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Fall 2022

A Man of Energy
10 Questions: Associate Professor Bilal Butt
A Champion for Justice
A Lifelong Passion for Trees
Carlson’s Fishery: Leaving its Mark on the Local Economy and Michigan’s Waters
Class Notes
Dean’s Letter
Developing Water Policy Solutions that Ensure a Just and Resilient Future
Environmentally Safe Pest Control
Faculty Accolades
FishPass Project Draws Inspiration From Single-Stream Recycling
Fostering Human-Tiger Coexistence in Nepal
Freshwater is ‘the Root’ That Connects This Area
Leading Sustainability-Focused Education
Mobility and Transportation Design
Nurturing Environmental Justice Activists
Pairing Solar Development With Innovative Land Management
Program in the Environment Celebrates 20 Years
Protecting the Diversity of Fish in the Great Lakes
Research Highlights
Righting Wrongs in Society
SEAS Releases First National Framework Designed to Measure and Advance Energy Equity
SEAS Travel Photo Contest
Studying Trees for Clues About Climate Change
Summer Discussion Series
Supporting Actionable Energy Solutions
The Forever Business: Conservation Leader Glen Chown
Yearbook

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SEAS Connect is a monthly e-newsletter that brings alumni, students, faculty, and friends even closer together. In every issue, you’ll read about what your classmates are up to, hear from your favorite professors, find out what’s going on in the Dana Building, and learn how to get involved.

 
back to Stewards

A Lifelong Passion for Trees

By Kim Peacock

Lauren Marshall’s (MLA ’10) passion for trees runs deep, having grown over the course of a lifetime.

Marshall grew up in suburban Washington, D.C., where she first developed her connection to the natural world. Forest patches were scattered throughout her family’s neighborhood, and those trees were her playground. “I grew up with parents who really just let me run wild in the neighborhood. And then at dinner, they would call out the door. I would emerge from whatever forest I had been scrapping around and come in to eat,” says Marshall. “When I think about trees, even today, there’s this deeply entwined sense of home and family for me. That stems from those early playtimes as a kid.”Lauren Marshall

In college, that passion only grew. Marshall studied plant science at Cornell University and had the opportunity to study abroad in Costa Rica. She interviewed Indigenous farmers who were part of an organic banana cooperative, learning more about how they grew their bananas as a part of forest systems and the economic benefits that these systems provided. It was then that everything fell into place for Marshall. “What I realized on this trip was that what I really loved was studying the way people interact with the land and how that influences ecology, health and biodiversity.”

After completing her undergraduate studies, she earned her master’s degree in landscape architecture from SEAS. In her final year of grad school, Marshall was accepted into the USDA Forest Service’s Presidential Management Fellows Program. This led to a long career working in several different facets of forestry. Marshall worked to restore millions of acres of forest landscape, helped to develop some of the first national geospatial reporting requirements and even spearheaded design work to make recreational infrastructure more sustainable.

Marshall is now putting her knowledge and passion to use in the nonprofit sector at the Arbor Day Foundation, where she is senior manager of program innovation. “This is a great opportunity for me to work with people both within the organization and our partners. There are so many creative people working in the forestry space and so many sparks of ideas everywhere.”

This is a shortened version of an article that originally appeared on the Arbor Day Foundation Blog. It is reprinted with permission.

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