Sam Zuckerman

Sam using a meter tape to set up a foxtail pine monitoring plot in Sequoia National Park.

Photo: ©Michael Durham

Sam Zuckerman has shifted from rugged terrain and open, subalpine conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada to the more humid deciduous and conifer forests of New England to pursue a PhD at the University of New Hampshire. Sam worked on the Sierra Nevada Network high-elevation forest monitoring crew in 2017, hiking to remote sites in Sequoia and Kings Canyon and Yosemite national parks to monitor the condition of whitebark pine and foxtail pine forests. In 2016, Sam worked on a forest crew that re-surveyed historic plots to document incidence of the non-native pathogen white pine blister rust in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

Sam peers out of tent and uses his bear canister to remove snow following a late-season storm. Monarch Divide, Kings Canyon National Park.

Photo: NPS forest monitoring crew, 2017

Why Graduate School?

"Although I enjoyed collecting field data, I wanted to get more involved in the entire research process from grant writing to publication," Sam said.

Starting in 2019, Sam entered a PhD program in Natural Resources at the University of New Hampshire. He is working with Dr. Heidi Asbjornsen's ecohydrology lab, and his research uses a rainwater exclusion shelter to study the anatomical and physiological capacities for northeastern tree species to acclimate to drought conditions.

"Working at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks on a forest crew definitely sparked my interest in forestry and drought," Sam commented.

Sam (third from left) with three other monitoring crew members (Sean Auclair, Hanna Mohr, and Tressa Gibbard) near Timber Gap, Sequoia National Park.

Looking Forward and Back

As Sam embarks on an engaging research project and graduate program in New England, he reflects on what he may miss the most about working in the Sierra Nevada.

"The people I got to work with were the best part - nothing else tops that," Sam said. "The views from the top of Sierra peaks come at a close second."

Sam received his undergraduate degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Vermont.