Name: Olivia Rauen
Hometown: Bankston, IA
Major and Graduation Date: B.S. Forestry with Animal Ecology Minor, May 2018
Favorite ISU class? Forest Economics with Dr. John Tyndall. In conservation, you can have all the good intentions in the world for our ecosystems, but without dollars to fund management, it won’t happen. This class teaches the realities of conservation work in Iowa and comes the closest to real world conservation planning and problem solving.
Job Title and Company: Forester with the National Wild Turkey Federation
Major Job/Position Responsibilities: I work with private landowners in the Driftless Area of northeast Iowa and northwest Illinois to encourage forest management on their properties. Our woodlands are dynamic ecosystems that respond to changes we have made to their natural environment. Without strategic management, they have declined over time.
My job is to identify ways landowners can continue to enjoy and improve their woodlands for wildlife, recreation and hunting, timber value, ecosystem services, or a combination of these and other benefits. This may mean going for woodland walks, hosting workshops and field days, writing forest management plans, or enrolling landowners in cost share programs to pay for management. I also monitor projects such as tree plantings, invasive species removal, timber stand improvement, and harvests.
What you like most about your job/position? I have always wanted to work with conservation-minded private landowners. Their passion and commitment to stewardship in our landscape blows me away. I also appreciate the opportunities we have for management in Iowa. Working with our valuable timber resource and abundant cost share programs means that making improvements to our natural resources is affordable, and even profitable, for many landowners.
What advice would you give to current students pursuing a career in Agriculture and Life Sciences? Seek out the classes and opportunities that force you to learn and problem solve on your own. For me, it was easy to memorize material given by the professor on Monday to put down on the test on Friday, but I do very little of that in my job. Learn from others in your field, ask questions, find your own sources, weigh options and compromise, be efficient. The background information is a crucial foundation, but the classes and activities where I learned these skills are what got me where I am today.
April 2020