Student explores Forest Service ways

For the general public, the ways of the U.S. Forest Service sometimes seem more than a little mysterious.

However, according to Maret Pajutee, ecologist for the Sisters Ranger District, that's not the intent; and the Forest Service would like to see more citizen participation in its planning.

In one effort to take the mystery out of Forest Service planning, Pajutee recently mentored a college student seeking to learn about environmental processes.

Camp Sherman resident David Moskowitz is enrolled at Arizona's Prescott College and is pursuing an Environmental Studies degree in the college's "Distance Learning Program."

Moskowitz explained that distance learning requires him to enlist his own teacher/mentors who in turn must provide credentials to the college.

When Pajutee learned of the program, she jumped at the chance.

"A lot of people don't understand Forest Service processes," she said, "so we want to open it up to the public. Having David in on it really brought in a fresh perspective."

In addition to completing reading lists, surveys, meetings and field trips, Moskowitz sat in on a two-day conference of the Metolius Basin Interdisciplinary Team.

One of the issues that came up is dealing with a public misconception that the Forest Service doesn't incorporate science into its planning processes.

According to Moskowitz, nothing could be further from the truth.

"I think there's still an image of a bunch of older white men sitting around a table talking about how many trees they want to cut," he said. "Actually, a lot of science goes into Forest Service assessments and planning....They were all scientists in this program."

The college course set up by Pajutee was titled "Principles of Ecology" and emphasized "hands on" participation by Moskowitz.

"We were just starting in on the planning for the Metolius Basin EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) project," said Pajutee, "and I thought this would be a great way for David to see the principles of ecology in action."

She went on to say, "Part of his work for me was to pull out key concepts to focus on....things that he found interesting or exciting or that most people don't know."

One such topic was the effects of sediment created by logging activity on different kinds of stream systems.

For example, logging sediment will have long-term impact on a small spring-fed stream, whereas a stream that is fed by large snow-melt runoffs has the capacity to periodically flush its system.

Pajutee said she appreciated Moskowitz's role as an outsider.

"He was able to point out things of public interest and insights into our process from a different perspective," she said. "And I think he was surprised at the many different points of view we consider."

Moskowitz agreed.

"It was fascinating to hear all the scientists provide input from their own fields of expertise," he said.

"Instead of responding to a single management concern, they look at everything....fire and water history, fire hazard reduction, fisheries, recreation impact, soil health, wildlife management, water quality....I was impressed by the number of different disciplines they use to manage the forest out here."

Moskowitz is zeroing in on a bachelor's degree which, in part, is built upon junior college credits he previously accumulated.

He estimates that he will have spent a total of about a two years in Pajutee's program -- a learning process for which he has high marks.

"Mentored learning is not a correspondence course," he said.

" There's a lot of one-on-one with the teacher and a lot of freedom to explore issues that the teacher and student find important."

Both Moskowitz and the Forest Service profited from the program, said Pajutee; and that's the it was supposed to work out.