Jon Remucal grew up in Minnesota, the son of a surgeon and a biologist whose two older brothers also majored in biology. “The science comes with my family,” he says. His interest in the environment developed gradually but had its roots in father-son fishing trips in beautiful, isolated parts of northern Minnesota. “I remember learning on those trips about mercury pollution in the lakes up there,” Jon recalls. “That was probably my earliest awareness of environmental issues.”

Jon Remucal grew up in Minnesota, the son of a surgeon and a biologist whose two older brothers also majored in biology. “The science comes with my family,” he says. His interest in the environment developed gradually but had its roots in father-son fishing trips in beautiful, isolated parts of northern Minnesota. “I remember learning on those trips about mercury pollution in the lakes up there,” Jon recalls. “That was probably my earliest awareness of environmental issues.”

At Carleton College, Jon majored in biology with a concentration in environment and technology studies, preparing a senior thesis on plant defense mutualisms; for instance, when attacked by an insect, a plant may emit chemical cues that draw in predators to that insect. Carleton is where Jon began competing in ultimate frisbee; he went to the college national championships all three years he played, finishing in second place one year.

After graduating magna cum laude, Jon worked for several years in Seattle before deciding upon an MEM at the Nicholas School. Duke’s program attracted him, especially when a trusted advisor told him that a master’s degree from Duke was as good as a PhD from most other schools. Before he came to Durham, though, Jon traveled with the Seattle Sockeye ultimate frisbee team to Hawaii, where they earned the bronze medal in the world championships.

Update 2003 -

After his first year at Duke, a summer internship with the Pacific Forest Trust (PFT) developed into a longer-term relationship. While back in Durham for his second year of coursework, Jon has continued to assist PFT in developing registration protocols for California forest owners who want to record their greenhouse emissions and carbon sequestration in the California Climate Action Registry. Telecommuting from across country, Jon performs research and helps to draft sections of the protocols.

The PFT also provided fodder for Jon's Master’s Project when the project he initially planned fell through. He is working with a computer model that analyzes how carbon stores change in a forest under different management scenarios. Using data from a northern California forest owner who is considering a conservation easement to PFT, Jon will be able to forecast what sort of carbon gains can be had if the forest management plan is changed under an easement.

For instance, if a forest owner harvests his or her trees on a 60-year cycle rather than a 40-year one, the average amount of carbon stored in that forest over time should be greater. This information will be critically important in a future scenario of greenhouse trading credits anticipated by the state’s Climate Action Registry.

Jon hopes to parlay his internship and Master’s Project experience into a career in climate change mitigation, preferably in the Pacific Northwest “This is a rapidly emerging area of research and employment,” he says. “I want to continue in it, and I have the experience.”

Update 2005 -

After graduation, Jon returned to the Pacific Forest Trust as a Stewardship Associate, monitoring the conservation easements held by PFT. He reports, “Whereas I was helping them with policy work during my internship, my responsibilities have shifted more toward field work.” He ensures that landowners are complying with easement restrictions, provides them with guidance regarding conservation activities, helps find funding sources for such activities, and assists with the development of new land conservation projects. In addition, he is developing a GIS for the Trust that will be used for stewardship, new project development, conservation analysis and fundraising. Finally, he will be performing forest carbon analyses with the carbon model he used in his Master’s Project.

Hindsight -

Jon considers the field-related courses at the Nicholas School and his internship at Pacific Forest Trust to be his most valuable experiences at Duke. “Both gave me a better understanding of how the real world works that you can’t really get from many classroom-based courses.” He urges current students to take advantage of any opportunity the Nicholas School offers to integrate classroom instruction with real-world projects.
Having technical experience in GIS and carbon modeling, he says, have given him a leg up at work, allowing him to contribute to the organization’s work in a number of valuable ways.

To view the video, choose from the formats listed after each caption:

1. Jon Remucal explains that the Nicholas school was a great place to integrate his science background with environmental management and policy perspectives.
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2. He talks about learning to use GIS technology as a powerful conservation tool.
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3. Jon says his conservation focus has shifted from public lands to privately owned lands.
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4. He talks about the type of career he'd like to have after graduation.
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5. Jon says he was impressed with how well the classes in different areas complemented and reinforced each other.
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6. He discusses the benefits of easy access to faculty.
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7. Talking with alumni convinced Jon that the Nicholas School gives its students a career edge over other environmental programs.
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8. He says he's found that faculty and alumni form a network devoted to helping Nicholas School MEMs before and after graduation.
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