Professor of Environmental and Natural Resources Planning,
Department of Environmental Science and Management
Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521-8299
Tel: (707) 826-4188; e-mail ye1@humboldt.edu 

 

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, Wildland Resource Science (emphasis Landscape Ecology) Department of Forestry and Resource Management. May, 1993

• M.Sc. University of California, Berkeley, Wildland Resource Science (emphasis Agroforestry) Department of Forestry and Resource Management. December, 1987

• B.A. Pomona College, International Relations. May, 1983

• Abitur, Thomas Mann Gymnasium, Munich, Germany. May, 1979.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Member, Board of Directors NorthCoast Regional Land Trust, Arcata, CA. (2007 – present) http://www.ncrlt.org/ The Northcoast Regional Land Trust is dedicated to the protection and enhancement of farms, forests, rangelands, and wild areas in perpetuity.

Member, Board of Directors, Watershed Research and Training Center, Hayfork, CA (1997-present) http://www.thewatershedcenter.com/ The Watershed Research and Training Center (WRTC) was founded in 1992 and promotes healthy communities and sustainable forests through research, education, training, and economic development.

Member, Board of Directors, NeoSynthesis Research Centre/EarthSeva, Sri Lanka (1995-present). http://www.earthseva.org/neosynthesis_research_center NSRC seeks to integrate traditional knowledge with modern science to restore watersheds, sustain ecosystems and enhance farmer livelihoods in Sri Lanka. Research and experimentation is carried out in collaboration with farmers and land managers and focuses on ecosystem conservation and restoration, agro-forestry and organic agriculture. NSRC provides training to villagers, governmental agencies, fellow NGOs, and international agencies and organizations and supports fledgling environmental, agricultural and conservation organizations.

 

TEACHING

Professor of Natural Resources Planning, Humboldt State University (1998-present)

Instructor for the Watershed Research and Training Center's Ecosystem Management Worker Re-training Program, Hayfork, CA (1995-1997).This three-year program was developed in response to the Northwest Forest Plan for Ecosystem Management and was accredited by and affiliated with Shasta Community College. Participants received 7 course credits for a one-day per week, six month long team taught field course (66 hours of instruction each) in ecosystem management (forest ecosystem ecology, inventory and management components). I developed and taught the ecosystem ecology section.

Instructor for Geographic Information Systems and Global Positioning, Shasta Community College. I developed and taught four courses for the Trinity Community GIS project. These courses were accredited by Shasta Community College beginning in 1995 and taught from Hayfork as part of Shasta's Satellite Outreach Program: Introductory GIS for Landscape Analysis (2 unit, six week course); Constructing a GIS (3 unit, 14 week advanced course); Introduction to Geo-Positioning (GPS) (1 unit, six session course); and Introduction to Natural Resources Mapping (1 unit, six session short course). (1995-1997)

 

RESEARCH

Co-Principal Investigator with Van Kirk, Robert, Mark Baker, Brian Finney and Steven Steinberg. 2009- 2012 Conservation of surface and ground water in a Western watershed experiencing rapid loss of irrigated agricultural land to development. This grant from the USDA focuses the Upper Henry’s Fork Watershed, Idaho. We are conducting this project in collaboration with three locally based organizations.

Co-Principal Investigator (with Mark Baker, Heidi Ballard, Jeff Romm and Marlon Sherman) UC-CSU Collaborative Research 2011. Developing the Basis for Collaborative, Interdisciplinary Environment and Community Research on California's North Coast.

Principal Investigator (with graduate student Michelle Fuller): A Survey of Fire Safe Councils in California January 2006 – 2009.

Principal Investigator (with colleagues Dr. Ram Allagan and Dr. P. Wickramagamage, Department of Geography, University of Peradeniya and Ms. Kamal Melvani-Iyer, the NeoSynthesis Research Center, Sri Lanka). Tsunami Survivor's Damage and Need Survey for 13 Divisions in Kalmunai, Ampara District, Sri Lanka . January-June, 2005

Co-Principal Investigator (with Dr. Steven Steinberg, HSU). Comparative Analysis of the Klamath River Basin Ecosystem-GIS and Technical Support Project funded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service FY99-2002.

Principal Investigator Research Support for Community Participation in Adaptive Management: Landscape Scale Fire Management/Emergency Response and Participatory Non-Timber Forest Products Research. Watershed Research and Training Center and the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station 1999(59-PSW-99-001G) extended through September 2002

Principal Investigator Support of Community Participation in Adaptive Management: Non-Timber Forest Products and Fire Management/Emergency Response, Watershed Research and Training Center and USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, Northwest Forest Plan Research Program Fiscal Year 1997and FY 1998.

Principal Investigator Proposal development for a silvicultural and agroforestry research program to support a growing non-timber forest products industry in the Trinity Bioregion. Watershed Research and Training Center (FY 1997).

Principal Investigator Support of Community Participation in the Hayfork Adaptive Management Area through Access to Information. Watershed Research and Training Center and USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, Northwest Forest Plan Research Program (FY 1996).

Co-Principal Investigator (with Dr. Jan Beyers, USDA Forest Service PSW Riverside): Assessment of non-timber forest product (NTFP) harvesting activities and their impacts in the Hayfork AMA Watershed Research and Training Center and USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, Northwest Forest Plan Research Program (FY 1996).

Co-Principal Investigator (with Prof. John Radke, University of California): Support of Community Participation in the Hayfork Adaptive Management Area through Access to Information C. Watershed Research and Training Center and USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, Northwest Forest Plan Research Program. (FY 1995)

Dissertation Field Research, Sri Lanka. My research focused on interdisciplinary methods for assessing changes in forest and agricultural land use patterns over time and across several spatial scales from the household to the regional landscape in the central highlands of Sri Lanka (September, 1989 - July, 1991).

FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS

American Institute for Sri Lanka Studies. (Summer 2012 and Summer 2013)

Senior Fulbright Scholar Teaching/Research. Sri Lanka (October, 2004-June,2005)

Post Doctoral Scholar, University of California, Berkeley under Professor John Radke in the Applied Environmental Geographic Information Systems (AEGIS) Laboratory, Department of Landscape Architecture, College of Environmental Design for development of the Klamath GIS Project and Trinity Community GIS. (May, 1993-August,1995).

Kingman-Buck Agroforestry Fund travel grant, University of California, for a trip to China to present an invited paper (1991).

Fulbright Dissertation Research Grant, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (1990-91).

Kingman-Buck Agroforestry Research Grant, University of California, Berkeley for dissertation field research in Sri Lanka (1989-90).

Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation Fellowship, MS Research Sri Lanka (1986).

William Albright Fellowship in Conservation, Department of Forestry and Resource Management, University of California, Berkeley MS Research (1985-86).

 

PAST PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND ACTIVITIES

Member, Humboldt County, CA Hazard Mitigation Plan Steering Committee (2005 - 2008)

Committee guided Humboldt County staff in developing a Hazard Mitigation Plan in accordance with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) guidelines. The Plan was accepted by FEMA in Spring 2008.

Visiting Researcher, Department of Forest Policy and Forest History, Technical University Munich, Weihenstefan, Germany (July-September, 2004)

 Founder and Co-Coordinator , Trinity Community GIS (1994-2004). As a community capacity building program, Trinity Community GIS (TCGIS) provided training and services in geographic information systems (GIS) applications for natural resources management in the Trinity Region. I started the program in cooperation with community members in 1994 as part of a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. John Radke at UC Berkeley, and acted as project's coordinator, research principal investigator, curriculum developer, instructor, administrator and fund raiser with my co-coordinator, Phil Towle. Trinity GIS was absorbed by the Watershed Research and Training Center in 2004.

 Director for Research, Watershed Research and Training Center , Hayfork CA. I coordinated WRTC research activities in close cooperation with the Executive Director and center staff; and assisted center staff and partners with identifying and framing research questions, developing research and monitoring design, and with research implementation and documentation. I wrote proposals and assisted with fund raising for WRTC research activities and carried out independent research activities complementary to the goals of the WRTC; (April 1997 - August, 1998).

Acting Lead Scientist, Hayfork Adaptive Management Area (AMA) Executive Team, Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests and USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station (January, 1997-August, 1998)

Member Forest Stewardship Council Forest Management Guidelines Development Group for the Pacific Northwest Region (1998-2000)

 Member Collaborative Learning Circle, Association of Forest Practitioner Groups in Northern California and Southern Oregon (1995-2000)

Visiting Scholar, Center for Sustainable Resource Development, College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley (Spring - Fall, 1997)

 Visiting Scholar, Department of Forestry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute , Blacksberg, VA. (February - March, 1997).

PUBLICATIONS, RESEARCH REPORTS AND PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS

Please refer to the publications link on this website

 

LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

German: fluent reading, writing and speaking (bilingual); French: fair reading, writing and speaking; Sinhala (Sri Lanka): fair speaking.