A silviculturist is a forester who is just as concerned about what trees are left in the woods after a harvest than what products are removed from the forest.
My work as a scientist benefits from my ability to make connections between things, including ways for information to be applied for solving problems. That is probably a combination of curiosity and creativity. A scientist also has to be willing to fail a few (or many) times.
Where is fire a good choice for managing the forest? We know that fire can be beneficial to some plants. I work with ecologists, botanists, and other foresters to determine where and when controlled fire is still needed.
One of the funny things about forestry is that it can be very low tech. I like to carry an increment borer with me for taking a core sample from a tree to roughly determine its age. An increment borer is a hand-powered, hollow drill bit that enables you to take a sample of wood from a living tree.
I am most excited about my work with controlled or prescribed fire. As a tool for both ecosystem restoration and as a silvicultural treatment, there are so many questions to answer.
In 9th grade, I had Earth Science for my science class where we learned about rocks, minerals, fossils, the deep time of geology, and conservation of natural resources. In that class, I decided to be a scientist and study something in the natural world.
