{"id":604665,"date":"2025-10-15T14:46:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T18:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/?p=604665"},"modified":"2025-10-15T14:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T18:46:07","slug":"a-journey-into-the-forest-with-sandra-yaacoub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wrap-up\/a-journey-into-the-forest-with-sandra-yaacoub\/","title":{"rendered":"A Journey into the Forest with Sandra Yaacoub"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s nothing like a hike in the woods. Join researcher Sandra Yaacoub as she learns about lynxes, trees, and some very invasive insects!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greetings from the Yukon, Earth Rangers! I\u2019m here doing some pretty intense work in the habitat of one of my favorite cats: the lynx!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Lynx\u2019s Home
<\/strong>Have you ever seen a lynx before? It might surprise you to learn that they aren\u2019t very big \u2013 they only weigh about nine kilograms (20 pounds). That\u2019s not much larger than your average housecat! But lynxes are built for life outdoors. They have wide, snowshoe-like paws that help them travel easily in the snow, and a thick, fluffy coat to keep them warm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lynxes live in boreal forests all across the Yukon. They prefer areas with a lot of trees because they often shelter under fallen logs and bushes.  And that\u2019s where I come into things: I\u2019m studying the health of the forests lynxes call home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infestation Situation
<\/strong>Back in the 1990\u2019s, an insect called a spruce bark beetle attacked many forests across North America. The forests in the Yukon were badly affected. Spruce bark beetles are destructive, because they bore into the deeper layers of tree trunks and lay their eggs. Gradually, the insects take over the inside of the tree and it dies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Tree-mendous Recovery<\/strong>
The good news is that forests can and do recover. My team and I visited 115 locations across the Yukon and took inventory of the conditions there. We found out over 30% of standing trees were killed by the spruce bark beetle. But, happily, many others survived or re-grew.

Recovery isn\u2019t the same across all sites, but overall we know it can take up to 50 years for a forest to make a comeback after an infestation. How<\/em> do we know that? We measure the trees! We don\u2019t do it all by hand (that would take WAY too long). Instead, we use technology to help us see how the trees are growing. By using the data we collect on the ground, we can \u2018teach\u2019 computer models. They use data captured by sensors (attached to airplanes and satellites) to tell us about the conditions of the forests, like its structure and health. Using this information, I\u2019ve been able to make maps of tree height, shrub cover, and live and dead trees \u2013 among other things!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s Next?<\/strong>
Right now, I\u2019m at the Kluane Lake Research Station in Kluane, Yukon. I\u2019m sharing all of my maps of forest conditions with local governments and other important folks. We\u2019ve had really exciting conversations about how the maps can be used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve also been working really closely with First Nation communities to provide them with updated forest inventory maps. The maps will give them useful information about finding wood locally in a sustainable manner. In the past, researchers haven\u2019t done the best job engaging with local communities. This is changing, thanks to help from YOU, Earth Rangers. As a PhD student, I\u2019m able to build positive relationships and<\/em> benefit science \u2013 that\u2019s a HUGE win!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for following my journey, Earth Rangers!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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There\u2019s nothing like a hike in the woods. Join researcher Sandra Yaacoub as she learns about lynxes, trees, and some very invasive insects! Greetings from the Yukon, Earth Rangers! I\u2019m here doing some pretty intense work in the habitat of one of my favorite cats: the lynx! A Lynx\u2019s HomeHave you ever seen a lynx […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141667,"featured_media":604666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1840],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-604665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wrap-up"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141667"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604665"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":604667,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604665\/revisions\/604667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}