Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite science experience was studying vegetation development on lava flows in Hawaii. It was fascinating to see how plants get started on bare rock, but the coolest thing was just to stand among the tree ferns and rare native birds in fully developed rainforest on thousand-year-old lava.

Research Wildlife Biologist: One of my most interesting and exciting science experiences occurred last winter when I traveled around the island of Tasmania (which is part of Australia). This was my first opportunity to experience the diversity of marsupials (pouched mammals) and monotremes (egg-laying mammals) that occur in the Australian region. I saw and photographed a Tasmanian devil, ringtail and brushtail possums, a Bennett’s wallaby (a small kangaroo), and a wombat (a chunky, herbivorous marsupial). I also learned all about the extinct Tasmanian tiger. One of my most memorable experiences was watching an echidna (one of only two egglaying mammals in the world) hunt for bugs in decaying leaves and under rotting logs. The echidna (also called a spiny anteater) looks like a slightly deflated soccer ball that is covered with poisonous spines!

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a fire scientist because big fires are almost always exciting.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because I enjoy working with natural systems and attempting to understand how they function. I am able to communicate this information to the land managers who (it is hoped) will do a better job of caring for the land.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because I am excited about the natural world and want to help conserve it for future generations to enjoy.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because I enjoy the art of discovery. I became interested in natural resources when I was a young child, traveling and camping with my family.

My favorite science experience was working with two communities in southern Mexico.  The communities were hoping to use more of their natural resources to become more self-sustaining as a community. I was able to give them concrete ideas on how to dry wood that was cut from local trees. This allowed community members to manufacture wood furniture to sell to local schools. I was grateful to be a part of the team assisting other people who want a better life for themselves and their communities.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

When I was a senior in high school, we took a biology field trip to a salt water marsh on the coast of Virginia. As part of this trip, we walked through the marsh in mud up to our knees'"but this was really cool because we got to see up close all of the plants and animals that lived there, like little crabs that rushed around in front of us like kids running around here and there on a playground. This was one of the first times I realized that all of nature (including mud!) has interesting and fun things in it that are important to all of us. Now I spend a lot of time in all kinds of natural places and continue to be amazed by the beauty and wonder of our natural world!

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because doing research is fun. Sometimes I get to go to interesting places to discover new things about the environment. I also like to tell others what I have discovered, and we get to share and discuss our ideas.

Forest Service Station: Pacific Southwest Research Station

I like being a scientist because I never get tired of asking questions and trying to answer them. The questions I like to answer are things like, 'Why do plants and animals live where they do?' and 'How do human activities and land management decisions affect animals living in the wild?' Plus, I get to run around in the woods and the scrub and wear jeans all the time!

Forest Service Station: Northern Research Station

I like being a scientist because it is exciting to be involved in research that could help solve climate change, which is a global problem. It is quite a thrill to have the opportunity to make a difference.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because I get to play detective. I search for answers to avalanche problems faced by people who work and play in the mountains. I became interested in avalanches in college while I was working as a ski patroller. Being an avalanche scientist combined my love of skiing, mountains, snow, and science.

Biological Scientist: My favorite science experience is having the opportunity to continuously explore how and why our environmental system works the way it does. Growing up as a kid, I used to hunt, fish, and farm, so I have always felt a connection to nature and natural resources. In my current position, I offer scientific stories in the form of published papers. I hope these papers add further understanding to how our environment will respond to future changes and offer a benefit for future generations.

Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

One of the great joys I receive from being a scientist has been seeing both of my children pursue science degrees in college. This is a photograph of me with my daughter Rosalina.

Contact: mbowker@fs.fed.us

I spent 15 years studying invasive species, particularly those that cause tree diseases. Now I am working to make sure that the best available science is used to prevent new insect pests and diseases from getting spread around the world. I love to travel, and this mission has taken me to 10 different countries. Scientists everywhere think this work is important, but other authorities have to balance our concerns about pests with the benefits of free trade. There are still many important questions that need answers.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because it allows me to follow my passion of learning how nature works, and how we interact with nature. I became interested in natural resources in high school. I had a great biology and science teacher who helped me guide my interests toward where I am today. It always seemed that there was someone to encourage me when I needed it.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because it is challenging to figure out how to solve a problem or design the right experiment. It is also challenging to gather good data and to write about the study so that it is interesting to others. I also like being a scientist because I have a chance to do something useful.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

In the 1980s, I created a special chemical in a chemistry lab. This was a powerful pheromone that is a very strong attractant for a particular species of beetle. This beetle causes severe damage to logs that will be cut into lumber. Tiny amounts of the pheromone that I made were formulated into lures, and the lures were placed in funnel traps similar to the one you see in this photo. One month later, we inspected the traps, which we had placed at lumber mills. Many traps contained more than 25,000 beetles and virtually no other insects. At one mill, we caught over 12 million beetles in 1 year. Here was science in action! It was truly amazing that the chemical, made in the sterile environment of a laboratory, could cause such a strong effect in the field. This photo was taken in China, where I was studying the pine shoot beetle. I am the person on the left.

My favorite science experience is working with forest fire managers to apply economic concepts. Applying these concepts helps us understand how best to balance taxpayers’ costs of managing wildfires against the changes to natural resources that come from wildlfires.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because I am curious about nature and I like to ask questions. It's great to have a job that pays me to find out how things happen. As a fire scientist, I can explore my lifelong interest in fire. I use my understanding of how fires burn to help solve problems with fire in wildlands. Solving problems with wildland fire helps people to find ways to live in harmony with fire.

Contact: jcohen@fs.fed.us

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because I get to exercise my curiosity and discover things that might help make the world a better place.

Contact: dcole@fs.fed.us

Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

I like my work and working for the Forest Service very much. My work as a scientist involves studying how people relate to the natural world and what they like to do for outdoor recreation. The science I produce is used at the highest levels of government to aid in deciding how to manage our public lands.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because I get to discover new things about the natural environment.

My favorite science experience was helping cross-country skiers and snowmobile users work together to make decisions. They both wanted to use the same area for outdoor recreation. Snowmobiling and cross-country skiing, however, are very different activities that may not always be compatible. the outcome allowed them to both enjoy an area of great beauty and unique recreational opportunity.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

My favorite science experience is working outdoors to set up and run my experiments so that I can discover new facts about trees and forest insects.

My favorite science experience is discovering how trees work: how they stand up, how they grow, and how they withstand changes in the environment year after year.

Biological Technician: When I was a little girl I loved to collect things in nature. I collected rocks, shells, bird nests, and pine cones. I collected them everywhere I went. I would sort my collections, put them in order, and look for patterns. Now that I am a scientist, my favorite scientific experiences are those where I am collecting, observing, and taking notes with the smell of the trees and the mountain air all around me. I love working with our team of scientists to find answers in our observations, collections, and data.

Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

As a researcher, I can pursue my own scientific curiosity. I can have an idea and then design an experiment to test its validity. I find it highly gratifying to see my research benefit Society. A highlight of my scientific career was the acceptance of my research as the basis of an international rule to stop the introduction of invasive pests on wood packing material such as pallets.

Forest Service Station: Northern Research Station

I like being a scientist because I like learning new things and sharing them with people who can use them.

Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite science experience was working with my son Peter to compare flight times and distances of five different paper airplane designs. We made 3 planes of each design and flew each plane 10 times. We averaged the distance covered and time in the air for the 30 flights for each design. The results showed which design flew 'best '. What a fun experiment!

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

This past winter I was collecting data in the woods. I was putting data into the computer from a weather station. When I'm in the woods, I hear all kinds of sounds, sometimes an owl, a hawk, a woodpecker, or a squirrel squawking at me to get out of their territory. I had the computer all set up, then I heard this distinctly different sound. It was not loud, but it gave me an uneasy feeling. I looked around for another person or other woodland creatures. Nothing. I continued working and then I heard the sound again. My ears told me the sound was close. I looked around and saw a lot of fallen trees downhill from me. I wondered if this large tree in front of me was about to fall. I panicked and didn't have much time to think, so I grabbed my computer and ran uphill. Not a minute later, a 20 foot piece of the tree cracked off of the top and crashed to the ground, right where I had been working. My heart was racing, but I'm glad that I relied on my senses to get out of there when I did! I am the one on the right in this photo.

Research Wildlife Biologist: My favorite science experience was collecting bird and small mammal data on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in Oregon and Idaho. While I was there I lived in a trailer in the middle of a wilderness, surrounded by beautiful landscapes, and woke up each morning to singing by songbirds.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because it is essentially problem solving'"and in my case, the problems deal with the conservation of wildlife. Working on wildlife conservation problems can be very satisfying when their solution leads to better management of the habitats where wildlife live.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

A group of scientists from around the world contributed research information about the forests in this special report.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because I love to read, write and explore. My research is really exciting to me, and I look forward to it every day. Holding small mammals, smelling the grass, watching a prescribed fire - these are the things that make field research so much fun.  I also love to write up my research.  It's exciting when a new publication comes out and you get your pack of reprints in the mail.  As a scientist I also get to travel all around the world to talk about my research and to explore different ecosystems.  I never stop learning- and that is big fun!

Contact: plford@fs.fed.us

As a tree ecophysiologist, I study the various functions of trees in relation to the area in which they are growing. One aspect of my research that I enjoy more than any other is figuring out how to use technology in interesting ways that will help answer ecological questions. I get to tinker with all sorts of sensors, monitors, and field computers. I wire up trees and other parts of the forest to measure how the forest is working. We can easily walk through forests and experience them visually, but we often can’t “see” how a forest or a tree is functioning. It is thrilling to “see” how a forest or tree is working when you view it through data.

Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

I greatly enjoy my work as a research scientist with the Forest Service.  As a Plant Pathologist I have been able to conduct research on disease problems that affect production in seed orchards and forest tree nurseries, as well as investigate the causes of invasive diseases that have devastating effects on trees in our natural forests.

You can email Dr. Fraedrich at sfraedrich@fs.fed.us. 

Forest Service Station: International Institute of Tropical Forestry

I like being a scientist because I have an enormous curiosity about nature, and science gives me an opportunity to be personally involved in the unraveling of its mysteries.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite science experience was having no idea what time of the day or night it was while interviewing visitors under the 'midnight sun'in Gates of the Arctic National Park.

Forest Service Station: Northern Research Station

My favorite experience as a scientist is talking with people. As a social scientist who studies how people think about and use urban parks, I get to visit some very nice places and talk with people about what they like to do best when they spend their free-time out of doors. I hope that the information I get from them helps managers to make parks even better for people.

Forest Service Station: Pacific Southwest Research Station

I like being a scientist because it is fun to play detective and try to understand how people make economic decisions about the natural environment. I discover how people feel about the environment by asking them questions. As a scientist, I get to travel to interesting places all over the world, including Chile, Peru, Mexico, Spain, Russia, Portugal, and Ghana!

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite experience as a scientist is solving a puzzle of why something in nature acts like it does or discovering an explanation for something I have seen many times but did not know why it happened.

Social Scientist: My favorite science experience was spending a month in the tropical rainforest of Ecuador. I learned about tropical field biology while also exploring and experiencing cultures very different from my own. This picture was taken on the banks of the Napo River, a tributary of the Amazon.

Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

My favorite science experience was playing with a chemistry set and accidentally blowing up a test tube when I was eight. I learned a lot from that experience! This photograph was taken in Hawaii.

Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

My favorite science experience is learning how animals need plants for food and habitat and how many plants also need animals to disperse their seeds to new places.

My favorite science experience is sharing the things I find out with people who can use them. In this photo, I am discussing forest plans with Ms. Patricia Black.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because I am curious about what makes the world around me work the way it does. I enjoy developing instruments so that I can make careful measurements in our atmosphere. These measurements help me to solve problems. Being a scientist is a challenge, and it is very satisfying when you can help people solve problems.

Forest Service Station: Northern Research Station

My favorite science experience happened in ancient history (1975'" 1978) when I was working as a forester in the Peace Corps in Guatemala in Central America. There was a massive outbreak of pine-infesting bark beetles that killed millions of pine trees in Guatemala. It was that experience that made me want to study forest insects, and so after returning to the United States in 1978, I went to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin to study forest entomology.

Forest and Fire Ecologist: My favorite experiences as a scientist are when I’m doing field work in burned forest habitat. I like working in fire areas where most of the trees were killed by fire. Many people assume that these areas are somehow damaged. In reality, the sights and sounds of native wildlife species, especially birds, are more evident in these types of forests than in others.

Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

I like being a scientist because I want to understand the impact of human activities on the global environment.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because I get to find out new things about the world that nobody else has discovered. Usually the things I discover are very small facts, but often they turn out to be important pieces of information. I hope that the discoveries I have made about martens and other animals will help us do a better job of keeping wildlife from going extinct.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite science experience was visiting and doing research in Iceland. You can see me here floating on a small iceberg in front of part of the Myrdalsjokull glacier in Iceland. Iceland has a variety of geological, geographical, and biological mysteries to experience and study. These include glaciers, volcanoes, geysers, waterfalls, hot springs, tectonic plates and earthquakes, Viking ruins, wild blueberries, Icelandic horses, and Icelandic sheep.

Forest Service Station: Northern Research Station

My favorite experience as a scientist is getting to understand something about how nature works. I also like to successfully develop or use a method to measure how nature works.

Ecologist: I have two favorite science experiences. The first was collecting field data on horseback in Costa Rica after a hurricane caused landslides that blocked most of the roads. The second was climbing Nevis Peak on Nevis Island in the Caribbean to find out how high on the mountain the cloud forests occurred.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because I can uncover answers to complex questions. I became interested in natural resources as a child when my family spent time in a park or a forest.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because I enjoy using both math and science to solve problems.

My favorite science experience was when my physics classmates in college and I watched our professor dip a rubber ball into liquid nitrogen. He then dropped it, and the ball shattered. This is due to the temperature of the liquid nitrogen (-196 degrees Celsius or -321 degrees Fahrenheit). As you cool a gas down, the atoms move less and less rapidly. Eventually, the attractive forces between the atoms hold them together as a liquid. If you cool the rubber ball down in the liquid nitrogen, the atoms in the rubber become locked into position so they can’t move past each other. The ball becomes very brittle, and it can easily shatter.

Research Forester: My favorite science experience was living in New Zealand for 6 months. While I was there I worked with scientists to discover what people living in New Zealand can do to reduce their wildfire risks. What I learned in New Zealand has helped me work with communities in the United States so that they can adapt to living with wildfire. This is a photograph of me in New Zealand.

Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

My most memorable research experience was conducting interviews with rural residents living near the Francis Marion National Forest and asking them about how urban development might change their community.

My favorite science experience is making a scientific discovery that people find useful. Recently, we discovered that using cut, small trees for energy reduces the production of greenhouse gases by 50 percent compared to burning the small trees in the forest.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because I can explore how ecosystems work and use the power of mathematics to describe the processes in ecosystems.

Forest Service Station: Northern Research Station

I enjoy science because I get to discover things and solve mysteries just like a detective or crime scene investigator.  The insects I work with come into this country hiding in or on goods or packaging material. Many times not much is known about these insects even in the countries they come from. I have to learn how to grow them. Then I find out as much as possible about them so that we can get rid of them or at least keep them from killing our trees.

Forest Service Station: International Institute of Tropical Forestry

I like being a scientist because I get to follow my natural curiosity to learn how the Earth system works. My work is split between the field, the office, and the laboratory and I have a great deal of independence. I love to learn new things.

My favorite science experience is when I get to travel to other places around the world to study how people use forests.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

My favorite science experience is spending my summers in the mountains, counting frogs, catching bugs, and enjoying the most beautiful 'office' in the world. This photograph was taken in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where this research was done.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite science experience was when I flew into the base camp of Mt. McKinley in Denali National Park and Preserve. I talked with people who climb mountains about their experiences on North America's largest mountain peak.

Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because of the adventure of working in wild places and the challenge of trying to understand the ecology of birds. I think it is important to protect the diversity of living things on the planet.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because it's exciting discovering new things about unusual animals, and trying to understand the needs of animals so that we may help ensure their survival in the future. I became interested in natural resources when I began spending a lot of time backpacking and fly fishing in the mountains of Colorado as a young teenager.

My favorite science experience is canoeing brackish water areas in the Chesapeake Bay, observing estuary wildlife like birds, crabs, snakes, and fish. An estuary is a body of water at the mouth of a river with open access to the ocean and under the influence of ocean tides.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because it gives me a chance to explore new things and use what I discover to change the way we manage the environment.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because of the excitement of learning new things and the rewards of being creative. I became interested in natural resources as a young boy enjoying the out-of-doors in the Rocky Mountains.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

I like being a scientist because I like solving puzzles about human behavior. I am interested in how much people value clean air and water, and protecting the environment for things like hiking and as homes for endangered species. People cannot buy resources like clean air in stores, so it is hard to put a price tag on them. As a scientist, I play detective to discover these values by asking people questions.

Forest Service Station: International Institute of Tropical Forestry

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

My favorite science experience is watching a tree go through each season and understanding what is happening to the tree. Each season has its own unique set of changes that we all can see. There is also a whole set of changes that occur in the tree at the cell and subcellular level that correspond to these visual changes. Making the connection between the two and understanding how we better manage our trees with this knowledge has been a very rewarding experience.

Forest Service Station: Pacific Southwest Research Station

As a research forester, my curiosity about the natural world is encouraged. I am offered opportunities to explore questions for which answers are not known. My favorite experience with science is when answering one of these questions leads to an improvement in how we manage our forests, so that future generations can enjoy what we enjoy today.

I studied engineering and physics in college. My memorable experience was when a professor explained to all of us in his physics class about what he did as a scientist. He had to know a lot about computers, electronics, and work very hard.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because I enjoy learning how natural systems work. Also, for part of the year my office is a beautiful stream!

Forest Service Station: Pacific Southwest Research Station

My favorite science experience was seeing the results of our research used in new management programs that led to increased amphibian populations.

Wildlife Landscape Ecologist: My favorite science experience is coming up with new research questions based either on my current work or a new area of ecology. Then I like to go out and try to solve the problem in an attempt to advance my understanding of the natural world.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

My favorite science experience was not in the outdoors, but while sitting at a computer. I had just finished building a map-based computer model of how spotted owls move across the land. The model could draw land areas of different sizes and shapes. I was surprised to see that large areas of irregularly shaped land behaved like networks of smaller areas. Shape was as important as size to providing good habitat for the spotted owl. As I pondered this finding, I realized that many scientists were dismissing the importance of the size and shape of land areas for wildlife habitat. This realization has shaped my career as a scientist. Here is a picture of me handling a wolverine kit. It was marked and radio-tagged so that we could follow it.  The orange cloth was to protect
its eyes from the sun while it was drugged (it was waking up when the picture was taken).

Ecologist: My favorite science experience is when I am analyzing data and learn something that no one else has ever known before. It’s sort of like being the first person to ski down a mountain of fresh snow, or being the first person to canoe down a remote river. This photo was taken on a recent trip to China. To the left and in the middle are Dr. Ge Sun, Hydrologist, and Dr. Jim Vose, Ecologist. Dr. Sun and Dr. Vose are also Forest Service scientists. You can read more about Dr. Vose’s research in the Natural Inquirer “Woolly Bully” monograph (http://www.naturalinquirer.org).

Forest Service Station: Pacific Southwest Research Station

My favorite science experience is seeing a paper finally in print or giving a presentation to a large group and sensing their interest and excitement. The process of planning and conducting research is long and painstaking. One has to be patient because results don't come quickly. However, the joy of seeing a project completed and knowing that it is valued by others is very gratifying.

Research Climate Ecologist: Recently, I had a great science treasure hunt in the wild lands of Nevada. We were looking for the lowest elevation living bristlecone pine. The bristlecone pine is known for its long life. These trees can live more than 5,000 years. The tree that we were hunting for had been documented in a remote canyon in 1984. We had a picture of the tree and knew its general whereabouts, but even though we searched and searched we couldn’t find it. We kept trying to match the picture to the canyon, and, finally, I ran ahead to an old dead skeleton of a tree. Sure enough, there were disintegrated bristlecone pine cones on the ground. We cored the tree and found that it had died during a drought more than 10 years ago. We are determined to set another low-elevation record with a live bristlecone pine!

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

My favorite science experience occurred when I was teaching high school. I taught Earth/ environmental science and did a stream study on our campus with each class. I loved seeing the students get really excited about the bugs we were catching and getting into the data we were collecting about the health of their stream. My students always told me the stream study was one of their favorite activities of the semester.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite science experience was the summer I spent camping with Dr. Aplet in the Colorado mountains when we were doing some research on wilderness. During the day, we collected information on the age and structure of ancient forests; while at night, we discussed science around the campfire.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite science experiment was going out on a boat to collect little bugs that live in the water called zooplankton. We wanted to see if the bugs would eat harmful algae that was killing fish and act as a biological control. The bugs did eat the algae and experiments are still being done to see if they can be used for this purpose.

My favorite science experience was working with Mayan (ˈmī-ən) farmers and scientists to solve problems in Chiapas (chē-ˈä-päs), Mexico. We worked on many different projects. In one community, we worked on projects with trees to reduce global warming. In other communities, we discovered how to provide good soil for growing coffee. We also discovered how to provide habitat for migratory birds. Migratory birds move from place to place for breeding or feeding. As you can see, there were many different problems to solve!

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

My favorite science experience is discovering new things that help people to protect our environment and our natural resources.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because it allows me to understand, appreciate, and take an active role in protecting our beautiful natural environment.

Forest Ecologist: My favorite science experience was climbing into the top of a 175-foot-tall red fir to collect lichen samples during a wind storm.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

My favorite science experience had to be meeting Dr . Roberta Bondar who worked at the Great Lakes Forestry Centre when she was a student attending university. Dr. Roberta Bondar was the second Canadian and the first Canadian woman to go into space aboard the space shuttle Discovery. Shortly after her historic flight, she visited our Centre to give a firsthand account of her experience. It was awesome!! Here is a photo of me setting up one of the traps for the pine shoot beetle. The pine shoot beetle emerges very early in the spring so our traps had to be installed while snow was still covering the ground (and me).

Forest Service Station: Northern Research Station

I like being a scientist because it allows me to answer questions that have never been answered before.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I grew up in southern California in a big city. My first biology job took me all the way to the wilds of Alaska. That convinced me that I was on the right career path. On the first day of work, our boat was approaching a rugged shore in Princess Bay where we were to set up our bird banding station. We noticed a figure on the beach. As we got closer, we realized that it was a brown bear, standing on its back legs! It did not seem afraid of us or our boat and, in fact, was letting us know whose beach it was! We got the picture and turned around. But we returned to that beach in Princess Bay all summer long to band birds, never again seeing the bear, but always paying our respects to her by calling out, 'Hey Princess!'

Forest Service Station: Pacific Northwest Research Station

I like being a scientist because I can provide new knowledge and develop tools to help forest managers to become better stewards of the land.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because I love learning about how different soils grow unique forest plants and fungi, and I like working on ways to continue harvesting timber without damaging the soil. The other reasons I like science are the opportunity to work with some especially gifted people, and to continue learning about the world.

Contact: ddumroese@fs.fed.us

Forest Service Station: International Institute of Tropical Forestry

I like being a scientist because I get to explore and learn about the natural world. Nature is like a bottomless treasure chest, full of surprises and mysteries. It is fun to try to unravel those mysteries. It is important for humans to find ways to use the gifts of nature without damaging the environment, and also to repair the damage that we have already caused.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I have really enjoyed all the hiking around I get to do in beautiful State parks. My favorite science experience was the time Kristen Falk, another scientist in this experiment, got chased by a turkey while we were tagging trees for an experiment. I don't think it liked her red pants!

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

My favorite science experience is when I can prove a scientific hypothesis. I work in a special scientific area called community ecology. Community ecology addresses the relationships of different kinds of communities within an ecosystem, such as plant communities and communities of animals. You have to examine many things at once, and these examinations make the research very complex. When you make a hypothesis about what is happening in a complex system and through careful experimentation are able to show that your hypothesis is correct, it is very satisfying. In this photograph, I am holding a Lynx kitten.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite science experience was going with my father and uncle on Saturday mornings to the Pendergrast Chemical Company. Saturday afternoons were spent hunting through junk yards for pumps, pipes, motors, and so forth with Dad and Uncle Bob. I had my Handy Andy Tool Kit and could take apart anything I wanted to; and for a couple of cents a pound could buy the most amazing stuff!

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite science experience was working on a study of where garter snakes like to hide at night. Garter snakes are interesting and live in beautiful areas. My colleagues and I were doing our study at a mountain lake in northern California. We used a variety of techniques to discover that snakes usually chose rocks of intermediate thickness to hide under at night. This allowed them to digest their prey at the best body temperature and prevented them from getting too hot or too cold.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite science experience is going out at night to look for frogs and toads. I use flashlights to find them clinging to branches in the trees, floating in ponds, or among fallen leaves and vegetation along streams. Sometimes I only see their beady eyes shining in the dark. I often work at night because that is the time when some frogs are most active. For example, I am studying the effects of disease on a boreal toad population in Wyoming. During the daytime I can find a couple of toads in the pond, but around 11 pm they appear in the pond by the hundreds. I am studying how social behavior influences the spread of disease in these toads.

Forest Service Station: Northern Research Station

My favorite research experience was working in China. The experience was so different from the United States. Many local farmers and children came to help us. The area had very poor farmland with trees planted to protect the area from wind. The children were so eager to help us. They collected beetles for us and stored them in wire bicycle baskets.

Forest Service Station: Pacific Southwest Research Station

My favorite science experience was learning about the different strategies animals use to survive in their natural environment. For example, mountain yellow-legged frogs survive the long, cold winter in the high Sierra Nevada mountains by finding pockets of water under the ice and breathing through their skin'"for up to 9 months at a time.

Forest Service Station: Northern Research Station

I like being a scientist because as a child I never stopped asking why. As an adult, I'm still asking why.

Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

I have always enjoyed working in the forests and fields. In taking the results of our studies on developing disease resistant pines, I get the bonus of being able to observe the wildlife and natural flora of the Southeast.

Forest Service Station: Pacific Southwest Research Station

My favorite science experience is talking with scientists about a new data set!!!! For a statistician (stat uh stish un), happiness is a new data set! Statisticians are people who collect and arrange facts that are presented in numeric form. This photograph was taken in the Canadian Rockies.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because I like working outside, in the stream, getting my feet wet. I also like doing research that will help conserve the environment.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because I get to solve hard problems for people. I also learn more about what is true, rather than what is thought to be true.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite science experience was the discovery of a new computer method to measure forest fragmentation from global satellite imagery. Can you identify the character on my T-shirt? You can find the answer at http://en wikipedia org/wiki/The_Lorax.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

It is hard to pick my favorite science experience since I have had so many different types of experiences in geology, oceanography, chemistry, and biology. Remembering my time in Idaho with Dr Pilliod always brings a grin to my face. Having the time to get to know a place, people, and a population of frogs is awesome. I spent 3 years watching the mountains turn from white (snow covered) to green (with new plants) to brown (as the vegetation dries out) to white again. I learned where every secret lake, pond, and puddle was and the routes to and from them. Actually, the frogs taught me a lot of short cuts over the years as we followed them. It was awesome what I learned from these frogs (but I had to be patient and take time to observe them). I still don't know how they know where the different lakes are or how to use a short cut between them, but these questions keep me curious.

Geographer: My favorite science experience was climbing a 44-meter tall tower to access tree canopies. I had a ,000 instrument strapped on me to measure how light changes from the ground to the top of a forest. I have other favorite experiences, of course. I enjoyed flying in a small plane less than 500 meters over the Amazon rain forest, renting a small boat in Brazil where we saw sloths and pink dolphins, and building my own 20-meter tower to access tree canopies, then climbing it.

My favorite science experience is working on research projects that ultimately result in technical advances that help people. For example, scientists like me do work that influences all of the building codes in the United States. Building codes directly affect how homes, schools, churches, gymnasiums, and other buildings are constructed. The research you will read about in this article focused on understanding the differences between wood and steel doors—ultimately, it will result in beautiful doors, made of wood that will provide the security of steel doors.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because I like to solve problems.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because it is exciting to discover new information about our natural world and to solve problems that will help save animals and plants from extinction.

Forest Service Station: International Institute of Tropical Forestry

I like being a scientist because I like the challenge of trying to understand how natural systems work so that we can manage and preserve them for future generations.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because it is fun to ask questions, solve problems, and discover new information about plants and ecosystems.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

The most fun I've had as a scientist was the time I operated a 'cherry picker' truck to lift a colleague and I up to the top of some pine trees. We were trying to collect some gases emitted from pine needles. The truck was the type you might see a technician use to reach telephone lines. We stood cramped together inside the 'bucket' with our scientific equipment. It was hilarious. But the view from the tree tops was great.

I enjoy science because I get to continually learn about things and help others learn. Every experiment has three great parts for me. First, each experiment means I’m doing something new, either in a new place or in a new way. Continually doing new things makes science exciting. Second, by doing science I discover new things that help us understand forests and soils and how to best manage them. Analyzing data can be very rewarding when it tells you something you didn’t already know (think “Eureka!”). Finally, my favorite part of science is helping others understand the forest. I know I’ve done a good job when I’ve helped somebody else learn something.

I enjoyed studying coyotes in Yellowstone National Park because it involved trying to understand the mysteries of the daily life of a wild animal. I watched coyotes’ behavior, tracked their movements, and recorded their interactions with other animals. I got to know them better than I ever could from reading books or watching television. There is no better experience than getting out in nature to learn.

Forest Service Station: Pacific Southwest Research Station

One of my favorite experiences in science was to participate in a meteorological field study in western Colorado. We camped out in the mountains. We flew on a helicopter to put some of our equipment on surrounding mountain ridges. We also had an opportunity to meet and work with other scientists from all over the United States.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because my job is defined by my imagination. This means I get to explore the world and sometimes learn things that no one else knew before.

Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

Forest Service Station: Northern Research Station

My favorite experience in science is being a part of the process of solving environmental problems that affect the health and well-being of urban residents.

My favorite science experience is working with inventors. Inventors are excited about their inventions, and they love to show how their invention works. They also love to explain why it works, and why it is better than everything else like it. Inventors like to talk about the potential for making the world a better place. It is really fun to work with them. I love hearing the enthusiasm in their voices.

My favorite science experience is evaluating large government programs and policies to see if they make financial sense. For example, should the State forestry agency hire more foresters to advise forest owners on how to manage their forests? Or, should the forestry agency use that money to pay for part of the tree planting? By doing this, they could grow more acres of forest. Because money is always limited, forest economists often figure out how to best use the money. the photograph is of me making charcoal at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Pennsylvania. charcoal is made from wood and was the fuel used more than 100 years ago to make iron and melt metals. charcoal is still used for fuel and cooking in developing countries. Because I am interested in the historic use of charcoal, I am writing an article about how charcoal production resulted in much forest land being cut in the 1800s. to better understand the charcoal making process, I went to Hopewell to learn how to make it myself. It was fun to see how it was done. I learned to make charcoal myself so I would know what I was writing about! For more information, you can visit http://www.nps.gov/hofu/.

Forest Hydrologist: My favorite science experience is being outside during a rainstorm. As a forest hydrologist, I study what happens to water from the time it falls from the sky until it gets to a stream. During a rainstorm is the best chance I have to really understand what is happening. Did you know that only a tiny fraction of rainfall falls directly on a stream? Most of it falls on land and must travel along the ground’s surface or through the soil to get to the stream. Everything the water encounters as it flows towards the stream will affect how clean the water is when it gets to the stream. That is why understanding hydrology is so important to keeping our streams and rivers clean.

Research Hydrologist: My favorite science experience is getting my ideas and study results published in scientific journals. That way, they will be recorded and hopefully used by future generations to understand their environment and improve their lives. I come to work every day with excitement because I meet bright people with good ideas and I learn and see new things around the world. Most importantly, I am excited about my work because I can contribute to solving problems and can answer questions to make people happy.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because I get to work in interesting places with other scientists on problems of worldwide importance.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

My favorite science experience is walking the road from knowing little about a specific problem to knowing almost everything. I also enjoy being able to apply the knowledge that I learned from textbooks to real-life situations.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite science experience was swimming with dolphins and studying their habitat in the continental shelf at Kaikoura, New Zealand. This photograph shows the mountains of New Zealand, where I spend a lot of my time doing research.

Forestry Technician: My favorite science experience happens almost every day. I learn something new by testing my beliefs about how the natural world works. These are often quite simple observations about the water cycle, how trees grow, or how soils form. Sometimes these thoughts lead to a breakthrough in understanding more complex aspects of the natural world, including the impacts of climatechange. It is through this step-by-step process that science and scientists solve problems.

My favorite science experience is working with a Stirling engine. A Stirling engine is an engine that can use any heat source to create energy. A Stirling engine is quieter and requires less maintenance than the kind of engines used today. In the future, we may be using Stirling engines for more of our energy needs.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because I learned the building blocks of how things work in the natural world around us. And now I can figure out new things on my own, using those building blocks. I became interested in natural resources when I traveled new places and saw plants and rocks and rivers that were different than the ones at home. I wanted to know why.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I have always thought that it was important to preserve our natural heritage and wanted to work as an ecologist. Working with information collected from satellites has allowed me to view the environment from a large-scale perspective. It is a privilege to work on problems that have great benefit to society and to help improve the way we take care of our environment.

I grew up near the city of Chicago, and I lived in a very crowded neighborhood. I spent Saturdays with my uncle who lived on a farm surrounded by woods. We explored the woods together. He taught me the tree species, we collected wild edible plants, and made tools from the rocks and wood we collected from the forest. My uncle was my first forest ecology teacher, and I knew from an early age that I wanted a job where I could figure out how a forest worked.

Forest Service Station: Southern Research Station

I like being a scientist because I get to investigate wildland fire. Wildland fire is one of nature's most awesome forces. Through research I learn how it can be harnessed to improve ecosystem health.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

One of my most exciting moments as a chemist occurred when we took the first pheromone lures into the field during a beetle flight. It had taken several months of work in the laboratory to create the beetle pheromones out of chemicals. When we brought the lures out, the tiny beetles were landing on our clothing and bouncing off our heads. Chemistry really came alive when I realized that our clothing had small amounts of pheromone on it, and that the beetles were strongly attracted to this small amount of pheromone. It was very satisfying to know that all the chemistry work was done right and that the beetles weren't able to distinguish people contaminated with synthetic pheromone from their normal host (a freshly killed tree infested with beetles). In this photo, I am holding a multifunnel trap that is often used to trap bark beetles. A multifunnel trap was used in this research, as you will learn.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because every day brings something new. Being a fire scientist is important. I study questions about the danger of fire smoke to human health, whether forest fires contribute to global warming, and how to use small fires to protect society from big fires. The answer to one question often leads to many other questions.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because I'm helping to keep something special for future Americans. I became interested in natural resources when I was a kid and my family used to visit my uncle and aunt's farm near Elgin, Kansas. We ran free and wild there and learned about nature.

Forest Service Station: International Institute of Tropical Forestry

I like being a scientist because I do a little bit of everything. My background has allowed me to travel, work in different cultures, learn new languages, and work with people in developing countries on many practical projects.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service Scientist

My favorite science experience was being the field technician for a research project where we investigated the fertilizer benefits and the environmental impact of irrigating young forests with wastewater from a sewage treatment plant. I designed, built, and maintained irrigation systems, as well as a series of underground compartments, where we collected water samples.

Forest Service Station: Other Forest Service Scientist

One of my most interesting science experiences was placing tags on Asian long-horned beetles. Because the beetles eat through wood in their early life stages, they have very strong jaws. It takes two people to tie a tag on them, and you have to be very careful because when they bite they draw blood! In this photograph, Mr. Liu is helping me place a tag on a beetle.

Research Social Scientist: My favorite science experience is getting paid to visit some of the most beautiful places on earth as part of fieldwork. This is a photograph of me backpacking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Photo by Mike Patterson.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because ever since childhood I have loved mammals and birds and the outdoors. By training to be an ecologist, I have a career that allows me to study the things I love most. I can also work outdoors, and travel to places like Africa and Australia.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I enjoy working to discover the secrets of the natural environment, such as the interactions between water and the surrounding environment. My favorite experiences in science are when I find these secrets and then use them to improve our environment. With these discoveries, we can improve the quality of our lives and care for our natural resources. Future generations will benefit from our work.

Forest Service Station: Non Forest Service

I like being a scientist because in my job as a scientist at least one interesting thing happens almost every day.

Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

I like being a scientist because I am fascinated by the natural world. I enjoy the process of discovery, and I want to make sure we conserve wild creatures and wild places.

My favorite science experience is being a judge at the Montana Science Fair held annually in March. I get to interact with students from grades 6 to 12 and learn about their science projects.