Over the past century, sea level has risen nearly eight inches along the California coast and climate scientists suggest substantial increases in sea level as a significant impact of climate change over the coming century. This project explores the concept of creating a sustainable living environment for seaside residents in Redwood City as an alternative to permanent construction on land in the event of a substantial rise in sea level. This project will generate a flood-resilient design solution that is capable of rising and falling with the water. In order to ensure the well-being of the inhabitants, I will analyze a number of case studies, notably the Netherland’s water dwellings, New Orleans’s amphibious residences and Sausalito’s floating communities, for the purpose of identifying key themes that will facilitate the construction of a single-family amphibious residence in Redwood City. This project is a response to environmental design challenges raised by ongoing atmospheric events such as the gradual rise in sea level and disastrous events such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 where extreme flooding due to failed coastal defenses exhibited catastrophic effects on coastal residences, its inhabitants, and the surrounding ecosystem.

In this study, stage, streamflow, and precipitation data was collected from small watersheds in the Swanton Pacific Ranch for the first two hydrologic years following the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex. The Little Creek watershed was setup for high-resolution data collection with four separate stage gauge sites (Main Stem, North Fork, South Fork, and Upper North Fork) and four rain gauge sites (Al Smith House, Ridgeline, Upper North Fork, and Landing 23). Stage gauge sites were also established at Queseria, Archibald, and Mill creeks. Preliminary post-fire rating curves were developed for the four sites of Little Creek. The Main Stem (MS) and North Fork (NF) post-fire curves showed some flattening of the slope indicating channel filling, while the South Fork (SF) curve displayed a steepening indicating channel scouring. The Upper North Fork (UNF) rating curve did not indicate any shifts. However, at the time of this study the rating curves were incomplete due to limitations in streamflow measurements. Linear regression models were fit to pre-fire data (hydrologic years 2000-2008) to predict peak flows and storm flow volumes. Antecedent precipitation index (API) and total storm precipitation depth were found to be significant predictors while peak 1-hour rainfall intensity was not. Comparison of post-fire observations to pre-fire model predictions indicated that there were increases in both peak flow and storm flow volumes in Little Creek. However, these findings are not statistically significant due to the limited post-fire observations (n

This research has been conducted in Vicksburg Mississippi within the Vicksburg National Military Park and surrounding areas, to produce four 7.5 minute geologic maps of the area. The park service prioritized the delineation of geologic resources within the Military Park, which was achieved throughout geologic mapping. This project provides new geologic mapping to the Park by updating and integrating existing floodplain maps with new bedrock and surficial mapping within the four 7.5 min quadrangles. The objectives were to meet the mandates of the National Park Service and provide new geologic mapping to Vicksburg National Military Park as well as verify existing maps of the floodplain, within the time line of August 2014-May 2016. The resulting maps contribute to improve the understating of the geology within the Military Park, as well as provide insight to historical understanding, and engineering purposes such mining and mitigation of slope failure.

Walt Whitman used animistic techniques in his poetry and prose, specifically "Song of the Redwood Tree," "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," and Specimen Days. The term animism can be traced to the Latin root of the word, anime, which connotes a "soul" or "vitality." So, when one is talking about animistic techniques, one is speaking of the (metaphoric or realistic) ensoulment of natural objects. In the wake of a growing global crisis modern scholarship has begun reexamining the implications of this belief; often it introduces ambiguities into an otherwise comfortable relationship of unquestioned human domination. In Specimen Days, Whitman seems to have a more clear view of his natural philosophy, in which he expresses his belief that nature possesses an inherency that he envies and an ability to communicate that quality with him. However, Whitman's "Song of the Redwood Tree" is ambiguous and contradicting. Whitman creates a vision of Manifest Destiny by portraying settlers in California clearing space for houses and agriculture by cutting down the majestic redwood forests. However, this poem contains a particularly odd element: the trees have a voice. They mourn their own demise while simultaneously celebrating the arrival of the new American populace. It is a conflicting image. The animistic, majestic qualities of the trees challenge an anthropocentric view of the world, not allowing the reader to quickly disregard the extinction of the redwood forests in order to embrace American ideals of progress, which in a way defeats the more imperialistic message of the poem. Another comparison, with "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," demonstrates how important subversion of self to place is when using animistic techniques in poetry. This poem implies that animate nature is a locus for Whitman's creative genius, both inspiring his poetry and permeating it with confusion. Whitman's very engagement with the process of imagining a voice for nature inserts doubt into some of his more imperialistic pronouncements and encourages the reader to question his own previously unexamined assumptions. Animistic literary techniques have the potential to encourage an involvement with non-human nature, along with a more conscious awareness of the way we use (and abuse) that Other.

Climate change and a growing wildland-urban interface are associated with an increase in the number and severity of wildfires. While severe wildfires do cause a costly and dangerous impact on the environment and the public, their after-effects comprise important subjects of study. In post-fire hydrologic studies, the reduced infiltration and plant cover that results from wildfires can commonly be associated with increased peakflows and erosion. Phenomena such as the flooding and debris flows in Montecito after the Thomas Fire in late 2017 can have important implications on infrastructure and human lives. Quantifying post-fire peak flows and flooding volumes has therefore become a special study of interest. However, the few studies that exist on post-fire hydrology across the United States have inconclusive and flawed results. Post-fire hydrological studies on coastal-redwood forests are also lacking in both number and quality. These research gaps were addressed through a three-year, post-fire hydrological study on the Litte Creek watershed of Swanton Pacific Ranch in Davenport, CA. The study took place from the 2021 to 2024 hydrological years (HY). Hydrographs and rating curves were developed to yield results for post-fire conditions. A frequency analysis utilizing Log Pearson Type III and Weibull calculations yielded post-fire results according to 0.5-, 1-, 2-, and 5-year return intervals. A statistical model based on precipitation, antecedent precipitation index, and streamflow data modelled pre-fire values. Subsequently, the pre- and post-fire peak flows and storm volumes were compared. The post-fire results from the analysis were also compared to those estimated from the USGS Linear Regression method and the RF-5 method from Wilder et al, 2020. It was found that a slight increase in post-fire peak flows and storm volumes occurred upon comparison to pre-fire values, primarily for the South Fork of the watershed. This observation was found to be present for flows and volumes below a 0.5-year return interval, with higher uncertainty beyond that threshold. The USGS and Wilder methods were found to v inaccurately predict the post-fire peak flows. However, calculation of USGS-Regression parameters for two areas (Main Stem and South Fork) yielded percent increases in post-fire peak flows (between 19-31%) and percent-runoff increases (between 36-59%) for peak flows between return intervals of 0.5 to 5 years. Results were found to be mostly statistically significant for all three sites (α < 0.05), except for the North-Fork site in several cases and some model intercepts across all three sites. Incision and erosion of streambeds and the recovery of vegetation since the 2020 fire may have played an underlying role in the study. Despite some errors in stage data, the small increases in post-fire parameters, and variations in burn-area conditions, the study represented a motivated attempt to use linear regression on post-fire hydrologic data and to improve upon the site’s previous study through a more comprehensive dataset. This attempt serves as one of many in studying post-fire hydrology, which serves to inform better decisions for wildfire, flood-management, and land-management agencies.

On August 12, 2009, the Lockheed Fire ignited the west slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains burning approximately 7,819 acres. Foresters and other land managers were left with challenging decisions on how to evaluate tree mortality. Big Creek Lumber Company, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly)’s Swanton Pacific Ranch (SPR), and other resource professionals familiar with this region teamed up to develop a method for evaluating damage and thereby mortality for redwood, California nutmeg, live oak, tanoak, California bay, Pacific madrone, big leaf maple, Douglas-fir, Monterey pine, and knobcone pine. Quantitative damage criteria were used to design three Mortality Assessment models (MA), divided into three diameter at breast height classes (1-8.9, 9-16.9, >17 inches), for all tree species. These models were compared against pre-fire data from 82, one-fifth acre fixed plots from SPR’s Continuous Forest Inventory. Since the initial evaluation using the new MA in Fall 2009, each of the 2,877 trees were re-evaluated in Spring 2010 and Spring 2011 to determine if initial evaluations from the MA in 2009 were correct. To date, predictions to determine individual tree mortality using the Mortality Assessment models have been 89.3% correct.