Kurt Kipfmueller, Ph.D.

1855 Professor of Tribal and Indigenous Natural Resources Management, Department of Forestry, Michigan State University

Kurt Kipfmueller is 1855 Professor of Tribal and Indigenous Natural Resources Management at Michigan State University. Kurt’s work uses the information encoded in the annual rings of trees to help tell the stories of landscape and cultural change. Kurt has expertise in reconstructing past disturbances—particularly fire—and in developing tree growth chronologies that reflect climate variability. His primary research interest examines the long-term relationships among fire, climate, and people to inform stewardship of Upper Great Lakes forests. His work promotes forest resilience, supports Indigenous cultural fire practices, and advances understanding of forest change.

Lane Johnson

Research Coordinator & Forester, Cloquet Forestry Center, University of Minnesota

Lane’s work focuses on the fire ecology of red pine woodlands and forests in the Upper Great Lakes Region where he uses tree-rings and other historical records to better understand and communicate the ecological and cultural history of fire-dependent plant communities, and apply this information to contemporary forest policy and management. Lane is a certified wildland fire ecologist through the Association for Fire Ecology and is actively involved with the Minnesota Prescribed Fire Council. In his free time, you might find Lane on a northwoods trail, in his home kitchen, or somewhere in between.

Evan Larson, Ph.D.

Professor and Chair of Environmental Sciences & Society, University of Wisconsin-Platteville

Evan Larson is a father, husband, teacher, scientist, and enthusiast of wild places. His childhood took place in the woods of central Minnesota, helping his parents tend 80 acres of mixed hardwood forests, wetlands, and a beautiful open meadow. Drawn by mountains, oceans, and forests, his formal education includes an Environmental Science bachelor’s degree from Willamette University, degrees in geography from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (M.S.) and the University of Minnesota (PhD), and a Faculty Fulbright fellowship to Mid Sweden University in Sundsvall. Less formally, Evan’s philosophy of life has been informed by significant doses of reflection, books, chainsaws and firewood. Evan’s engagement with fire started as a child while helping his family with prescribed burns to keep their meadow open, and has grown through two decades of research in tree-ring research focusing on fire history and fire ecology. His work has come to center on the enduring relationships between people and place that are enacted and moderated through fire. Evan comes to this conversation happy to share the insights and lessons he has learned from trees and the stories they carry, and how these stories can advance the resurgence of a fire culture.

Luke Trittelwitz

Graduate Student, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Luke Trittelwitz is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, where he studies fire‑adapted ecosystems. Here, Luke also earned his B.S. in Wildlife Ecology and Management with minors in Biology, Conservation Biology, and International Resource Management. His current research focuses on how prescribed fire influences vegetation, wildlife communities, and ecological restoration across Wisconsin’s fire‑dependent landscapes. Luke has extensive field experience with federal, state, nonprofit, and private agencies, working on habitat restoration, avian monitoring, wildlife surveys, and prescribed fire operations. He has conducted research in Wisconsin, Costa Rica, Hawai‘i, and Ecuador, presenting findings at regional and national conferences. His professional interests include fire ecology, wildlife management, ecological restoration, bird banding, and fostering conservation through community engagement. Luke is serving as moderator for this session, bringing a strong commitment to restoring fire as a natural process and understanding how fire history shapes resilient ecosystems.

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