Can you share a little about your background and why you decided to join the College of Forestry?
Most of my career has been focused on addressing challenges in urban forestry and urban ecology. I have worked in a variety of settings the past 24 years, including for the cities of Philadelphia, PA and Tacoma, WA, USDA Forest Service Philadelphia Field Station and Tacoma Tree Foundation. I have also been teaching for many of those years as well and have taught as an adjunct at Community College of Philadelphia, Temple University, Haverford College and others.
I received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I received a fantastic education at UMass and learned from so many wonderful faculty. I grew up as a city kid in Washington, D.C. and like a lot of city kids, I didn’t know there were career options in forests or ecology. I was lucky to happen upon a forest botany class where I was introduced to the complexities of forest ecosystems, the existence of mycorrhizae, three-hour labs in the woods and the possibility that I could have a career that involved plants and wildlife. My college experience was enriching and has led to a rewarding career. It is so exciting for me to be back in the university setting, where I can contribute to other people’s learning and also learn from others.
How did you become interested in urban forestry?
Having grown up in a city, I was comfortable working in natural spaces in urban places. I had been managing ecological restoration projects in Philadelphia and using GIS to document our work when massive tree planting initiatives became a big deal in cities throughout the country including Philadelphia. In 2008, I became the lead, because of my GIS experience, for a Tree Canopy Assessment project that used LiDAR to identify planting opportunities across the city. The resulting data (provided by UVM) revealed where there were opportunities to plant, but it also sparked questions about where and why there were gaps in canopy cover. This led me to expand my focus to include all the trees across the urban landscape from natural areas, parks, yards and street trees. Since then, I have continued to work at the crossroads of plants and people diving into the complicated ecosystems of cities.
What are you teaching and doing in your work as the urban forestry extension specialist at the COF?
Right now, I am teaching Arboriculture. In future terms, I will also be teaching Urban Forest Analytics, Wildland Urban Interface and a capstone class. We, Jennifer Killian and I, are currently reflecting on the urban forestry needs of Oregon’s urban and urbanizing communities and thinking about how we can address these needs through our extension roles.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I love spending time with my family. It doesn’t matter if it is helping with soccer practice, camping by a lake in the summer or reading together. I also like to walk, sometimes quietly and sometimes in boisterous groups, in urban areas or in wild spaces. Last year, I walked the West Highland Way in Scotland, which I really enjoyed, and I would love to do more distance walking and hiking in the future.
What’s your favorite book/movie genre or your all-time favorite title?
My favorite non-fiction book is “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and my favorite fiction is “Circe” by Madeline Miller. For the past few years, I have been participating in a library’s extreme reader challenge which involves reading 50 books from 50 different categories in 50 weeks, so I am always up for book recommendations.
