Paul Hessburg

Senior Research Ecologist, Pacific Northwest Research Station, USFS

Wenatchee, WA

8/26/22

We sit on an unused logging road, Douglas Firs creating a thick green crown above us, as Paul Hessburg pours his encyclopedic knowledge of the forest and its functioning onto his eager audience. There’s not much Paul hasn’t done. He is a professor at the University of Washington, Oregon State University, University of Idaho, and Washington State University. He has 136 publications, and currently works as a senior research ecologist for the U.S Forest Service.

Paul walks us through the ecological history of our surroundings. He points to the Douglas firs, uncharacteristic of the riparian area we are in, explaining how they have overstepped ponderosa pines in this ecosystem. With drastic fire exclusion, the fire-resistant bark of ponderosas has failed to be advantageous, allowing fast-growing conifers to sprout up in their shadows.

He makes sure not to exclude humans from this ecological narrative, stressing the importance of cultural burnings in stewarding this land. With colonial expansion, forest fires became inseparable from the fear of destruction, yielding excessive fire-suppression. He now collaborates with local tribes to create fire regime models, envisioning how the forest service can incorporate cultural burnings into their fire mitigation strategies.

While much of Paul's work surrounds the expansive set of issues plaguing our forests, Paul says he “runs on optimism,” believing that landscape ecology can identify the right tools for the right situations. He extends his optimism to us, making sure we understand the importance of not only finding something we are good at but something we love, a job where retirement becomes an unthinkable option, as it is for him.

By Tali Hastings