Tristan Nuñez, PhD
@tristannunez.bsky.social
Wildlife connectivity + movement & forest ecology & climate adaptation nerd. Fort Collins, CO. Former USGS / Assistant Prof in U.Maine's Dept. of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology.
Botanists of the Front Range / Central Rockies -- what's the best flora for this region? Is there an equivalent of Hitchcock for the PNW? Weber?
April 26, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Botanists of the Front Range / Central Rockies -- what's the best flora for this region? Is there an equivalent of Hitchcock for the PNW? Weber?
The laid-off scientist unemployment victory garden is well on its way...
April 23, 2025 at 6:56 PM
The laid-off scientist unemployment victory garden is well on its way...
A bit late, but, dye sources from L to R: red onion skins, hibiscus, red cabbage, turmeric and red cabbage, turmeric, and yellow onion skins.
April 23, 2025 at 2:59 AM
A bit late, but, dye sources from L to R: red onion skins, hibiscus, red cabbage, turmeric and red cabbage, turmeric, and yellow onion skins.
Reposted by Tristan Nuñez, PhD
Permitting reform was never about clean/renewable energy. It was always about this.
The U.S. Army Corps has created a new emergency permit category for pipelines, LNG terminals, etc. that could allow it to circumvent NEPA www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/c...
Trump Administration Moves to Fast-Track Hundreds of Fossil Fuel Projects
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has cited President Trump’s claim of a national energy emergency to speed up permits for new gas pipelines and other projects.
www.nytimes.com
February 19, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Permitting reform was never about clean/renewable energy. It was always about this.
Not very far from how FOIA works...
February 18, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Not very far from how FOIA works...
Reposted by Tristan Nuñez, PhD
#forestservice employees who were recently terminated. We are working on a legal action. Please dm us. (We removed the previous post due to concerns about the form being spammed by bad actors) #nffe #unionstrong #holdtheline
February 16, 2025 at 6:13 PM
#forestservice employees who were recently terminated. We are working on a legal action. Please dm us. (We removed the previous post due to concerns about the form being spammed by bad actors) #nffe #unionstrong #holdtheline
This: "Many agencies, certainly federal agencies, assume that fire intensity determines community wildfire risk. But fire intensity has nothing to do with structure ignition vulnerability — how a home ignites." Dr. Jack Cohen, retired USFS in www.latimes.com/california/s...
L.A. is already getting fire recovery wrong. Two experts explain how to do it better
Two wildfire experts argue that the L.A. destruction didn't have to be as bad as it was. The question isn't whether we can live with fire but how we can live with fire, they say.
www.latimes.com
February 14, 2025 at 8:18 PM
This: "Many agencies, certainly federal agencies, assume that fire intensity determines community wildfire risk. But fire intensity has nothing to do with structure ignition vulnerability — how a home ignites." Dr. Jack Cohen, retired USFS in www.latimes.com/california/s...
Reposted by Tristan Nuñez, PhD
Stephen Pyne: "I would like to think that these recent fires might be horrific enough to serve as a catalyst, but I’ve thought that for a couple of decades as urban conflagrations have built up in magnitude and damages."
Great interview here w/2 eminent fire researchers on LA fires: "Fire intensity has nothing to do w/how a home ignites. Yet [the agencies] focus on maintaining low fuel loads — brush abatement, forest thinning — which still lead to uncontrollable extreme wildfires." 🌏 www.latimes.com/california/s...
L.A. is already getting fire recovery wrong. Two experts explain how to do it better
Two wildfire experts argue that the L.A. destruction didn't have to be as bad as it was. The question isn't whether we can live with fire but how we can live with fire, they say.
www.latimes.com
February 14, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Stephen Pyne: "I would like to think that these recent fires might be horrific enough to serve as a catalyst, but I’ve thought that for a couple of decades as urban conflagrations have built up in magnitude and damages."
I'm looking for studies on the effect of tree replanting (post-harvest or post-fire) on landscape-scale fuels connectivity and fire size. Any suggestions?
February 14, 2025 at 2:27 AM
I'm looking for studies on the effect of tree replanting (post-harvest or post-fire) on landscape-scale fuels connectivity and fire size. Any suggestions?
Reposted by Tristan Nuñez, PhD
Some factual coverage on LA fires-- "Wildfire experts say cutting down s CA's chaparral won't make the region safer from wildfire. In fact, bc of the local ecology, they say clearing vast swaths of native brush could actually make the landscape even more flammable." 🌏 www.npr.org/2025/02/11/n...
Why clearing the brush around Los Angeles won't reduce the wildfire danger
After thousands of homes were destroyed, many are looking for ways to make Los Angeles safer from wildfires. But clearing dense shrubs on the hillsides could actually make the fire danger worse.
www.npr.org
February 14, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Some factual coverage on LA fires-- "Wildfire experts say cutting down s CA's chaparral won't make the region safer from wildfire. In fact, bc of the local ecology, they say clearing vast swaths of native brush could actually make the landscape even more flammable." 🌏 www.npr.org/2025/02/11/n...
Reposted by Tristan Nuñez, PhD
I have a better idea: Email [email protected] or DM @cfpb_tipline on X and tell President Trump and co-president Elon Musk to stop letting Wall Street scam you.
February 13, 2025 at 10:53 PM
I have a better idea: Email [email protected] or DM @cfpb_tipline on X and tell President Trump and co-president Elon Musk to stop letting Wall Street scam you.
Reposted by Tristan Nuñez, PhD
Musk fired America’s Vets
“Elon Musk is firing military veteran firefighters for no reason” is the biggest slam dunk in political messaging history, Dems should be shouting it into the world’s biggest bullhorn from the top of the Washington Monument.
February 14, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Musk fired America’s Vets
Reposted by Tristan Nuñez, PhD
The "Fix Our Forests Act" -- a trojan horse bill that will ramp up commercial logging & eliminate public involvement from public lands decision-making -- has passed the House & needs to die in the Senate. Here's a simple way to weigh in on this important issue. act.sierraclub.org/actions/Nati...
Tell the Senate to OPPOSE this harmful forestry bill!
Tell your Senators to STOP a harmful logging bill called the "Fix Our Forests Act." Instead of actually helping forests, the bill makes it easier to log forests on public lands.
act.sierraclub.org
February 13, 2025 at 9:51 PM
The "Fix Our Forests Act" -- a trojan horse bill that will ramp up commercial logging & eliminate public involvement from public lands decision-making -- has passed the House & needs to die in the Senate. Here's a simple way to weigh in on this important issue. act.sierraclub.org/actions/Nati...
This is so cool ... you can tell how old a hedge is (often) by how diverse it is.
How can you tell that this hedge is Norman and nearly a thousand years old? youtu.be/kM3F-BkKgds?...
Hooper's Rule: ageing hedges
YouTube video by Bill Sutherland's Conservation Concepts
youtu.be
December 11, 2024 at 3:09 PM
This is so cool ... you can tell how old a hedge is (often) by how diverse it is.
Super important contribution on seed dispersers and plant niche tracking -- very few studies of this kind have been done.
🔥 New paper out 🔥
Seed dispersers help plants tracking climate change on mountains!
Animals are dispersing plant species to higher elevations... but over half of the plants arriving at higher elevations were exotic. 🦎🐦💩🌿
@newphyt.bsky.social
🧪🍁🌐🌏
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Seed dispersers help plants tracking climate change on mountains!
Animals are dispersing plant species to higher elevations... but over half of the plants arriving at higher elevations were exotic. 🦎🐦💩🌿
@newphyt.bsky.social
🧪🍁🌐🌏
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Climb forest, climb: diverse disperser communities are key to assist plants tracking climate change on altitudinal gradients
Climate change is forcing species to shift their distribution ranges. Animal seed dispersers might be particularly important in assisting plants tracking suitable climates to higher elevations. Howe.....
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 7, 2024 at 1:31 PM
Super important contribution on seed dispersers and plant niche tracking -- very few studies of this kind have been done.
AI / machine learning approaches are the ultra-processed foods of ecological modeling; colorful and addictive but you have no idea what the unintelligible ingredients are doing to your system.
December 7, 2024 at 12:55 PM
AI / machine learning approaches are the ultra-processed foods of ecological modeling; colorful and addictive but you have no idea what the unintelligible ingredients are doing to your system.
Curious if anyone's written something (recently or long ago) on the importance of humility in the ecological & natural resource sciences?
December 6, 2024 at 8:02 PM
Curious if anyone's written something (recently or long ago) on the importance of humility in the ecological & natural resource sciences?
Reposted by Tristan Nuñez, PhD
1/n 🧪🌏🔥
On the other site, I started what can only be considered a viral hashtag called #FireScarFriday. It's time to introduce #FireScarFriday to BlueSky!
What are fire scars and fire-scarred trees? Trees can often survive a #wildfire but are damaged by said fire. ...
On the other site, I started what can only be considered a viral hashtag called #FireScarFriday. It's time to introduce #FireScarFriday to BlueSky!
What are fire scars and fire-scarred trees? Trees can often survive a #wildfire but are damaged by said fire. ...
December 6, 2024 at 12:57 PM
1/n 🧪🌏🔥
On the other site, I started what can only be considered a viral hashtag called #FireScarFriday. It's time to introduce #FireScarFriday to BlueSky!
What are fire scars and fire-scarred trees? Trees can often survive a #wildfire but are damaged by said fire. ...
On the other site, I started what can only be considered a viral hashtag called #FireScarFriday. It's time to introduce #FireScarFriday to BlueSky!
What are fire scars and fire-scarred trees? Trees can often survive a #wildfire but are damaged by said fire. ...
Fascinating contrast with the frequent-fire forests of the SW U.S.: Frequent prescribed fires increase the negative effects of wildfire in Australia. "What we do by frequently burning forests is set them up for a big fall with the next fire."
How often & where prescribed burning takes place needs a rethink if Australia's #biodiversity is to be preserved, from a @natureportfolio.bsky.social paper led by @dadriscoll.bsky.social on the 2019/20 Australian #megafires.
www.abc.net.au/news/science...
Paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
www.abc.net.au/news/science...
Paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
December 6, 2024 at 4:00 PM
Fascinating contrast with the frequent-fire forests of the SW U.S.: Frequent prescribed fires increase the negative effects of wildfire in Australia. "What we do by frequently burning forests is set them up for a big fall with the next fire."
Looking forward to digging into this - something managers and ecologists desperately need to wrestle with. For me, it often comes back to the puny time scales we humans work on compared to the eco-evolutionary processes of dispersal and adaptation we are messing with.
Nativeness as Gradient?
Beyond the Native/Alien Binary...
Towards a More Complete Value Assessment of Species in a Rapidly Changing World 🌎🌍🌏
doi.org/10.1007/s108...
Beyond the Native/Alien Binary...
Towards a More Complete Value Assessment of Species in a Rapidly Changing World 🌎🌍🌏
doi.org/10.1007/s108...
December 6, 2024 at 2:42 PM
Looking forward to digging into this - something managers and ecologists desperately need to wrestle with. For me, it often comes back to the puny time scales we humans work on compared to the eco-evolutionary processes of dispersal and adaptation we are messing with.
TIL it's generally not the flames of wildfires that burn down houses, it's the far-reaching rain of embers that fires generate. This is why structure hardening is so critically important, and why you so often see burned houses next to green trees. bc.ctvnews.ca/study-of-202...
Study of 2023 Okanagan wildfires recommends limiting development in high-risk areas
A study into the devastating wildfires that struck British Columbia's Okanagan region in 2023 has recommended that government and industry limit development in high-fire-risk areas.
bc.ctvnews.ca
December 4, 2024 at 9:15 PM
TIL it's generally not the flames of wildfires that burn down houses, it's the far-reaching rain of embers that fires generate. This is why structure hardening is so critically important, and why you so often see burned houses next to green trees. bc.ctvnews.ca/study-of-202...
Reposted by Tristan Nuñez, PhD
PI: Should we add field assistants as co-authors?
Co-PI: mmm... They did not write anything... You know that writing is the hardest part!
PI: OK!
Field assistants 👇🏿
Co-PI: mmm... They did not write anything... You know that writing is the hardest part!
PI: OK!
Field assistants 👇🏿
December 4, 2024 at 5:02 PM
PI: Should we add field assistants as co-authors?
Co-PI: mmm... They did not write anything... You know that writing is the hardest part!
PI: OK!
Field assistants 👇🏿
Co-PI: mmm... They did not write anything... You know that writing is the hardest part!
PI: OK!
Field assistants 👇🏿
What are the best repositories of pre-1900 landscape / vegetation photos of the western U.S.?
December 3, 2024 at 8:41 PM
What are the best repositories of pre-1900 landscape / vegetation photos of the western U.S.?
The solution to wildlife-vehicle collisions? www.theguardian.com/world/2024/n...
Elusive deer spotted wearing high-vis jacket in Canada: ‘Who is responsible?’
‘Double takes’ as British Columbia mountain community tries to figure out how local animal came to don neon jacket
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2024 at 7:40 PM
The solution to wildlife-vehicle collisions? www.theguardian.com/world/2024/n...
Reposted by Tristan Nuñez, PhD
A common tactic governments (and companies!) use to falsely exaggerate climate action is claiming that plants and trees are sucking up the carbon being released
It is fundamentally wrong - and climate targets and measures of ambition should universally separate fossil and land carbon entirely:
It is fundamentally wrong - and climate targets and measures of ambition should universally separate fossil and land carbon entirely:
Countries could use nature to ‘cheat’ on net zero targets, scientists warn
By relying on natural carbon sinks such as forests and peatlands to offset emissions, governments can appear closer to goals than they actually are
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2024 at 2:22 PM
A common tactic governments (and companies!) use to falsely exaggerate climate action is claiming that plants and trees are sucking up the carbon being released
It is fundamentally wrong - and climate targets and measures of ambition should universally separate fossil and land carbon entirely:
It is fundamentally wrong - and climate targets and measures of ambition should universally separate fossil and land carbon entirely: