Dr. Steven Grodsky and Jason Whitney will be coming back from the field after six laborious weeks studying the impacts of renewable energy development on vegetation and invertebrates in the desert. Specifically, worked at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the beautiful Ivanpah Valley of California. 

Today, we are in the Ivanpah Valley with Kat Kerlin (Environmental Writer, News and Media Relations Specialist) and Joe Proudman (Multimedia Specialist)! They will be filming Dr. Steve Grodsky and Jason Whitney to showcase their work on understanding impacts of solar energy infrastructure on desert ecosystems. 

Title: Solar Energy Potential of the Largest Commercial Buildings in the United States

Title: The Geography of Big Solar 

Dr. Steven Grodsky and Jason Whitney will be in the field for six weeks studying the impacts of renewable energy development on vegetation and invertebrates in the desert. Specifically, they will be working at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the beautiful Ivanpah Valley of California. 

Title: Renewable Energy Ecology: The Next Frontier in Conservation Science

Steve will be giving an invited talk on "Renewable energy ecology: The next frontier in conservation science." 

Bouajila Essifi is a research assistant in geo-informatics and natural resources management at the Institut des Regions Arides in Tunisia, where he focuses on land degradation assessment, desertification surveillance and drought monitoring (DLDD). Since 2009, his work has consisted of combating desertification through the use of geospatial technologies and data sets. Mr. Essifi holds an MSc degree in Geomatics from the University of Manouba in Tunisia. Currently, he is a Humphrey Fellow at UC Davis for the 2017-2018 academic year.

The Aridlab and the CSTARS Lab meet together on a weekly basis. If you are interested in learning more about us or our lab, please feel free to stop by and join us. 

JayLee Tuil will illustrate a few facets of the 'Historical Ecology of the Putah and Cache Creek distributaries', including an examination and discussion of geology, soils, hydrology, topography and 1937 aerial photography. Tuil's work focuses on the use of GIS and remote sensing to inform and support regional conservation and restoration planning efforts. In particular, she incorporates various agency GIS data sets, coupled with high-resolution aerial imagery and object-oriented image analysis to locate and accurately map remnant native woody vegetation in the Central Valley of California. In addition, she aims to utilize LiDAR and hyperspectral data in the California Bay Delta to map the structure and species composition of the riparian vegetation.