People | Tree Ring Lab

Leadership:

Dr. Andrew Merschel — Lead Scientist, Co-Director

ORISE Post-doctoral Scholar with USFS and OSU

Andrew uses tree rings to tell stories that create a shared understanding of the history of different forest ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. Andrew is particularly interested in how disturbances (mostly fire) and forest management have shaped and will continue to shape the structure and function of forest ecosystems. Andrew lives with his family (Vanessa, Aldo, and Sawyer) in Corvallis, and they enjoy fishing, hiking, wildlife ecology, chainsaw milling, and chainsaw repair in their spare time.

Amanda Brackett — Project Scientist, Co-Director

Faculty Research Assistant

Amanda grew up exploring and playing in the woods of Maine where she developed a passion for conservation and ecology. After completing her bachelor's degree in environmental science and policy from Clark University in Massachusetts she spent 5 years doing seasonal field work for a wide variety of forest ecology research projects across the western U.S. In 2019 she moved to Corvallis to pursue a master's degree in the College of Forestry where she studied the influence of residual canopy cover on microclimate conditions in recently thinned stands. After finishing graduate school she worked as a monitoring coordinator for the Luckiamute Watershed Council before returning to OSU to help run the tree ring lab and serve as program coordinator for long-term monitoring projects in eastern Oregon. Amanda is passionate about conducting research that leads to actionable information for land managers to facilitate the creation and conservation of healthy forest landscapes. Outside of work, she enjoys adventuring with her husband and dog, mountain biking, tree and rock climbing, and baking.

Dr. Meg Krawchuk — Lab Facilitation, Co-Director

Associate Professor, Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, College of Forestry

Meg is a fire ecologist, landscape ecologist, and pyrogeographer. Meg is co-director of the Tree Ring Lab providing research expertise and mentorship to the lab community, and working with undergraduate students, graduate students, and research staff to extend our knowledge of forest ecosystems and their stewardship using a dendrochronology/dendroecology perspective. As a lab community we recognize that tree ring science needs to be inclusive of Tribal stewardship, and we hold the importance of cultural burning, Indigenous Knowledges, Practices, and Belief Systems, and the impact of colonization on Indigenous peoples and their stewardship of their homelands as a respected element of what we learn from the trees. We strive to build respectful, reciprocal, and relevant relationships in the work that we do as scientists, students, and a community. If you’re interested in learning more about our work and our perspectives, please reach out to connect with us.

Graduate Students:

Sven Rodne

Masters student – Advised by Meg Krawchuk

Sven is a born and raised Oregonian who grew up adventuring in many of the old burn perimeters of southwest Oregon’s forests. He further cultivated this interest in wildland fire by receiving his bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources with an option in Wildland Fire Ecology at Oregon State University. After graduating, he started working in the Tree Ring Lab where he developed a passion for dendropyrochronology (reconstructing fire frequency in forests through the study of tree rings) and disturbance ecology. During his time with the lab, he has worked on historical fire reconstructions in Oregon and Washington’s west cascade regions, on the East side of Mt. Hood, and in the Elliott State Research Forest. Sven’s MS research is focused on historical stand reconstructions in Oregon’s Rogue Basin and historical fire reconstructions/stand dynamics of the lower Illinois River, located in southwest Oregon.

Jennifer Bailey-Guerrero

PhD student – Advised by Meg Krawchuk

Originally from Oregon, Jenn grew up exploring forests of Oregon and SW Washington from a very young age. She pursued an undergraduate degree in Environmental Earth Science from Colorado, a master's degree in Biological Oceanography from Rhode Island, and spent several years abroad, studying avian nesting behaviors in the Peruvian Amazon and serving in the Peace Corps in Paraguay, before finally finding her way back to the Pacific Northwest. Prior to joining the lab, Jenn worked at the College of Forestry for multiple years on the Oregon Marbled Murrelet Project and then with the Elliott State Research Forest Project. The focus of Jenn's research is looking at historic fire reconstructions in marbled murrelet nesting habitat and how fire and other disturbance events have shaped forest stand structure in the Coast Range for this endangered seabird species. Outside of research and work, Jenn enjoys spending time tending to the small farm she runs with her husband and taking her two little boys for hikes along the old paths of her own childhood.

Charles Drake

Masters student – Advised by Meg Krawchuk

Charles grew up in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range and completed a degree in Classics at the University of Oregon. Having completed preliminary post baccalaureate studies in Forestry at OSU, he worked on several research projects across five national forests in Oregon, investigating fire history and forest ecology. Charles's research on the McDonald-Dunn research forest will focus on the role of fire in shaping old-growth forests of the Willamette Valley margins, and the natural and cultrual legacity of fire-modulated forests. Charles enjoys spending time with his girlfriend, hunting for big trees on public lands, woodworking, music, and playing computer games with the lads.

Paige Byassee

Masters student – Advised by Matt Powers and John Bailey

Paige works with experimental mixed-species plantations, utilizing tree cores to understand competitive interactions, as well as how mixtures may buffer climatic stress.

Staff:

Cassidy standing between two large trees

Cassidy Ruge

Faculty Research Assistant

Cassidy grew up in western Massachusetts and moved to Mexico with his family as a teenager. He recently made the move to Corvallis, where he's lived since early 2022. Cassidy is a self-professed bird nerd and has been birding since the age of 8. He has never envisioned a career outside of conservation and has devoted the last nine years to gaining experience in field biology, where he's participated in research projects across the country. Cassidy has worked in the Oregon Coast Range since 2019, when he joined the Oregon Marbled Murrelet Project as a field technician. After two additional years on the project as a crew lead, Cassidy decided to dip his toes into the world of dendrochronology and joined the Marbled Murrelet tree coring project. Cassidy is interested in Marbled Murrelet nest site selection as it pertains to habitat type and stand history. He looks forward to continuing to learn more about forest ecology. In his spare time, Cassidy enjoys relaxing with his two cats, baking, and taking hikes.