Meeting Becky Lane
Some days you just get lucky. I work in an office at Northern Michigan University, often with the door closed. Last spring there was a knock on the door from Dr. Sarah Mittlefehldt who introduced me to Becky Lane. For her senior capstone project Becky was interested in exploring the wildfire situation in Michigan, and Dr. Mittlefehldt though I might have some data and/or ideas to lend to the project. This kicked off a semester of laughs, great questions and some impressive maps.
At the time Becky not only competed as a pole vaulter with the track team, but also worked at the IT Helpdesk and was a full time student. With all of that going on she suggested that we meet at 7:15am on Tuesday mornings. We both may have questioned this on blizzard-y winter mornings, but these meetings were super fun and productive. Becky learned all about LANDFIRE Historical Fire Regime data, totally stretched herself to make her best maps, and always had the best work ethic and attitude possible. I learned so much about myself as well! Maybe to her dismay I learned, for example, how OCD I can be about centering map elements :). This work will contribute to spatial data planning for the Northwoods strategy of The Nature Conservancy, resulted in a great science poster and made Tuesday mornings way more fun!
Last but not least-what did Becky find regarding historical fire regimes in Michigan? Here are a few findings:
- Prior to European Colonization there was an average of ~1.5M acres of fire every year
- Much of the historical fires occured in oak ecosystems (~1M acres per year)
- Most of the fires occured in the NE region of the lower peninsula of MI with some of the areas having fires return every 10 years or less
These findings are just a few-Becky also conducted interviews and reviewed literature as part of her capstone project.
Becky has now graduated and works for the Superior Watershed Partnership as part of the hazardous fuels reduction team, and as a stand by wildland fire fighter for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
