Public Profile: Up Close with Lisa Barlow
Public Profile: Up Close With Lisa Barlow
Humphrey Resident and Forestry Technician Lisa Moeke Barlow : A Look at What It Takes to Work for the United States Forest Service
Photos / Lisa Barlow
The Organic Act of 1897 introduced the National Forest mission: to improve the forest, provide favorable conditions for water flows, and furnish a continuous supply of timber to meet people's needs. This mission depends on dedicated people who love and respect the forest.
One such person is Lisa Barlow: A transplant from Bradford since 2014 when she married Ellicottville’s Jonny the Barber, Lisa Barlow loves to talk about the work she does for the United States Forest Service at the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) in Marshburg, PA.
Her love of trees and the outdoors likely came from her dad and grandfather who ran a sawmill in Northern Michigan. If you grew up, as both Lisa and I did, hanging around a wood-working shop or a sawmill, the smell of sawdust gets into your DNA and translates into your brain as a love of trees. We talked a lot about her job, but it was so evident it is a vocation for her rather than a job.
Lisa returned to school at 31, attending University of Pittsburgh in Bradford where she was fortunate to find an Environmental Studies program. Having interned on the Allegheny National Forest in her Junior year, she was fortunate to continue as a seasonal employee after graduating with her bachelor’s degree in 2009. She said, “I was grateful for the Environmental Studies degree that Pitt offered, opening my eyes to conservation, stewardship, and land management. Having the seasonal positions on the Allegheny National Forest right there was a wonderful transition for me when I graduated.” Fast forward to 2014 when she was hired as a permanent employee marking timber. That grew into a job doing reforestation and timber stand improvement work. Lisa explains that “this work includes gathering forest data in the field to report back to our foresters to help them determine what needs to be done in those areas to ensure forest regeneration and stand improvement.”
Another facet of her job as a technician was her training on the ANF as a wildland firefighter in 2009. She has gone out once or twice a year since then on fire assignments. Examples of the work include hand crew assignments digging handline (a line that follows the contours of a fire) and moving brush to prevent wildfire spread in Idaho, California, Montana, and Colorado. She worked on the chainsaw crew in the Green Mountain National Forest to help clear roads and parts of the Appalachian Trail that were devastated by Hurricane Irene. Lisa also joins the ANF fire engine staff to help other National Forests do prescribed burning. In the process, she ended up assisting in fighting three wildfires in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri.
In today’s environment where we need more people prepared and willing to go where they are sent to fight forest fires at the drop of a hat, Lisa had this to say: “If I would have learned about fighting fire when I was young, I would have gotten into this as a full-time career. It is hard, physical, important work that is so fulfilling! It is hard to put into words the feeling you get when you are digging line and working so hard physically, and then mentally, thinking about what the fire is doing and what the weather is doing, the terrain we are working in, the heat, the water we need to be drinking to stay hydrated, your crew mates and how they are doing… and then walking to your tent or vehicle at the end of the 16 hour shift feeling so tired, but so proud of yourself, and your crew mates…and so much looking forward to doing it all over again the next day. I am thankful to be able to be a part of this hard-working group of people across our nation once or twice a year.”
One of her greatest joys is helping to regenerate the forests for future generations to enjoy. Her other greatest pleasures are spending time in the woods surrounding their home, hiking and biking with Jonny and playing with their two pups, Bowie and Edgrr. After a conversation with Lisa, you can’t help but believe that she is living a full and satisfied life while doing so much good for our kids, grandkids and beyond. Who knows, perhaps one day she might be called upon to head to Inyo County, California to protect a Great Basin bristlecone pine called Methuselah - known to be the oldest living tree in the world. At 4,854 years old, it likely doesn’t have too many competitors for that title. Many thanks to people like Lisa who are willing to do the work, mundane or dangerous, to keep our forests healthy and flourishing for many years to come.