Zoe Ziegler

Natural Resources: Forest, Watershed, and Wildland

Zoe came to Cal Poly Humboldt because she wanted to work on a project in Northern California. She was inspired by her advisors’ work. Before graduate school, Zoe worked at a local fruit and veggie farm and was on a path toward a career in sustainable agriculture. She found herself drawn to more wild spaces and looked for a way to spend more time in the woods. She is inspired by the long history of land stewardship on the north coast and she wants to help manage these local landscapes in the face of ongoing disturbances and a changing climate. She believes her degree will prepare her to play a more impactful role in encouraging positive change in how we manage our forests with future generations in mind. Zoe’s research is focused on tree health and fuel conditions around powerline corridors in Northern California. She is interested in knowing how natural forest processes interplay with rural land management and how tree health and fuels vary across the highly diverse landscape of Northern California.

When asked about what advice she’d give to new graduate students, she said, “Everyone's experience in graduate school is so unique, and I think each person's experience changes over time. I'd say take things day by day (or minute by minute!), ask lots of questions, be ready to juggle a million things at once, build community with your cohort, and most of all, be nice to yourself. You can do it!”“