Research

I am building a model to measure aboveground biomass of high elevation forests based on LiDAR and plot measurements, including plots from the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring, the US Forest Service Region 5 Remote Sensing Lab, and my own field work. My 2018 and 2019 data collection is in areas of different severity fires across subalpine forests. Tree height and diameter data is converted to biomass through allometric equations, and then related to reflectance data from Landsat satellites in order to map carbon across the whole region.

My research is funded by a CAL FIRE Forest Health Research Grant (beginning June 2019) and minigrants from the Sequoia Parks Conservancy’s Sequoia Science and Learning Center (funded in 2018 and 2019).


Measuring tree heights in Kings Canyon National Park during summer 2018 field work.

Below is a map of fire extent in the southern Sierra Nevada that has been clipped to the boundary of high elevation forests (categorized as red fir, lodgepole pine, or a mix of subalpine species). There is a clear increase in the extent of fire in high elevation forests over the last many decades. Subalpine forests have seen a range of changes in climate and forest structure, and I am interested in the drivers of changes in forest structure and biomass.