Meet Our New Science Advisor!

Welcome Dr. Joan Dudney!

We are pleased to introduce Joan Dudney as the newest member of our team.  Joan has graciously accepted the role of Science Advisor at the Sugar Pine Foundation, and she is uniquely well-suited to the job.
 Joan recently earned her PhD in May 2019 from the University of California, Berkeley.  For the past six years, she has focused on white pine blister rust, bark beetles, and drought impacts on white pines in the Sierra Nevada. She has been instrumental in defining trends in the spread of blister rust – it is moving higher into western white pine as opposed to sugar pine – and in studying how best to conserve the Sierra Nevada’s white pines.  Joan was recently awarded the Smith Conservation Postdoctoral Fellowship to lead research efforts on the future of high elevation pines.  She is working with Dr. Andrew Latimer from UC Davis, Dr. Connie Millar from USFS, and Dr. Phil van Mantgem from the USGS to quantify current and future drought impacts on whitebark pine. 

The awards, prizes and accolades that Joan has earned are too numerous to list here.  Suffice it to say, Joan is not only a very good researcher, but a wordsmith and a prize-winning photographer.  Her scientific publications and presentations are compellingly understandable and palatable, and her ever-present photos of the Sierra Nevada and its five-needled pines are breathtaking.

We are very fortunate to be able to draw on Joan’s great knowledge and involvement in the cutting edge science happening in the Sierra to save our white pines.  As we are always looking to improve and expand upon our work – including refining monitoring, watering and more western white pine restoration – we will certainly tap our new Science Advisor for advice and ideas.  It will be an honor, a pleasure and a great resource to have Joan’s great mind and connections on deck!

Foxtail pines (Pinus balfouriana) photographed and studied by Joan in the southern High Sierra.

It's Slingshot Time Again!

Summer is finally winding down and we're getting ready for cone collections in September!  Once we collect our cone crop for next year's plantings, our fall plantings will be right around the corner in October and November.
If you want to help with collecting cones, drop us a line!  Good slingshot skills are not required, but see if you can outdo us with your aim!  (We use the slingshot to send a rope over branches that we will either shake or climb to collect the cones.)  We can always use ground volunteers to gather the fallen cones.  Collection dates to be determined - the cones have to be "just ripe!"

We Want to Plant With You

Planting Sites, Partners Needed!

We're putting together our fall planting schedule and invite any new partners or landowners to work with us!  We can always use new sites to plant, so if you or your homeowners association has some acreage where more sugar pines can go in, let us know!  Businesses, schools and service organizations or other groups that can come out together as a group of volunteers to help us plant are always welcome as well.  We can work with you to design a planting that fits your schedule!

Email maria@sugarpinefoundation.org or call 650-814-9565. Thanks!