Investigating the Drought Resilience of Wetlands on Mt. Hood
This project builds on six prior seasons of wetland-related mapping, habitat surveys and water monitoring in the area now known as Mt. Hood National Forest. Initial efforts were funded via the Drinking Water Providers Partnership and conducted in collaboration with Bark staff and community scientists, as described here. Current activities are funded through the Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund. Together with project partners -- PSU’s Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge certificate program, The Wetlands Conservancy, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the United States Forest Service -- we seek to examine how drought is impacting seasonal patterns of wetland hydrology and what this means for wetland-dependent beings, such as pond-breeding amphibians. Ultimately, we hope to, 1) elevate appreciation for the roles of individual palustrine wetlands in watershed functioning and habitat provision, 2) highlight the relevance of wetland types and zones to management and restoration decisions, and 3) demonstrate why monitoring wetland water levels and temperatures (as already done for many streams and rivers) is crucial for meeting water and habitat conservation goals (e.g., Krochta et al. 2025).
Identifying Potential Black Swift Breeding Habitat in Oregon
Black Swifts (Cypseloides niger) are listed as 'vulnerable' on the IUCN Red List and they are a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in Oregon (SWAP 2026). Their conservation vulnerability is driven in part by their low reproductive rate (only a single egg clutch per year) and their specialized breeding habitat: Black Swifts nest near waterfalls that meet specific environmental conditions, including high relief, shaded microsites and reliable late season flows (Levad et al. 2008).
Currently, there is only one confirmed Black Swift nest site in Oregon, but there may be others. Of the vast number of known waterfalls in the state, only 20% were visited by birders who submitted eBird checklists during summer months over the last ten years. As demonstrated by concerted Black Swift inventories in other regions (e.g., Levad 2010), additional Black Swift nests in Oregon could be located through the contributions of community scientists.The Oregon Biodiversity Information Center at Portland State University is recruiting volunteer birders and waterfall enthusiasts to: 1) identify waterfalls that match the known ecological requirements of Black Swift nest sites; 2) complete habitat suitability surveys during site visits; and 3) just maybe, observe new nests or confirm breeding occupancy at new waterfall sites.
To learn more, get involved, and/or share your experiences of waterfalls or Black Swifts, please fill out this survey.
Understanding & Managing Ecosystem State Change in the Forest-Peatland Ecotone of Southwest Patagonia
This project emerged from questions, observations and obsessions - with Patagonia, peatlands, and ciprés de las Guaitecas (a globally-threatened tree species) - that arose during my Masters research and drove me to pursue a PhD. While my thesis examined the socio-cultural roles of ciprés in local people’s lives and livelihoods, my dissertation followed with an investigation of socio-ecological dynamics. I wanted to understand the mechanisms through which repeat burning - the practice that made ciprés an accessible resource in the first place - caused an apparent long-term, wide-scale transformation in ecosystem state: from ciprés dominated temperate forests to non-forested peat moss wetlands (Zaret and Holz 2024). I also sought to reveal whose understandings and perspectives of these post-fire ecosystems (which were no longer forests but also not yet peatlands) were being incorporated into new governance structures and on-the-ground practices and thus had the greatest ability to affect the next cycles of socio-ecological feedbacks and trajectories of change for Patagonia’s peoples and places.