Jacob Slusser
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EmailJacob is the Panama Program Coordinator in the Environmental Leadership and Training Initiative, teaching participants about forest ecology and degradation and the range of restoration strategies to restore forest cover in agricultural landscapes.
I grew up on a small farm in southern Michigan and so the hardwood forests were where I spent most of my childhood. I became interested in forestry when I was 23 years old and serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama and was helping to facilitate a national reforestation project. I earned my masters in forestry from MSU.
As the Panama Program Coordinator, I train land-use decision makers (everyone from landowners to politicians) on how to restore tropical forests. I also help our program alumni to design, implement and manage a diversity of forest restoration projects. I am the lead trainer for our field courses, where we visit research sites and model farms and learn about the range of restoration strategies that can be conducted in forest landscapes.
When I'm not in the field, I develop training curriculum and materials for adult learners as well as following up with our course alumni and providing them support to conduct forest restoration projects. I also foster collaborations with our host-country partners, which requires outreach, meeting and interacting in Spanish (not my native language).
My Advice
Forestry isn’t just focused on the timber or pulp and paper industries anymore. It is such a global, diverse and applicable field and one that is at the forefront of mitigating and adapting to climate change. So if you are interested in doing exciting work and making a better world for future generations, become a forester!
