Steve Voelker

This was a tough story to report. Lots of people were, reasonably, scared to talk about what they'd seen. I'm grateful to everyone who did it anyway, anonymously and not

Ecology postdoc opportunity based in Fort Collins, CO, working with a great team Project focuses on ungulates and fire in Utah 🦌 🔥 Check it out and pass it along! 🌎 csusystem.wd12.myworkdayjobs.com/fortcollins_...

Hell Yeah! I remember watching Robin Yount and Paul Molitor play for the Brewers into the '90s, but was only ~4 years old when they led the Brewers to the World Series in '82.

Wow. This explains so clearly so much of what I have experienced and am frustrated by in my career. Not being treated as if I bring a value or that the work I do is valuable is crushing. And it takes a huge amount of energy to ignore the slights day after day. 

I’m sorry, but I have to say this. No more honey on pizza.

Last year I ordered what I expected to be a box of 10 packs of Patel's chickpea curry and for some reason the distributor sent me 4 boxes of 6 packets so I am still working my way through this windfall of curry. Not as good as my homemade curry but way spicier and better than other brands.

Excited to read this article. This morning I was just working with tree-ring data that vividly display the role of Indigenous people on influencing the "wilderness" forests of the Lake Superior basin prior to the arrival of Europeans. The fire data is from the Missouri lab highlighted here.

Peak fall color is happening in the UP right now -- maybe a week early from what would be expected. We had some frosty nights two weeks ago which probably sped things up.

Missed this article, with great comments from @thirstygecko.bsky.social and Brad Udall (among others): www.sciencenews.org/article/unit...

Hi all, I am trying to raise funds to support the field-based courses I teach so we can keep the cost of these trips as low as possible for the students. If you would like to support the next generation of field scientists consider donating to the NSU Foundation. It is tax deductible.

I am hiring a full-time lab technician for my new lab at UNL. The full position description can be found at: employment.unl.edu/postings/102... The position is for 1 year, with renewal possible for up to 2 additional years. Pay is $23.50/hour. Please share!

Here are some freshwater jellyfish we captured at the UP lake were we have a cabin. We put them in a big glass pitcher to have a closer look. The finger poking them is my 9yo daughter. Here is more about them: www.sciencefriday.com/segments/fre...

Most riveting thing I've seen all week

My 3-panel SOI graph inadvertently highlights multidecadal variations in ENSO activity. Relatively active in the top/bottom panels, more quiescent in the middle panel.

I am listening to The Daily on the Endangered Species Act. And it's good. But I need NYT to understand that the ESA isn't JUST FOR ANIMALS. And the ESA does not only protect plants when they form critical habitat for animals. It protects actual endangered plants. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/p...

Ran an errand tonight and the local Classic Rock station DJ gave a stern warning to listeners not to use AI (ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, etc) for anything they would not feel comfortable sharing with employees where they work. Then he played Journey. Feels like an inflection point.

And here is the link to apply careers.nau.edu/jobs/postdoc...

Part of a map, probably from 1846, showing the area covered by the Public Land Survey at that time in Wisconsin (two years before statehood). Someone sketched in what look like potential road or railroad routes, in red pencil. From the Library of Congress.

Went to the Lake Superior [Keweenaw] shoreline during the second day of a gale. There were a dozen or so surfers combined at two stops, which is about a dozen more than usual.

Great team effort based on the work of dozens of people through the years!

We have a new paper on the response of land carbon to zero, declining, and negative emissions of CO2 across Earth System Models! w/ @ckoven.bsky.social @cristiproist.bsky.social @rosieafisher.bsky.social @benmsanderson.bsky.social & more (1/6) esd.copernicus.org/articles/17/...

Say you own 40 acres of conifer peatland in NE Wisconsin, what are you gonna do with it? I am betting it is not whatever this is. FYI I was actually doing research trying to re-locate white pine stands measured ~100 yrs ago before this distracted me for the past 15 mins.

Doing some archive work and came across our smallest "sunken log" sample. It dates from 1514 to 1729. It had an avg ring-width of 0.42 mm. I am certain it is an old branch given the extensive compressionwood. The wood barely floats indicating it has a density approaching 1 gm/cm3.

After being proposed for closure by the Forest Service reorganization, the Houghton Forest Research Station (next door to our college) is officially staying open, which is great news for colleagus here and for the forests of this region.

Just found out that a prof here at MTU graduated from my high school of ~400 students one year ahead of me. We see each other all the time (for work, kids in the same grade) but have absolutely no recollection of each other in HS because he was a jock and I was a band nerd. Life is weird.

To make room in the lab this summer I brought home ~2 cubic yards of sunken white pine log "extra pieces" to burn this winter. These trees started growing, on average, around 1550, so it is a shame to release this carbon. But these were only small samples of the whole logs still in the lakes.

No cheating. Share the past photo of the sky in your camera roll. This is the last pic of the sky that doesn't feature my daughter or family. A couple weeks ago in Sylvania Wilderness.

Today is my first day as Davison & Fuller Chair in Life Sciences and Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln! I will be looking for graduate students, a postdoc, and a lab manager to join me at UNL (ads coming). Please reach out if interested!

This past year 80 acres was donated to our college. It is in one of the more remote areas of the UP and requires a steep 1.5 mile hike to get up to it. Initial visit exceeded expectations: Many old trees with no apparent history of logging -- and a beautiful pond rimmed by bedrock and bogs.

Nature research paper: Species intraspecific variation drives tropical forest drought resistance go.nature.com/4i5VxKH

New in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I am excited to announce a job for an Asst Prof in Plant Evolution in the dept. of Evolution and Ecology at @ucdavis.bsky.social. We're looking broadly, from macro (speciation, comparative genomics, evo-devo) to micro (pop biology, adaptive evolution, evo-eco). recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07777

A very excellent postdoc opportunity at NC State working with some of the best folks around focused on synthesizing ecohydrological data to assess forest water balances: jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/233...

This cedar 1×12 with ~300 rings caught my eye on this #Tree-ringTuesday. I'm in the middle of replacing rotten railings and adding a roof to this back deck & soon to be clubhouse for the 9yo.

As part of the State of the Climate 2025 just published in BAMS (www.ametsoc.org/ams/publicat...) we updated the CRU sdPDSI global drought analysis to December 2025.

I'm looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join my group at Carnegie Science, now based at Caltech in Pasadena. If you're interested in land-atmosphere interactions and how they're influenced on small scales by microclimates, please take a look at the ad! apply.interfolio.com/190703

Today I walked around an old dune and swale complex near Lake Superior. These are fairly common along the south shore, but this is a REALLY long one, stretching out in arcs that span 2 miles. There were no bugs and the blueberries were ripe and in endless supply on the old dunes. A fine day.

In my book I talk about how one of Trump’s most surprising traits is that he loves trees. Specifically, he loves driving around in a limo, buying old trees from people’s yards, and them transplanting them on his golf courses. (Which is *the* most Trumpy way to love a tree, if you think about it…)

University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire Biology is searching for a tenure track assistant professor in Aquatic Ecology to start August 2027! Application deadline September 28 2026. I am searching chair, please reach out with any questions!! wisconsin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UW_Comprehen...

A former grad student, Rachel Keen (not on Bluesky), is starting a tenure track position at Kansas State and is recruiting grad students to study the ecohydrology of grassland, shrubland and woodland transition ecosystems. She would be great to work for! rleasey.wixsite.com/keenecohydro...

So I read the entire New Golden Age of Science report from Kratsios to Trump. If you want to skip my various stream-of-consciousness thoughts and exclamations and get right to a summary, here it's the relevant part of the thread.

Yesterday I stopped by a remote reservoir. It is 1200 acres and does not have a single dwelling on the entire shore. There were many intact white pine stumps with 3-5' diameters along the shore. Here is just one primary root that someone cut off for a bonfire years ago. It has about 300 rings.

It was a day Parking ticket at 8 AM for not moving field vehicle for line repainting while rain started at 8 AM Proposal reviews say high priority but not funded Safety officer dislikes our research group sanding wood 2.5 hours of childcare Bird stuck in garage for hours causing distress