Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/21
Outputs Target Audience:Students represent the most important group of stakeholders at the Salish Kootenai College. This proposal will enhance theireducational experience by creating opportunities in undergraduate research experience, employment, and professionalnetworking. Importantly, the research experience will include development of technical skills for manipulating data andstatistical analysis.In addition, students and the community will benefit from the enhanced research capacity this proposal will bring to SKC. Theopportunity to work with Dr. David Affleck and UM will enhance Robert Kenning's and other SKC instructors' to carry outcurrent and future research ventures. Dr. Affleck collaborated with Kenning in developing the experimental design; Kenningwill continue to gain experience with Dr. Affleck when analyzing data for this study. Much of the tools purchased through thisproposal will outlast this project and expand SKC's capacity for future work. For example, the drying oven, relascop,incrementcorers, and sonic distance measurer / hypsometer will represent important, heavily used items in SKC's Forest Inventory labinto the future.Tribal communities who send and receive students from SKC, especially in the northwest region, are another importantstakeholder. Tribal Forestry departments identified the need for research on this topic; SKC then saw the opportunity tocreate student experiential learning in addressing the research question. Changes/Problems:Past records of a study site were retieived in project year 2 -- this had delayed data analysis previously, however theproblem was addressed and a timeline was developed to complete the project with a 1-year no cost extension. Work wasdelayed during the first year of COVID; the no-cost extension enabled us to complete the students' data analysis andpresentation to public. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Undergraduate students participated in research experience activitites. A faculty member and three senior students took theUSFS "FVS" forest modeling training. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Senior Thesis capstone projects were presented to a public audience. Classroom activities and curricula were developed and delivered to the ~100 students in the SKC Natural Resources degrees. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This is the final project period.
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
Six students have participated in undergraduate research experiential learning activities. The forest research was analyzed,summarized, and presented by a senior student's capstone thesis project last year. Lessons and curricula we havedeveloped will continue to be used beyond the project period. Also, three additional students will create Senior Thesiscapstone projects from this project's data in Spring 2022.
Publications
|
Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs Target Audience:Students represent the most important group of stakeholders at the Salish Kootenai College. This proposal will enhance their educational experience by creating opportunities in undergraduate research experience, employment, and professional networking. Importantly, the research experience will include development of technical skills for manipulating data and statistical analysis. In addition, students and the community will benefit from the enhanced research capacity this proposal will bring to SKC. The opportunity to work with Dr. David Affleck and UM will enhance Robert Kenning's and other SKC instructors' to carry out current and future research ventures. Dr. Affleck collaborated with Kenning in developing the experimental design; Kenning will continue to gain experience with Dr. Affleck when analyzing data for this study. Much of the tools purchased through this proposal will outlast this project and expand SKC's capacity for future work. For example, the drying oven, relascop, increment corers, and sonic distance measurer / hypsometer will represent important, heavily used items in SKC's Forest Inventory lab into the future. Tribal communities who send and receive students from SKC, especially in the northwest region, are another important stakeholder. Tribal Forestry departments identified the need for research on this topic; SKC then saw the opportunity to create student experiential learning in addressing the research question. Changes/Problems:Past records of a study site were retieived in project year 2 -- this had delayed data analysis previously, however the problem was addressed and a timeline was developed to complete the project with a 1-year no cost extension. Work was delayed during the first year of COVID; the no-cost extension enabled us to complete the students' data analysis and presentation to public. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Undergraduate students participated in research experience activitites. A faculty member and three senior students took the USFS "FVS" forest modeling training. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Senior Thesis capstone presentation to a public audience. Classroom activities and curricula. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This is the last reporting period.
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
Six students have participated in undergraduate research experiential learning activities. The forest research was analyzed, summarized, and presented by a senior student's capstone thesis project last year. Lessons and curricula we have developed will continue to be used beyond the project period. Also, three additional students will create Senior Thesis capstone projects from this project's data in Spring 2022.
Publications
|
Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs Target Audience:Students represent the most important group of stakeholders at the Salish Kootenai College. This proposal will enhance their educational experience by creating opportunities in undergraduate research experience, employment, and professional networking. Importantly, the research experience will include development of technical skills for manipulating data and statistical analysis. In addition, students and the community will benefit from the enhanced research capacity this proposal will bring to SKC. The opportunity to work with Dr. David Affleck and UM will enhance Robert Kenning's and other SKC instructors' to carry out current and future research ventures. Dr. Affleck collaborated with Kenning in developing the experimental design; Kenning will continue to gain experience with Dr. Affleck when analyzing data for this study. Much of the tools purchased through this proposal will outlast this project and expand SKC's capacity for future work. For example, the drying oven, relascop, increment corers, and sonic distance measurer / hypsometer will represent important, heavily used items in SKC's Forest Inventory lab into the future. Tribal communities who send and receive students from SKC, especially in the northwest region, are another important stakeholder. Tribal Forestry departments identified the need for research on this topic; SKC then saw the opportunity to create student experiential learning in addressing the research question. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Undergraduate students participated in research experience activitites and a senior student took the USFS "FVS" forest modeling training. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Senior thesis presentation. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Three additional students will participate in undergraduate research experiential learning activities. The forest research will be analyzed, summarized, and presented by another senior student's capstone thesis project this spring.
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
Four students have participated in undergraduate research experiential learning activities. The forest research was analyzed, summarized, and presented by a senior student's capstone thesis project last year, and the same is in progress for a senior student this coming spring.
Publications
|
Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19
Outputs Target Audience:Tribal College stdents will gain experiential learning. The Tribes' will gain knowledge of carbon stocks on Reservation lands. Changes/Problems:Past records of the study site were located this year. This had delayed data analysis previously, however the problem has been addressed and a timeline has been developed to complete the project with a 1-year no cost extension. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Attendance at national Intertribal Timber Council Symposium. 1 faculty and 2 students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Project materials have been incorporated into course lessons. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, we will complete stocking trial plot measurements by measuring "ingrowth" -- new tree regeneration. Also in the following year, data will be analyzed by senior thesis students, under mentorship of forestry faculty.
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
Major work was accomplished toward Objective 1. Student interns completed remeasuring existing trees in the stocking trial plots.
Publications
|
Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18
Outputs Target Audience:Tribal College stdents will gain experiential learning. The Tribes' will gain knowledge of carbon stocks on Reservation lands. Changes/Problems:Locating prior plot measurements records at Tribal Forestry has prooven difficult. We may need to use an alternate stockingtrial, depending on the time required to locate records. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One student and one faculty attendance at the national FALCON conference. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?No study results published yet. However the project has developed learning material that has begun to be disseminated to students. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1) The next reporting period will involve remeasurement work in the forest stocking trial.
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
Study plot restablishment. Student interns located and marked the forest stocking trial plots, in preparation for remeasurement.
Publications
|
Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs Target Audience:Tribal College stdents will gain experiential learning. The Tribes' will gain knowledge of carbon stocks on Reservation lands. Changes/Problems:Locating prior plot measurements records at Tribal Forestry has prooven difficult. We may need to use an alternate stocking trial, depending on the time required to locate records. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Fieldwork and initial data analysis will commence the next reporting period. Remeasurement of long-term forest stocking plots will begin to accomplish goals in Objective 1 above.
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
Fieldwork has yet to commence and will be initiated during the coming year. However, course content was developed this year from materials gathered in the proposal writing process.
Publications
|
|