By: Mia Ambroiggio ‘26 MEM
Five Yale School of the Environment students are officially bi-coastal! The Western Crew brought five students to Oregon and Washington for a week of immersive learning focused on Western forest management. Over winter break, Yale Forests’ Forest Manager Shaylyn Austin ’23 MF led students through the Pacific Northwest to learn about silvicultural interventions like pre-commercial and commercial thinning, stream restoration, forest inventory, and prescribed burning to sustainably manage Western landscapes. The Western Crew included Bishwabandhu Acharya ‘26 MF, Jacob Frame ‘26 MF/MBA, Cat De Lima Marcal ‘26 MF, Marina McGonigle ‘26 MF, and Cayce Morrison ‘26 MEM.
Western Crew’s impact is twofold: students can either experience forestry in an unknown region or return to a beloved place. For Bishwabandhu Acharya ‘26 MF, “Western Forest Crew was an amazing experience that taught me a lot about forest management in a completely different environment. Being in the western USA for the first time, I got to see how forests are managed on the western coast and how they differ in terms of principles and approach to managing resources.”
Walking along Washington’s coast at sunset. Photo: Cat Marcel
Similarly, Marina McGonigle ’26 MF reflects on finally seeing concepts come to life: “Whenever someone asks, ‘Why are you on Western Crew?’ I would answer, ‘I’ve read and seen so much about Western forestry in the literature, and now I want to see it in real life.’ I’ve never experienced Western forests as part of my forestry education before, and this trip opened up a whole new perspective.”
For others, Western Crew was a meaningful return. “As someone who grew up loving the natural landscapes that make up the Pacific Northwest, hearing from staff and their professional partners spanning the coastal forests to the dry east Cascades was personally and professionally inspiring,” says Cayce Morrison ‘26 MEM. “I feel more assured that my childhood love of climbing seastacks, scouring bushes for huckleberries, and pondering what old-growth stumps can teach us about our landscape can translate to a fulfilling and impactful career.”
After arriving in Portland, Oregon, the crew traveled to Long Beach, Washington. After settling into their home for the week, work began on Monday in Astoria, reviewing coastal and estuary priorities of the local land trust. This grounded the group in place-based coastal forest management, including regulatory frameworks, project layouts, and data collection methods.
Field-based learning continued on the coast for the duration of the week. The group toured the Ellsworth property with Washington State Foresters and The Nature Conservancy, exploring old-growth forests and silvicultural interventions. Field application continued as students worked at Seal Slough, marking the forest stand in preparation for thinning for the following days. On Friday, the crew broadened their focus to watershed-scale management, touring Astoria Watershed and Hampton Lumber operations. This trip allowed students to apply course concepts to actual sites, as Cat De Lima Marcal ‘26 MF notes: “The most valuable aspect of the trip was learning about salmon habitat restoration and water management. These were areas I had not studied in depth before, and therefore viewing their implementation and benefits firsthand highlighted the critical connections between forest management, aquatic ecosystems, and wildlife conservation.”
Just as important as the field experience itself were the moments in between. On Saturday, their only day off, the crew slept in before heading to Sportsman Cannery to procure salmon for dinner. They then drove to Ilwaco for lunch — fish and chips and chowder — followed by a visit to Cape Disappointment, where they saw the lighthouse and walked through the state park. Other highlights included seeing the oldest, largest frying pan in the world and ending the night with ice cream.
The next morning, the crew toured one final property before heading to White Salmon, Washington for the latter half of the trip. The second week of the trip focused on ecology and management east of the Cascades, beginning with a foundational overview of land trust properties in the region. This portion of the trip included site visits to Klickitat Oaks, Rattlesnake Creek, and Bowman Natural Areas, emphasizing dry-forest and fire ecology, restoration of industrial forest lands, disturbance-dependent systems, riparian enhancement, wildlife monitoring, and prescribed fire planning.
The crew treks through the East Cascades. Photo: Cayce Morrison
The crew’s field experience concluded with activities along the Powerdale Corridor, discussing wildland-urban interface conservation. After a final communal dinner back in Portland with Yale School of the Environment alumni, the 2025 Western Forest Crew headed back east.
Ultimately, this trip offered hands-on experience in the importance of interconnection. The experience highlighted multiple layers of connection: among current students within the YSE network, between academic learning and on-the-ground management practices, and across coastal and forest ecosystems themselves. By examining these landscapes together, the trip emphasized how effective management depends on recognizing ecological systems as intertwined rather than isolated, an approach essential to stewarding complex environments along the West Coast and in the field at large.
Crew members left feeling inspired to potentially pursue careers on the West Coast. “I left the Columbia River Valley with confidence that — while I have a lot more to learn — I would immensely enjoy a future career based in this part of the country. As an added bonus, I’m more excited than ever to join this community of practice full of incredibly capable and motivated folks, whom I look forward to meeting again someday to share tales of my own,” says Jacob Frame ’26 MF/MBA.
