Changemaker
Stephen C. Sillett
TL;DR
Stephen C. Sillett is the Cal Poly Humboldt professor who climbs the world’s tallest trees to study them, and who holds the university’s Kenneth L. Fisher Chair in Redwood Forest Ecology.
Stephen C. Sillett is a professor in the Department of Forestry, Fire and Rangeland Management at Cal Poly Humboldt, where he holds the Kenneth L. Fisher Chair in Redwood Forest Ecology. He is also an Explorer with the National Geographic Society. His own university describes research that routinely takes him to the tops of the world’s tallest trees, where he and his students have found plant and animal life that science had not previously described.
Stephen C. Sillett is a professor at Cal Poly Humboldt who holds the Kenneth L. Fisher Chair in Redwood Forest Ecology and studies the tallest trees from inside their canopies.
Why OGSP Recommends It
Stephen C. Sillett works as a professor at Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata, California, where he holds the Kenneth L. Fisher Chair in Redwood Forest Ecology. He doesn't just study the tallest trees in the world from the ground. He conducts his research hundreds of feet up, directly inside the redwood canopy.
Up in the canopy, Sillett and his students have documented life previously unknown to science.
Related Resources
Key Takeaways
- His research is done hundreds of feet up, inside the redwood canopy itself.
- He and his students have documented canopy life that was previously unknown to science.
- He appears in Giants Rising alongside Marie E. Antoine, and the film’s own site describes them together as pioneers of redwood research.
- Richard Preston’s The Wild Trees tells his story. He is its subject, not its author.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Stephen Sillett study?
He studies redwood forest ecology from inside the canopy, climbing the tallest trees to measure how they grow, how much carbon they hold and how they respond to changes in climate and fire.
Where does Stephen Sillett teach?
At Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata, California, in the Department of Forestry, Fire and Rangeland Management.
Did Stephen Sillett write The Wild Trees?
No. Richard Preston wrote it, and Steve is one of its subjects. His own university’s headline about the book calls him the subject of it.
Is Stephen Sillett in Giants Rising?
Yes. The film’s own site lists him with Marie E. Antoine and describes both as forest ecologists and botanists from Cal Poly Humboldt.