{"id":16752,"date":"2022-12-06T00:32:54","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T05:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/?p=16752"},"modified":"2023-04-21T12:03:03","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T16:03:03","slug":"forestry-sparks-a-flame-in-rachel-howard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/profiles\/forestry-sparks-a-flame-in-rachel-howard\/","title":{"rendered":"Forestry Sparks a Flame in Rachel Howard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Sarah Schechter, CELS Communications Fellow<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rachel
Rachel Howard in a soil pit during a wetland ecology field lab (NRS 423), holding a book used to describe soil color by hue, value, and chroma.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tucked away in a stone garden and juxtaposed against the skyscrapers of Shanghai is a 400-year-old Ginkgo biloba tree that caught the eye of senior, Rachel Howard. \u201cThis is my favorite tree,\u201d she recalled thinking as she read the inscription on the plaque beneath. It was on a three-week URI study abroad trip to China that Howard had the opportunity to explore Shanghai and found her way to the Ginkgo. \u201cWe\u2019re in this big city, where it’s all skyscrapers and a flood of people, and there was this tree right in this beautiful stone garden,\u201d Howard shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before that moment, Howard viewed her studies in Environmental Science and Management and in Chinese, as separate parts of her academic career. But in Shanghai, she found a welcome connection. \u201cThis was the moment where my environmental science and Chinese majors combined and I got to experience both at the same time,\u201d Howard said. That is the beauty of the Environmental Science and Management degree, she says\u2014its interdisciplinary nature offers opportunities for application outside of the College of Environment and Life Sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love the environmental science major because it gives you a chance to try everything out,\u201d Howard said. When deciding which aspects of the environment to focus on, she found the abundance of class options to be helpful as she carved her path. \u201cIt’s not just wildlife classes or just soils or just plant science, it\u2019s everything and I love learning so many new things,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"A
A Ginkgo leaf on the URI campus, outside of Swan Hall – P.C. Rachel Howard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\"The
The descriptive plaque seen beneath the 400-year-old Ginkgo tree in the Shanghai Yu Garden (also known as Yuyuan) – P.C. Rachel Howard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A love for nature began early in Howard\u2019s life and her passion has continued to grow. \u201cI want to be outside,\u201d she shared. \u201cI grew up in the woods and I’ve always been in nature, ever since I was a kid out fishing and building forts.\u201d In high school, she participated in Envirothon, an environmental competition for students. \u201cIt was a club for us at Coventry High, outside of the regular curriculum, and it was a good introduction to all these things that I ended up building on with the environmental science major.\u201d But it was a forestry class at URI that turned her passion for the outdoors into a vocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the forestry class was a big turning point for me,\u201d she said. \u201cI was interested in wildlife, and I like entomology, but I think the fantastic thing about the woods is that everything lives in the woods.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also through the forestry course that Howard was put in touch with William Walker from the RI Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM), which led to her summer internship as a seasonal technical support intern. \u201cThis was great because I got to be everyone’s intern,\u201d Howard said. The multifaceted position presented opportunities to apply techniques from Howard\u2019s coursework and learn about the complexities of forest management through hands-on opportunities out in the woods. \u201cI think a lot of people don’t know that the removal of trees is also part of promoting growth,\u201d Howard said. \u201cIt’s not just planting trees when you’re talking about forestry, it’s also selecting what trees are best for that system, and best for the overall ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the latter half of the internship, Howard\u2019s work involved community outreach on  fire safety and prevention. \u201cI got to tell kids the story of Smokey Bear, give adults advice on how to keep their house fire-safe, and describe what all the different fire-safety equipment does,\u201d said Howard. \u201cI think that’s when I can say that it sparked a flame in doing more wildland fire work next summer.\u201d This built on her interest in fire and forest management and further inspired her plans to work as a wildland firefighter out west. She is in the process of acquiring the necessary certifications to do so. Next summer, Howard plans to return to her work with the RIDEM Forest Fire Program and will work as a seasonal support intern for the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, Howard has also directed her attention to the URI North Woods Stewardship Project, where she quickly assumed a leadership role. Begun in 2020, this student-run project aims to identify how the North Woods can be used to meet the University\u2019s academic and sustainability goals, and manage the space accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After joining the project team in September of 2021, Howard saw many of the leaders of the project graduate and was told by Professor Michelle Peach, \u201cRachel, you<\/em> are the North Woods Project now.\u201d Soon after, she was tapped to lead the project as North Woods Steward. In her new role, Howard leads tours and cleanups throughout the North Woods and helps foster interest in the stewardship project. The project is open to students and faculty from all departments and there are always opportunities to experience the woods. \u201cSeeing people interact with the woods is very rewarding,\u201d Howard said. \u201cOn a small scale I\u2019m happy that they’re in the North Woods, and on a large scale, I hope that they can enjoy nature as they continue their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Senior
Senior Lecturer Brett Still, graduate student Gabrielle Pezich, and Rachel Howard posing with the trash removed from the North Woods after our Earth Day 2022 Clean-up Event<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Photo from the start of the fall 2022 semester of the leaves in the canopy beginning to turn in the North Woods. \u2013 P.C. Rachel Howard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

As she approaches her May 2023 graduation, Howard considers the time spent on RIDEM projects and the North Woods Stewardship Project as ideal complements to her classwork. \u201cIf I could do it all over, I would\u2019ve tried to get involved sooner, because now I’m about to graduate, and there’s still all these interesting research opportunities,\u201d Howard reflected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While she appreciates all of the opportunities on and off campus, she wishes she had more time and recommends that students start reaching out to professors and seek out fellowship and internship opportunities early on in their college careers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inspired by a 400-year-old Ginkgo biloba tree during a URI study abroad trip to China, Environmental Science and Management and Chinese major, Rachel Howard discovered a love of forestry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-profiles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16752"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17825,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16752\/revisions\/17825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}