The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and four researchers from SEFS—including Professors Josh Lawler (PI) and Aaron Wirsing, Affiliate Professor Peter Dunwiddie and postdoc Michael Case—have teamed up on a new research project, “Evaluating Flora and Fauna Diversity in the John Day/Willow Creek Project for Special Status Species Protection.”
With $284,968 in funding, the project in northwest Oregon aims to:
1) Inventory and identify terrestrial animal and plant species and their habitats. This comprehensive inventory will include native and non-native and invasive, threatened and endangered, noxious and nuisance plants and wildlife on 13,600 acres of project lands;
2) Delineate and identify dominant ecological communities, including abiotic components;
3) Assess the status, health and viability of resident wildlife and plant populations and their habitats, including special status species, as well as biological diversity and environmental health of ecological communities;
4) Provide qualitative and quantitative information about the identity, location and abundance of state and federal classified invasive and noxious species within dominant ecological communities;
5) Develop an integrated pest management plan.
The relevant data will be entered into a GIS database and generate a series of maps to show a detailed, scaled overview of ecological communities, species habitats, and general habitat conditions.
Funding for the project is made available through a cooperative agreement (W912HZ-16-2-0031) under the Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (PNW CESU), a partnership for research, technical assistance and education to enhance understanding and management of natural and cultural resources.
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) recently developed an incredibly cool animated map that depicts how more than 2,900 species of birds, mammals and amphibians might migrate in response to rising sea levels and temperatures. The flow model, called Migrations in Motion, draws from research published in Ecology Letters in 2013, “Projected climate-driven faunal movement routes,” which Professor Josh Lawler coauthored with Professor Julian Olden from the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, former SEFS grad student Aaron Ruesch (’11, M.S.), and Brad McRae, a senior landscape ecologist with TNC.
After nearly a decade as an engineer, Galitsky changed course and headed to graduate school to study wildlife ecology at SEFS.
“Ecology is so much harder than engineering, despite what the majority of the population might think,” says Christina Galitsky, who recently earned a Master of Science from the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences (SEFS). She would know: After nearly a decade as an engineer, Galitsky moved to Seattle in 2009 to begin graduate study in wildlife ecology—trading factories for field work, and lab goggles for binoculars.
What prompted this turnabout was many years in the making, and it started with a simple desire to feel more energized by her work.
Originally from Allentown, Pa., Galitsky moved to California in 1996 to attend graduate school at Berkeley. She had always excelled at math and science and felt it was a natural fit to study chemical engineering. After school, she spent the next nine years as a full-time engineer, first with an environmental consulting firm in Oakland and then with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Her work involved solving basic engineering problems for some of the poorest people in the world. No question, she says, the projects were immensely important and rewarding. Yet she got to a point where she’d be in a meeting and watch her colleagues be giddy and raving about a tiny engineering tweak, like getting a minute increase in efficiency, and she realized she wanted to share that same pulse of excitement with her job someday—and it wasn’t going to happen as an engineer.
In her free time, Galitsky is an accomplished rock climber, mountaineer, snowboarder and lover of all things outdoors.
Galitsky decided to take some time off work to figure out her next move. She spent a summer interning with the U.S. Geological Survey on the Olympic Peninsula and researched graduate programs and professors studying wildlife biology, conservation and related areas.
She soon discovered SEFS and was particularly attracted to the work Professor Josh Lawler was doing with climate change and landscape ecology. She wanted to be involved in research that would directly influence policy or on-the-ground management, and when she met Lawler and visited campus, she felt a strong connection. “At first it was his research, and then our conversations,” she says. “I really liked his lab and the way he has his students weigh in on potential next students, which I think is really unique and special. Josh was clearly passionate about what he does and wanted to make a difference in the world. I liked all of those things about him.”
After so many years in the workforce, Galitsky wasn’t eager to take out new student loans and debt, so she was relieved to find that Lawler had funding for another Master’s student. Plus, he was open to her doing field work, which became the heart of her graduate program.
For her thesis, “Effects of Local Vegetation and Landscape Patterns on Avian Biodiversity in the Threatened Oak Habitat of the Willamette Valley, Ore.,” she spent several field seasons meticulously documenting birds, learning to recognize species by sight and sound, patiently listening and watching for long hours.
Galitsky out birding.
“I found field work really hard, frustrating and amazing, all at the same time, every day,” she says. “Getting to see the sunrise every day and hear the birds in the morning was great. But having to get up at 3 a.m., not so good.”
The stress of field work, too, was different from her previous office deadlines. If things don’t go right in a field season—if your research doesn’t come together, or you need to adjust your methods—you’re in school for another year. “There’s more urgency to figure out how to make it right,” she says.
Galitsky persevered, of course, and she credits her committee, which included SEFS Professors John Marzluff and Aaron Wirsing, for their critiques and encouragement in building her confidence as a researcher. Above all, she’s grateful for Lawler’s support as her advisor. “Working with Josh was the highlight for me,” she says. “He just blew me away with how understanding, helpful and encouraging he was. He always seemed to have time for me, and he really helped me through grad school, probably more than he knows.”
Now, her transition from engineer to ecologist is complete: As of May 1, 2013, Galitsky is the program coordinator for Tree Kangaroo Conservation at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.
Not quite two months into her new gig, she says she feels privileged to have found a home at the intersection of so many of her interests. “The tree kangaroo program has both a wildlife and a people component, which was exactly what I wanted,” she says. “I think that’s why this project hits home to me. It’s been really fun working in a place where everyone has the same passions about animals and conservation.”
This photo, taken by Bruce Beehler, captures an incontrovertible truth about tree kangaroos: their incredible stuffed-animal cuteness.
Tree kangaroos are found only in one small region of Papua New Guinea, and Galitsky hopes she’ll get a chance to travel there in the next year or two with her boss, Dr. Lisa Dabek. Her current position, though, is not as a field research biologist, and she’s been focusing on fundraising, program management and outreach. “I’m probably most excited about the outreach,” she says. “We scientists aren’t always the best communicators, and I enjoy the challenge of being the link between scientific research and the public.”
As she settles into her new role, Galitsky has no regrets about her past career. Her new work, she says, isn’t more worthwhile; it’s just more her. Unlike her years spent in cement plants or steel factories, where she felt invested if not inspired, these days she finally has her passions and profession in tune. How can she tell? This time, the line between work and play is awfully fuzzy.
“I still love going out and watching birds and trying to identify them, probably to the dismay of my boyfriend and everyone around me,” says Galitsky. “I can’t shut it off!”
Nothing gets the nervous/excited juices flowing like more faces in the crowd, so come out and support Jesse Langdon tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday, April 24, as he defends his thesis, “Forecasting the impacts of climate change on terrestrial species and protected areas in the Pacific Northwest!”
Part of the Landscape Ecology and Conservation Lab, Langdon’s faculty advisor is Professor Josh Lawler, and his other committee members are Professor Steve West and Elizabeth Gray. He will be giving his talk in the Forest Club Room from 1-2 p.m., with snacks and refreshments provided.
It’s a great opportunity to support a fellow colleague and student, and to help commemorate his years of research and contributions to the SEFS community!
For Week 5 of the Wildlife Science Seminar, Robin Bowen of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Portland, Ore., will be presenting on the conservation challenges surrounding barred and spotted owls: “Killing one species to save another: Biology, ecology, ethics and the case of the barred owl.”
Hosted by Professor Ken Raedeke, the Wildlife Seminar is open to the public and meets from 3:30 to 4:40 p.m. in Kane Hall, Room 130. All are welcome, so come if you can!
Also, after today, only two more seminars are left in the Winter Quarter, so mark your calendars:
February 25
“Implementation of the wolf management plan in Washington State.”
Steve Pozzanghera, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, Wash.
March 4
“Forecasting the impacts of land use and climate change at regional and continental scales.”
Josh Lawler, Wildlife Science Group, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
With $284,968 in funding, the project in northwest Oregon aims to:
