Profiles from the Peninsula is a series dedicated to spotlighting the partners who make up the Baja Working Group, and their projects. This week’s profile is on Dr. Rivera-Huerta, professor and researcher at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, and his work studying fire management in the mediterranean region of Baja California.
Puedes leer este blog en español aquí.
Profiles from the Peninsula is a series dedicated to spotlighting the partners who make up the Baja Working Group, and their projects. Each week, we will bring you a new profile in the form of a blog like this one. More information about the working group can be found here.
Dr. Hiram Rivera-Huerta works in the Marine Sciences Department at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, where he teaches Fundamentals of Cartography and
Remote Sensing. His research focuses on applications of remote sensors and unmanned aerial vehicles along the coast and in the semi-arid forests of Baja California. Additionally, Dr. Rivera-Huerta researches fire management in the mediterranean region of the Peninsula.
In 2018, Dr. Rivera-Huerta participated in the creation of the Natural Protected Areas Comprehensive Fire Management Plan: Constitution of 1857 National Park and Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park. Currently, he continues to collaborate with the administrators in the monitoring of permanent plots and in fuel management, an area where he has worked alongside the University of California Davis and Berkeley.
Dr. Rivera-Huerta places great emphasis on field work and “learning by doing” as integral parts of his students’ education. Likewise, he sees value in engaging with the forests’ visitors to explain how fire plays an important role in the ecological processes in these ecosystems.
To Dr. Rivera-Huerta, climate resilience means “having ecosystems that still retain the majority or all of their characteristics and responses to extreme events, from which we can learn and share experiences, and that can generate bridges of communication, making for more efficient strategies and conservation efforts, in addition to elevating or improving the resistance of these ecosystems to regional climate change scenarios.”
The Baja Working Group convenes local and international scientists, resource managers, conservation groups, educators, philanthropists, and other stakeholders to advance collaborative efforts that build resilience in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and in human communities. Learn more here.