The first Susan L. Stout Fellowship recipient at the U.S. Forest Service Forestry Sciences Lab in Irvine, Emily Reams of Bradford, completed her fellowship Oct. 1.
Reams graduated from The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford in April with a degree in Environmental Studies. Her senior project was an analysis of 20 years of tree and deer data from the Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative, and it was through that work and her work as the campus sustainability coordinator at Pitt-Bradford that stimulated her interest in forestry.
During the 12-week fellowship, she was deeply immersed in forestry and forest science, busy with inventorying seedlings in forested sites, measuring old-growth trees in the Tionesta Research Natural Area and job shadowing with foresters from the Allegany National Forest, Pennsylvania DCNR Bureau of Forestry, Generations Forestry, Allegheny Forestry and the Center for Private Forests at Penn State.
“Reams was selected as the first recipient of the Stout Fellowship from a nationwide search, conducted by a partnership among the US Forest Service, Mobilize Green, a non-profit group organized to recruit high-quality candidates for natural resource ‘green’ jobs, and the Stout Fellowship Committee,” read a press release from Susan Stout, researcher forester emerita from the USDA Forest Service. “One of the objectives of the fellowship is to offer the opportunity to understand forestry as practiced in the special environment of northwestern PA to a wide diversity of people.”
In discussing the fellowship, Reams said she appreciated the fact that it allowed her to work in a variety of different settings.
“For my first job shadow, I followed Greg Sanford, of the Allegheny National Forest, to learn about silviculture. He explained the decision-making process for tree regeneration in different areas and introduced me to both the science and protocol involved,” she explained.
In addition to the job shadow with Greg Sanford, Reams also had the opportunity to shadow District Forester Cecile Stelter from the Bureau of Forestry; Jeremy Newman, a forester from Generations Forestry; Dave Miller, president of Allegheny Forestry; and James Fink, a lumber grader from Danzer Lumber North America Inc.
Dr. Todd Ristau, Reams’s supervisor for the summer, reported that she was a pleasure to work with.
“She learned quickly whether it was how to conduct seedling assessments for different studies or recognizing trees, seedlings, and other forest plants,” he noted. “She worked hard and was a real positive asset to the lab. She was able to get all of my tree and forest related puns and even contributed several herself after a couple weeks on the job.”
John Saf, vice president of Generations Forestry, also had a positive experience working with Reams.
“She appeared to be the perfect first Stout intern, very smart with a practical approach to life. Emily has a bright future in front of her,” said Saf.
The Stout Fellowship was created by several of Stout’s colleagues when she retired. Its funds are maintained by the Community Foundation of Warren County. Conservation minded individuals or organizations interested in donating to the Fellowship to support future Fellows may send checks to the foundation at Susan Stout Fellowship c/o The Community Foundation of Warren County, 310 2nd Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, with the check’s memo line indicating “Susan L. Stout Fellowship Fund.”
People interested in applying for next summer’s fellowship should contact MobilizeGreen at recruiting@mobilizegreen.org to be notified when the Fellows application opens in February 2021.
