Mabel

         I grew up in East St. Paul near Lake Phalen and attended Como Park High School. I went on to study geology, sustainability and art at the University of Minnesota, College of Science and Engineering. I have worked as a manual machinist, water aerobics instructor, nordic ski coach and a CSA farm hand. I am oftentimes consumed by rock climbing or painting a card for whoever has the next birthday. Currently, I am a paraprofessional who has the privilege of working with talented autistic high school students for the 916 School District.
         For me, the Steger Wilderness Center is a place of healing and growing. Hard labor and the outdoors suite me, especially when building log cabins. Grad school is still an idea that cooks in my head. Don't ask me what I want to study; I will probably just change the subject. Most likely, I will end up as an illustrator of educational books for kids about rocks and mushrooms…or something of this sort. Of late, I have enjoyed road tripping and looking for mushrooms among the redwoods with my partner, Louis.

Louis         

        I am a junior scientist who first arrived at the Center as a volunteer after the big windstorm on July 21st, 2016 to help salvage fallen trees for firewood and lumber. At that time, I worked as an intern for The B4WarmED Experiment down the road at the Hubachek Wilderness Research Center, collecting data to see how increase temperature influences the physiology of temperate and boreal tree saplings. One of my favorite experiences on a research team was when I bushwacked through austral bogs to describe the composition and structure of Cipres de Las Guaitecas forests in Chilean Patagonia. Soon after that, I came back to join the 2017 summer resident program happily thinning balsam, milling trees, and working in the woodshop.          
      As the Forest Planner this Summer, I will begin to unravel the diversity of life and future management plans of the Center's forests and adjacent lands with help from Will and The Nature Conservancy. In the Fall of 2018, I will pursue my research interests in fungi and forestry as a PhD student at Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet in Uppsala, Sweden. The goal of my PhD project is to examine how communities of fungi accumulate, breakdown and transfer carbon and nitrogen in boreal forests under different management histories. Eventually, I would like to use these skills to develop a carbon budget for the Center