When Erin Burk ’17 decided to start rock climbing in high school, she had no idea it would lead to her dream position climbing sequoia trees for a living. However, following inspiration and support from CC’s Environmental Studies and Science Program and the campus climbing community, Burk now works full time as a canopy science research technician.
One reason Burk wanted to attend CC was for access to climbing. She immediately began climbing when she got to campus and eventually, with the help of Nina Riggio ’17, revived the Climber’s Association of Colorado College.
While Burk loved her time on campus and enjoyed climbing, she struggled during her early years at CC to determine what post-graduation path to pursue. Burk knew she wanted to be outside and continue to climb, but she didn’t know how that could be a career.
It wasn’t until she took Ecology and the Environment with Professor and Co-Chair of the Environmental Program Miro Kummel that Burk discovered an interest in trees and forest ecology, and it ended up being her favorite class.
“Erin was a fast learner, super smart, a self-starter, and internally motivated,” says Kummel, who added that Burk’s final paper for that class was sharp work of quality matching that of a beginning graduate student.
Burk continues to use what she learned in CC’s Environmental Studies and Science Program to this day.
In another program class, Burk and Kat Jacaruso ’17 entered the Big Idea Competition, where they wanted to increase forest health and manage fire risk by removing small trees from a property in the wildland-urban interface and use the lumber to build treehouses. While they didn’t win the competition, they got to meet with a Colorado state employee who took them on a field tour to show them fire-wise and at-risk communities around town. This was Burk’s first introduction to the fieldwork of forestry.
After graduating with a degree in Environmental Science, Burk worked seasonal jobs in river restoration and vegetation monitoring, eventually stumbling upon an entry-level forestry job in Truckee, California, where she fell in love with this field of forestry and forest restoration.
This job inspired Burk to pursue a Master of Science in Forestry at Northern Arizona University, and, upon completion, Burk joined the Forest Service in South Lake Tahoe. Through this position, she learned how to climb trees and realized that while a lot of her rock-climbing skills transferred over, there were some different rope systems, knots, and gears.
“Through my tree climbing training, I became aware of the opportunity to work with Ancient Forest Society based here in town, and I couldn’t resist the draw of climbing giant sequoias for work,” Burk says.
Burk applied and now works as project manager for Ancient Forest Society, a non-profit working to protect and restore ancient trees and forests.
Burk is currently working on several major research projects, including their bark beetle project and their tree hydrology project, where she climbs to the top of sequoias to collect samples and install treetop instruments that take automated measurements of things like climate data and tree growth.
Burk says climbing a giant sequoia is different from climbing other species. In small trees, researchers access the canopy by throwing a small weight connected to a piece of cord over a branch, and then use that cord to pull in a climbing rope and ascend the rope. However, because mature giant sequoias are so tall, it’s not possible to throw into a branch by hand. Therefore, they use a modified cross bow to access the canopy of a sequoia.
“We mount a fishing reel to the top of the cross bow and make our own blunt, fiberglass ‘arrows’ that attach to the fishing line,” Burk says. “We then aim at a branch high up in the tree, and shoot the arrow over the branch, which is harder than it sounds. When the arrow comes back down with the fishing line still attached, we tie a thin piece of cord to the fishing line, pull that all the way over the branch and to the ground, then attach our climbing rope to the cord.”
Burk and her colleagues typically climb about 100 trees each field season, which lasts from May through October. They spend the rest of the year compiling data and processing samples they collected, writing reports, and planning for the next field season.
Ultimately, from climbing trees to studying samples, every day is an adventure for Burk as she continues to do what she loves.
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