In my last years at the University of Washington, I served as a lab assistant for the Fire and Mountain Ecology Lab, then funded by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Forest Service. As a field crew member, I collected hundreds of tree cores in the North Cascades and Olympic Mountains. Upon return from the field, I sanded the cores after gluing them to mounts I prepared in the College of Forest Resources wood shop. I counted and measured the tree rings on these cores to gather data on historic patterns in local climate. Graduate students later used this information to employ dendrochronology techniques that would help them establish historic climate records for forests in the North Cascade and Olympic mountains.
I chose a degree in forestry because I liked hiking, forests, and mountains. I had traversed hundreds of miles in the beautiful Pacific Northwest since childhood. Studying at the College of Forest resources and working at FAME lab, as a highly active and kinesthetic person, meant that I never got bored. Classes involved regular hikes and visits to some of the most beautiful places in my home area. My then-dream-job paid me to hike. I could not have asked for a better situation at the time.
The fire professors were some of the most easygoing, humorous and realistic people I had ever met at that time. If one could cross a lumberjack, a hippie, a farmer, and a scientist you would get the forest fire profs. My lab year exposed me to a number of smokejumpers and hotshots. Fire would return to my life in more “synthetic” forms down the road, and interestingly, I noticed some parallels in the cultures: Very laid-back. I believe that working with fire has a way of simultaneously evoking and demanding that.
This page is also a shameless excuse to share a few of the beautiful Pacific Northwest places I’ve studied and visited.
Fire and Mountain Ecology Lab
