Melissa Merrick, Doctoral Student, receives Joint Fire Science Program Graduate Research Innovation Award

Melissa Merrick, a doctoral student in Wildlife Science, has been awarded a highly competitive 2013 Graduate Research Innovation (GRIN) Award from the Joint Fire Science Program for her proposal titled "Influence of burn severity and fuel reduction treatments on dispersal movements of an endangered forest obligate."

The purpose of JFSP GRIN awards is to enhance the exposure of graduate students to and interaction with fire and fuels managers, to develop appreciation and understanding of fire and fuels manager's information and research needs, and to augment already planned research to develop information and/or products useful to managers.  JFSP recognizes that graduate students of today are the managers, scientists, and leaders of tomorrow.  These awards allow graduate students to conduct research that will supplement and enhance the quality, scope or applicability of their thesis/dissertation, and to build skills needed for independent inquiry.

Working in collaboration with SNRE's Professor John Koprowski and Coronado National Forest Safford District fire managers, biologists, and especially silviculturist Craig Wilcox, Melissa will assess how past burn severity and current fuel reduction treatments in the Pinaleno Mountains influence natal dispersal movements of juvenile Mt. Graham red squirrels, a federally endangered species.