (2017) and a BA in Environmental Studies/Biology from Hendrix College (2010) in her home state, Arkansas. 
Adam Cummings
Presentation Topic: Mountain Meadow Restoration: From Data to Action

Adam Cummings is a herpetologist-turned-landscape ecologist who enjoys using data and modeling to answer questions about the natural world. After completing an M.S. in Biology at Cal Poly Humboldt studying newt courtship pheromones, he now applies machine learning methods to understand and restore California’s mountain meadows.

Suggest a Speaker/Topic 
Each month we work to select speakers that represent a broad range of experiences and backgrounds. If there is a topic you want to hear about, someone you want to hear from, or if you yourself are interested in speaking at our event please let us know in the comment box below. 

Past Speakers 

April 2025 Event

Plants and Fire

​Madeleine Lopez
Presentation Topic: Non-Serotinous Conifer Regeneration Mechanism Following High-Severity Fire 

Madeleine (Maddie) Lopez is a professor of Forestry of Natural Resources & Geomatics at College of the Redwoods. She teaches courses in Wildland Fire, Forest Health, Plant Identification, GIS, and leads the Geomatics program. She holds a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Botany and an M.S. in Fire Ecology from Cal Poly Humboldt. Her current research explores post-fire conifer regeneration, rare plant conservation, and seed biology. Maddie maintains her Firefighter Type 2 certification and values the field seasons that now inform her post-fire research and teaching. She enjoys getting her boots on the ground alongside students, bringing real-world experience into the classroom, and lab. She is passionate about building bridges between botany, forestry, and natural resources through place-based learning to connect students and the community in stewarding and sustaining our incredible landscapes!
​Socials: @Sunflower3soul , @cr_forestry , @cr_geomatics 
​Claire Brown
Presentation Topic: If You Burn It, They Will Grow

Claire Brown grew up in east Tennessee. The rich cove forests and cold creeks of the southern Appalachian mountains raised her soul. She has almost 20 years of continuous education and experience in botany and plant ecology, and for her these western sciences are a language of love for the living world. She came to live in Yurok ancestral territory 7 years ago. The Cultural Fire Management Council (CFMC) invited her to serve as botanist in 2020, to help facilitate access to plant knowledge as fire is returned to the land. Claire feels grateful and privileged to be a part of CFMC's work.

March 2025 Event

The Neglected Geography

​Richard Knight
Presentation Topic: Private Lands Conservation: The Neglected Geography

Richard is a professor emeritus of Wildlife Conservation at Colorado State University and is passionate about the intersection of land use and land health in the American West. Presently, he sits on a number of boards including the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust, where he was Vice-President of Conservation, the Science Board of the Malpai Borderlands Group, the Land Conservation Assistance Network and Rocky Mountain Land Library. Additionally, for 16 years he sat on the Board of Editors for Conservation Biology and for 10 years on the Board of Editors for Ecological Applications. ​

Febuary 2025 Event

Trial by Fire

 Alyssa Rody
Presentation Topic: Topic: Martens and Fire
Trial by Fire: Assessing Space Use of Pacific Martens in Burned Landscapes
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Alyssa Roddy is a wildlife biologist at NCASI, Inc., working with Pacific marten to better           understand their space use and movement patterns in relation to wildfire severity and land     management practices in northern California and southern Oregon. As a current graduate student at Cal Poly Humboldt, her thesis research is focused on examining the effects of fire on Pacific marten habitat selection and movement using fine-scale GPS data. 

January 2025 Event

A River Reborn
Matt Ramos
Presentation Topic: Pre-Dam Removal Studies

Max was born in Santa Cruz, CA and spent most of his childhood fishing around sloughs, trapping crayfish and bullfrogs, hiking, fishing, and surfing. He received his B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2014 and his M.S. in Fisheries Biology from Humboldt State University in 2020. He has worked throughout the Klamath basin on freshwater ecology projects, including his thesis project on the re-establishment of Coho salmon to tributary streams within the Klamath Hydroelectric Reach. Max is currently employed by the Yurok Tribe as a restoration engineer. He serves as the project manager for the “Upper Klamath River Tributary Post Dam Removal Salmonid Restoration Project,” which was awarded to the Yurok Tribe, Trout Unlimited, the Karuk Tribe, Ridges to Riffles, the Modoc Tribe, and the Shasta Indian Nation by NOAA Fisheries in 2024.
Bob Pagliuco
Presentation Topic:  Pre-Dam Removal Studies

​Bob holds a BS in Forestry and Geology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He launched his career in fisheries in Northern California through the AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Program. 
Working as a Marine Habitat Resource Specialist with the NOAA Restoration Center since 2009, Bob has established statewide programmatic permits to enhance the efficiency of restoration initiatives. He has co-founded the NOAA-CCC Veterans Corps Program, represents NMFS on the CA Fish Passage Forum steering Committee, sits on 12 restoration funding committees. He was one of the lead authors of the Klamath Reservoir Reach Restoration Plan that is guiding restoration from Iron Gate Dam to Link River Dam. Bob is a husband, a father of 2 beautiful children and is an avid gardener and fisherman.

​​Toz Soto
Presentation Topic: Post Dam Removal Monitoring Activities

Toz Soto has worked in the Klamath River Basin since 1997. Toz works to monitor fish populations in the Klamath River, study impacts to their success, and design efforts to improve their habitat. He is the Fisheries Biologist and Fisheries Program Manager for the Karuk Tribe. Toz was on the frontlines of the August 2022/McKinney Fire fish kill and is working to understand how the increasing severity and extent of fires impacts fish.
​Alex Corum
Presentation Topic: Post Dam Removal Monitoring Activities

Alex has been working in the Klamath River and tributaries since 2001. Alex Corum is the Fisheries Biologist for the Karuk Tribe. He is currently working on a sonar/radio telemetry project to understand how to better count Salmon and Steelhead migrating past the former site of Iron Gate Dam, and how they occupy habitats newly accessible with the removal of the Klamath River Dam.

November 2024 Event

North Coast Steelhead

Sam Rizza
Presentation Topic: How to conjure genetic data from a fish fin

Sam’s interests focus on study design and the rapidly evolving field of fisheries genetics. He is particularly excited about recent advances in genotyping that allow the integration of genetic information into management decisions. Previous work with academic institutions and federal and state agencies, performing a wide variety of fish and habitat assessments, has shaped his field skills. Sam has spent countless hours capturing and counting fish at night, and is continually amazed by the effectiveness of this sampling method. In his free time, Sam enjoys fishing, boating, or foraging for wild food.

Samantha Kannry
Presentation Topic: Totally RAD Impassable Barriers: How geologic features influence steelhead distributions on the north coast and beyond

Samantha has been monitoring, studying, and swimming with summer-run steelhead in the Eel River and other rivers of Northwestern California for the past fifteen years. While it has been clear to the native peoples of the region since time immemorial that summer-run steelhead and the congeneric spring Chinook are separate populations, not everyone else sees it so clearly. Her research has focused on using conservation genetic tools to elucidate the distinction between summer and winter-run steelhead. When not minking (a combination of hiking, swimming, snorkeling, sliding, shimmying, and boulder jumping) down rivers, she is usually growing and eating fruit, moving manure at Caudal Fin Farm, or bikepacking distances large and small. All working towards re-establishing the inherent continuity between rivers, land, and people. 
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Sam and Samantha co-founded TRIB Research to unite local farms, fresh food and fisheries research within our community.

October 2024 Event

Bats!

Ryan Matilton
Presentation Topic: Bats in the Klamath Basin

Ryan is a graduate student at Cal Poly Humboldt who moonlights as a Biologist for the Yurok tribe. As a Hoopa tribal member and Yurok descendent working in wildlife conservation he strives to honor tradition with modern practices. His work in the Klamath Basin is motivated by his family’s involvement in the fight to return the Klamath to a free-flowing river. His interest in bats was sparked by the opportunity to study in the Klamath Basin to attain his master’s degree. He hopes his research will nourish an appreciation for bat species as their ecological contributions to the Klamath Basin are invaluable. ​

September 2024 Event

Fungus and Dragonflies

Levon Durr
Presentation Topic: The Amazing World of Fungi - Cultivation and Remediation
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Levon is the owner of Fungaia Farm, a culinary mushroom farm located just outside Eureka. In this presentation, he will cover mushroom farming, home mushroom cultivation techniques, and mycoremediation. Levon has studied mycology for over 15 years and loves teaching people about fungi and the natural world. He offers workshops and classes on mushroom cultivation for local schools and throughout the community. He has completed two successful mycoremediation projects using fungi to break down diesel and motor oil spills in Humboldt County and is currently working on a mycofiltration project. A certified permaculture teacher and designer, he is currently the president of the Humboldt Permaculture Guild. ​

Learn more about Levon's work on his website or follow him on Facebook and Instagram! 
Sandra Hunt-von Arb
Presentation Topic: Dragonflies 101
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Sandra Hunt-von Arb has been a wildlife biologist in Northern California specializing in sensitive and endangered species for almost 30 years. More recently she has found her true passion, dragonflies and damselflies (Odonates). Surveying for the endangered Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly in Illinois sparked the passion and in her spare time she now conducts surveys throughout California. She started and manages the Facebook page Western Odonata, and is a vetter for the California region on Odonata Central for reporting dragonfly sightings and specifically new county records. She also helps organize the annual CalOdes Dragonfly Blitz whose mission is to “fill in the blanks” in odonate range maps. She co-founded Biodiversity Education And Research Foundation (BEAR), whose mission is to foster ecological stewardship through science and education. She has presented and/or led field trips on dragonflies for Godwit Days, Redwood Region Audubon Society, Point Reyes Bird and Nature Festival, Redwood Parks Association, Tolowa Dunes Stewards, and Siskiyou Land Trust among others.  She co-authored a new guide with Kathy Biggs, Dragonflies (Anisoptera) of California, that just became available July 19.

Check out her awesome dragonfly book here!

August 2024 Event

Ravens and Plovers

Janelle Chojnacki
Presentation Topic - Local Research, Ecology, and Fascinating Behaviors of Two Species at Odds
​
Janelle is a recent graduate from the Wildlife Department at Cal Poly Humboldt and has spent over a decade studying wildlife, mostly songbirds, and their ecosystems. She has studied Humboldt wildlife for over six years working in the redwoods, national forests, on beaches and farms, and for studying ravens specifically, parking lots. She's an avid birder, soccer player, whitewater kayaker, and gardener and loves being part of the incredible local outdoor and environmental community.

You can check out her work here!
July 2024 Event

Listening to the River
Restoration and Renewal on the North Coast

Sam Flanagan
Presentation Topic - Culverts = Problems: Floods, Failures and Fixes
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​Sam is a geologist with the Bureau of Land Management. He currently serves as the state lead for BLM Caliornia's Fish, Water and Riparian programs. Sam is involved with several stream restoration projects locally, as well as assisting in various roads removal and upgrading projects.
Wes Smith
Presentation Topic - If a tree falls in the creek and no one is listening, does it make an impact?

Wes is a geomorphologist and Registered Professional Geologist with California State Parks' North Coast Redwoods District and the Statewide Cannabis Watershed Protection Program. He works with a team of resource specialists, planners, and engineers on watershed restoration projects implementing river corridor restoration (e.g., large wood loading), road removal, and forest restoration. He also runs streamflow and bedload transport monitoring stations, survey large wood, river corridor morphology, landslides, and other activities in support of restoration actions. Wes spends his free time playing in the ocean and rivers. 
June 2024 Event

Innovative Strategies in Forestry and Restoration

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Lucy Kerhoulas 
Presentation Topic - Botanically Crafty: Tricks of the Trade for Tall Trees

​Lucy grew up in San Rafael, CA and moved to Humboldt in 2003 to study Botany. After her BS, she stayed on at Humboldt to earn her master's degree studying redwood tree physiology. She then moved to Flagstaff, AZ to study ponderosa pines for her PhD work. In 2013, she was thrilled to get a job back at Humboldt and settle down here to live on the North Coast. Lucy is now an Associate Professor of Forest Physiology in the Forestry, Fire, and Rangeland Management Department at Cal Poly Humboldt. She enjoys teaching classes and researching various aspects of this amazing region. When not doing science, Lucy loves being mellow with her family. You can also check out Lucy's website!
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Lathrop Leonard
Presentation Topic - Feel Good Forestry and Restoration Challenges

​Lathrop has worked for California State Parks for 20 years where his primary focus has been restoring second-growth forests and conducting prescribed burns. He is a Registered Professional Forester and a type 2 Burn Boss. He currently runs the vegetation management program for the State Parks’ North Coast Redwoods District. Prior to Parks, he did similar work in Western Washington and spent 2 years in Peace Corps, Kenya.

May 2024 Event

MEGA Restoration on the Lower Eel River

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Doreen Hansen
Presentation Topic - Salt River Restoration: Will Fish and Wildlife Come if You Build It?
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​Doreen has been working in the restoration arena for 16 years and has been with the Humboldt County Resource Conservation District for nearly 13 years. She coordinates project development, planning, environmental compliance, construction, and monitoring on large watershed scale restoration projects.
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Jeremy Svehla
Presentation Topic - Landscape-Scale Ecosystem Restoration in the Lower Eel River
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Jeremy is a registered civil engineer with over 20 years of experience in the planning, permitting, design, and construction management of landscape-scale estuarine and riverine restoration projects. As a Project Director at GHD, Jeremy leads multi-disciplinary teams of scientists, planners and engineers to deliver multi-benefit projects related to flood management, habitat restoration, coastal resiliency and public access. Jeremy enjoys working with diverse stakeholders to deliver multi-objective solutions.

April 2024 Event

Wild Foraging on the North Coast 

Allison Poklemba
​Presentation Topic - Wild Foods of the Forests, Fields, and Tide Pools

Have you made tea from the conifers in your neighborhood or pesto from the "weeds" in your lawn? How about pickles from seaweed you found at the beach? An abundance of tasty, nutritious, and medicinal plants (and algae!) surround us. Allison Poklemba is a teacher, botanist, herbalist, environmental educator, Co-director of Dandelion Herbal Center, Co-founder of Backcountry Press, artist, mother, friend, and always curious student of nature. She has been concocting potions since childhood and teaching about plants (and seaweed!) since 2002.

You can follow her work on Instagram @backcountrypress, @dandelionherbalcenter, or on her personal account @earth2allison. Additional information can be found on her websites backcountrypress.com and dandelionherb.com. 

March 2024 Event

Mapping Land and Sea for Conservation 

Featured Speakers
Felicity Cross
​Presentation Topic - Remote Sensing: Tools for Topographic Monitoring and River Restoration

Felicity is from Blue Lake and is a Yurok Tribal member. She graduated from Humboldt State University with a B.S. in Environmental Resources Engineering (ERE) and a minor in Geographical Information Systems (GIS). She is employed as a Restoration Engineer and UAV pilot for the Yurok Tribe’s Technical Services Program. Felicity collects and processes large Lidar and imagery data sets to aid in river restoration projects throughout Northern California.
Greta Goshorn
​Presentation Topic - A Window to the Seafloor: Using ROVs to monitor deep-water ecosystems
​
Greta is a Biologist and Outreach Coordinator with Marine Applied Research & Exploration (MARE). She has been working and playing above and below California’s coastal waters for over a decade in her biologist role at MARE and as a faculty SCUBA instructor at Cal Poly Humboldt. Raised in Colorado, Greta is a formerly landlocked ocean enthusiast and holds a B.S. in biology with a marine emphasis from Humboldt. Her work at MARE has spanned a variety of projects, including both baseline and long-term monitoring of California’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and restoration efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.

You can check out more work completed by the Marine Applied Research and Exploration (MARE) on their website or follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

February 2024 Event

Beavers!
Rebuilding Nature’s Balance​  

Featured Speakers
Eli Asarian
​Presentation Topic: North Coast Beavers in Motion: Past, Present, and Future

Eli is an aquatic ecologist/hydrologist at Eureka-based consulting firm Riverbend Sciences. He has studied river flow, water quality, salmon, and beavers in local rivers for over 20 years. Learn more about Eli's work on his website!
Garrett Costello
Presentation Topic: Bringing Back the Beaver
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Garrett is a restoration practitioner that has been designing and implementing low-tech process based restoration with his team at Symbiotic Restoration since 2017: nudging landscapes toward health and preparing them for beaver reintroduction. You can follow Symbiotic Restoration's great work on Facebook and Instagram or check out their website to learn more about their process!

January 2024 Event

Wild Waters Film Festival   
Dive into a year of celebration at the 1st Anniversary of Science on Tap! Join us for a captivating mini-film festival highlighting the voices of aquatic conservation.

​​ November 2023 Event

Fish and Frogs 
Reversing widespread legacy impacts of introduced sportfish on declining amphibians in glacial lake basins of the Klamath Mountains.

Featured Speakers
Justin Garwood
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Justin is an Environmental Scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Northern Region Fisheries where he has worked on landscape-level population monitoring for coastal salmonids and Klamath Range amphibians over the past 20 years to inform species recovery. He grew up in Trinity County and holds a B.S. in Fisheries and an M.S. in Wildlife at Cal Poly Humboldt. Justin is co-editor of the book: The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History.
Justins Research: ResearchGate

Braden Herman
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Braden is an Environmental Scientist with CDFW working in the Klamath Mountains of Northern California. He is from Virginia and obtained his M.S. from Humboldt with a focus in Fisheries Biology. His research interests include applications of eDNA and meta-population genetics for monitoring and managing sensitive species, balancing competing interests of fish, wildlife, and human use in wilderness areas, and understanding how differences in local environments impact aquatic species populations. In his spare time, you can find him gardening, rafting, foraging, fishing, and water fowling on the North Coast. You can find Braden on Instagram @da_ginge10.
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Seaweed Farming 
​​ October 2023 Event
Featured Speaker
Leslie Booher
Presentation Topic: Seaweed Farming in California: Restoration, Remediation, and Regenerative Food Systems

Leslie the is co-founder of Sunken Seaweed, a sea-farming company founded in 2017, and she has been involved with ocean conservation and aquaculture for over a decade. A born-and-raised Californian, she has a keen interest in regenerative food systems, marine ecology, and community outreach. Leslie holds a bachelor of science degree in marine biology from Cal Poly Humboldt, serves as Development Director for the California Seaweed Festival, and is a mentor for several seaweed startups throughout the state.

You can find her on Instagram @sunkenseaweedfarm or you can visit her website www.sunkenseaweed.com to learn more!
​​ September 2023 Event
Marine Mammals 
Featured Speaker
Dr. Dawn Goley
Presentation Topic: Marine Mammal Research on the North Coast – Long Term Studies and Shared Community Stewardship
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Local marine mammals depend on nearshore waters, river mouths, bays and shorelines to feed, breed and rest. Dr. Goley and her students have been studying whales, seals and sea lions along the north coast since she arrived at Cal Poly Humboldt in 1996 as part of the Marine Mammal Education and Research Program (MMERP). Long-term monitoring of marine mammals provides valuable insights into their behavior and habitat use, which is essential for assessing the impacts of climate change and human
activities. Dawn will highlight a few of these long-term projects in her talk. In particular, she will summarize MMERP’s collaborative research on a newly emerging elephant seal colony in the King Range National Conservation Area. Finally, she will summarize recent findings from the Cal Poly Humboldt Marine Mammal Stranding Program highlighting shared community stewardship effort developed with local tribal partners and community groups from northern Mendocino to the Oregon border. You can see more of Dr. Goley's work on her website.
​​August 2023 Event
Rising Tides and Restoration

Featured Speakers
Jason "Jay" R. Patton, Ph.D.
Presentation Topic: Sea-Level Rise along Coastal Northern California: How Tectonics Influences Local Sea-Level Rise​

​Dr. Jason R. Patton is an Engineering Geologist with the California Geological Survey
who has worked studying seismic and tsunami hazards using geospatial
analyses for over 2 decades. Dr. Patton has experience studying active tectonics
both onshore and offshore for fault systems in Cascadia, New Zealand, Lesser Antilles,
San Andreas and sibling systems, as well as the Basin and Range. He utilizes novel
paleoseismological methods and incorporating transdisciplinary techniques.
His recent work includes applying geodetic analysis to locate active faults and mapping
of Quaternary stratigraphic units to constrain late Pleistocene slip rates for active faults.
Dr. Patton prepared the first tsunami hazard maps for northern California in 2006 and
continues this work as part of the Seismic Hazards Mapping Program, Tsunami Unit. He
has an educational outreach program where he voluntarily prepares earthquake
reports for the public at earthjay.com.
Marisa McGrew 
Presentation Topic: Ocean Ranch Restoration & Monitoring Efforts

Marisa has been swimming, boating, and river skating in the Eel River basin for four years now. Her work in the Eel has revolved around installing large wood features, surveying for juvenile and adult salmonids, Sacramento pikeminnow suppression, Pacific lamprey monitoring, and fisheries monitoring at Ocean Ranch. Currently she continues to do all this in her position working for the Wiyot Tribe in fisheries and natural resources in Wiyot ancestral territory from Bear River Ridge to Little River.

Learn more about the Wiyot Tribe and the work they do here!
​​July 2023 Event
Intertidal Ecosystems
Featured Speaker
Rosa Laucci
Presentation Topic: Tolowa Dee-ni’: First Stewards

​Rosa is the Marine Division Manager and Marine Biologist for the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation in northern coastal California.  She received her Masters of Science in marine biology from Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida.  Upon her arrival to Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation in 2012, she established the Marine Division in the Tribe’s Natural Resource department and has managed it successfully ever since. In her program she monitors and conducts research on a variety of cultural keystone marine species, including surf smelt, night smelt, surfperch, mussels, clams, sea stars, seaweeds and plankton.  She also monitors the health of intertidal habitats, the status of biotoxin levels in shellfish, the effects of sea level rise on intertidal species through 3D mapping of the habitat, human use of Tolowa beaches, and was instrumental in establishing the Tribe’s first laws of marine resource management.  She has also just started a program that trains tribal citizens in traditional stewardship techniques that will prepare them to take care of their ancestral territory.  All of her efforts have established a strong foundation for resource management for the Tribe that will ensure conservation and sustainability for generations to come.
​June 2023 Event
Soils!
Featured Speakers ​​​
Susan Marshall
Presentation Topic: Soil Science Evolves!
Susan is an Emeritus Professor of Rangeland Resources and Wildland Soils at Cal Poly Humboldt. She is also a CA Certified Rangeland Manager (#78) Panel Chair. Her research interest include soil physical properties and implications for plant production and survival, improved techniques for identifying Phytophthora in soils, and the comparison of methods to detect available phosphorus in volcanic soils. Susans hobbies include gardening, crochet, reading, and travel.
Kaileigh Vincent-Frazier
Presentation Topic: Listening to and Learning from Soil: a glimpse into the relationships between soil, our food, and us
​Kaileigh is a research engineer by-day and small-scale farmer. She thoughtfully tends land along the North Fork of Elk River using regenerative earth practices focused on building biodiversity and healthy ecosystems above and below ground, growing nourishing foods, and raising happy and healthy animals. ​​
This months sponsor
May 2023 Event
Ancient Fish
The wonder of lamprey and sturgeon

Featured Speakers ​​
Keith Parker
Keith is a Senior Fisheries Biologist for his Tribe, the Yurok Tribe, where he co-stewards the lower 44-miles of the Klamath River, a lecturer at Cal Poly Humboldt, and chairs two graduate student committees at UC San Diego - SCRIPPS Institution of Oceanography.  Keith’s graduate school research focused on Klamath River Pacific lamprey.  Using advanced genetic tools, he discovered two new sub-species of lamprey and used Yurok language words to name them in peer-reviewed publications.  Keith also co-authored the recent locally published book The Klamath Mountains – A Natural History (Backcountry Press).  He is also a National Science Foundation GRFP fellow and a Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation lifetime fellow.
Bill Pinnix
Bill has worked studying fishes in the Humboldt Bay area for over 30 years. His research has focused on juvenile fish use of aquatic habitats, effects of large-scale climate forcing and the resulting impacts on fish populations, and estuary and nearshore habitat restoration.
April 2023 Event
Fish and Geology 
How the geology of the Pacific Northwest has influenced salmon evolution and habitat distribution

Friday, April 21st talks start at 6:00pm

Featured Speaker
Tom Leroy

Tom is an engineering geologist and project manager at Pacific Watershed Associates. He has been conducting watershed restoration in support of salmon recovery for almost 20 years. His interests include multi-disciplinary team building to support aquatic habitat restoration and process-based restoration approaches. His background in geology/geomorphology allows him to bring a unique skill set to restoration design teams. Toms current interests, which bring distinctive contributions to aquatic restoration design projects include: tectonic contributions to observed sea-level, regional landscape evolution and its role in driving the distribution of high quality salmon habitat throughout Northern California, characterizing historic watershed disturbances and their impacts on current watershed processes, and how dysfunctional processes impact current stream channel geomorphology and site specific restoration designs.
March 2023 Event
Condors
California Condor Recovery in Northern California: Prey-go-neesh flies free 

Friday, March 31st talks start at 6:00pm

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Three of the condors in the Yurok Tirbe's Northern California Condor Restoration Program.
After a 14-year journey the Yurok Tribe, in partnership with Redwood National and State Parks, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and many others, has successfully brought Prey-go-neesh (California condor) home to the Pacific Northwest. This restores a critical member of our ecological community, promotes reconnection to this amazing species, and cultural revitalization for the tribal people who have long lived in relationship with him. Special guests Tiana Williams-Claussen, director of the Yurok Tribe Wildlife Department, and Chris West, the Northern California Condor Restoration Program Manager, will provide a brief introduction to the incredible Prey-go-neesh and discuss the traditional paradigm guiding the Yurok Tribe's efforts to bring them home to northern California and the Pacific Northwest. They will discuss the management approach the Yurok Tribe is taking for reintegrating condors into the region and provide an update on how the newly released population is doing, flying free in Northern California once again.

​For more information visit the Yurok Tribe website and to keep up-to-date on the project by following Northern California Condor Restoration Program on Facebook or follow @YurokCondors on Twitter.
 
Featured Speakers 
Tiana Williams-Claussen

Tiana is the Yurok Tribe Wildlife Department Director and member of the Yurok Tribe. She comes from the village of Wehl-kwew’ on the Yurok Reservation. She received her BA in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University, returned to serve her tribe, and is currently pursuing a Master of Sciences in Natural Resources from California
Polytechnic State University, Humboldt. She was instrumental to the formation of the Yurok Tribe Wildlife Department, she currently serves as Department Director.
Chris West

Chris is the Northern California Condor Program Manager. Chris began working with California condors as an intern with the Ventana Wildlife Society in 1999; leading to his Masters research at Humboldt State University investigating condor vigilance behavior while feeding. He began working for the Yurok Tribe in 2008, working to set up the first reintroduction site in the Pacific Northwest and is now the Manager of the Northern California Condor Restoration Program.
February 2023 Event
Fish and Fire

Friday, February 24th talks start at 6:00pm
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Featured Speakers
Lenya Quinn-Davidson
Presentation Topic: "California’s Fire Movement: Burning from the bottom up"
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Lenya Quinn-Davidson is a Fire Advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension. Lenya’s focus is on the human connection with fire, and empowering the use of prescribed fire and cultural burning for ecosystem and community resiliency. Lenya works at various scales, including locally with private landowners to bring fire back as a tool; at the state level, where she collaborates on policy, research, and community-based burning; and nationally, through her leadership on prescribed fire training exchanges. Lenya is passionate about using fire to inspire and empower people, from ranchers and cultural practitioners to agency leaders and young women, and everyone in between.
Toz Soto
Presentation Topic: ​"Restoring Fish, Fire, and Water in the Klamath River"

Toz Soto is a Fisheries Biologist and the Fisheries Program Manager for the Karuk Tribe. He has worked in the Klamath River Basin since 1997. Toz works to monitor fish populations in the Klamath River, study impacts to their success, and design efforts to improve their habitat. Toz was on the frontlines of the August 2022/McKinney Fire fish kill, and is working to understand how the increasing severity and extent of fires impacts fish. 
​January 2023 Event 

Making Dams and Breaking Dams

Friday, January 27th talks start at 6:00pm
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Featured Speakers 
Brook Thompson​ 
Presentation Topic: "Finally! Klamath Dam Removal Becomes a Reality! - A talk with a local tribal member and engineer"

Brook Thompson (She/Her/They), the granddaughter of 'aawokw Archie Thompson, is a Yurok (enrolled) and Karuk Native. Growing up, she lived and fished on the same land that her ancestors have been on since time immemorial.  Brook fights for water and Native American rights through speaking to groups and frontline activism. She has been an intern for the City of Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in D.C., the California State Water Resource Control Board Office of Information Management, and Save California Salmon. Currently, she is a restoration engineer for the Yurok Tribe’s fisheries program. In 2017 Brook was awarded the American Indian Graduate Center’s Undergraduate student of the year, and in 2020 she won Unity’s 25 Under 25 award. Brook is a graduate of Portland State University with a B.S. in Civil Engineering and a minor in Political Science, and an M.S. in environmental engineering at Stanford University with a focus on water resources, and is now attending UC Santa Cruz for a Ph.D. in Environmental Science where she studies how Indigenous Knowledge can be better implemented into California water policy. Thompson’s goal is to bring together water rights and Native American knowledge through engineering, public policy, and social action.

Garrett Costello
Presentation Topic: "Building Dams-Partnering with beavers for restoration success" 

Humboldt Alumni Garrett Costello of Symbiotic Restoration works to implement ecological restoration projects by constructing beaver dam analogs, a process-based restoration technique. Since starting Symbiotic Restoration in 2018, Garrett has designed, planned, and constructed large and small-scale low-tech process-based projects across California. With shovel in hand, Costello hopes that habitat restoration can bring beavers back to California watersheds and return the control of dams to nature's greatest engineers.

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