Charting the planets for the U.S. Geological Survey. Plotting weather events for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Making drawings of water resources for the Bureau of Reclamation. For Kimberly Poweska, it’s all been in a day’s work.
She’s a cartographer – she makes maps.
It’s a challenging mix of art and science to create an accurate and beautiful depiction of the land and its resources. Her career has taken her many places over the years, from Washington D.C to Washington State. She’s lived in Colville since 2010 and, while her office is at the Colville National Forest headquarters, she officially works for the Regional Office in Portland, Oregon. Washington and Oregon make up the Forest Service’s Region 6. Her main area of coverage highlights the Colville and the Okanogan-Wenatchee national forests, but she also covers other forests throughout Region 6 as well.
Poweska focuses mainly on cartography and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS is a system for gathering, managing, and analyzing data that’s organized as layers of information on a map or 3D model. It gives scientists a deeper understanding of data, revealing patterns, relationships, and situations that aren’t always obvious until the right blend of details unlocks hidden details. That helps Forest Service staff make smarter decisions.
She especially enjoys working with all the different disciplines that exist in the Forest Service and learning about all the different aspects of life in a forest. When she first started, she had no idea how complex and diverse Forest Service jobs could be. “The Forest Service does not just consist of fighting fires and harvesting trees,” she said. Other jobs include wildlife management, recreation, transportation, engineering, archaeology, botany, silvilcultrue, land ownership, timber sales, hydrology, and range management. “Bringing all these things together to create an accurate spatial map product that each department, as well as the public, can find useful is very interesting and challenging.”
Her passion for maps shows in the following excerpts from her interview for Women’s History Month.
What's your favorite part of your job?
Maps! I fell in love with maps when I was a small girl. They give you an understanding of the world and space around you. They give you a chance to dream of far off exotic places, or adventures yet to come and strange lands still to discover. Maps have the power to thrill. Every map tells a story of the past and future. They hold the spirit of romantic adventures and places unknown. With digital maps on your phones or devices, you lose the big picture and miss everything in between where you are going and where you came from. That is the beauty of a paper map, and published Forest Service maps express the unique story and landscape of each Forest and its own special qualities in space and time.
How would you like the public to perceive the work we do at the Forest Service?
I would like people to know that Forest Service employees or any other civil servant, are sincerely dedicated to their work, regardless of pay or status or recognition. The work we do requires a passion, energy, and diligence to create a better natural environment and maintain healthy forest lands. We strive to support the community and want to work with them to protect natural resources and to keep our public lands special and spectacular.
What is your highest personal and professional achievement?
I have been very lucky to have worked on so many different and unique projects in many different places. The people are always fabulous. Mapping and exploring the beautiful forests of the Northwest has definitely been a highlight. When a map is finally finished and published and it all comes together, it is a great achievement. It takes a lot of effort, coordination, and editing to create these maps. It is definitely a team effort. The Cartography and GIS teams work together closely to create these accurate, visually pleasing products both digitally and on paper. We are hoping to finish the Colville Ranger District Maps soon. I believe this will be a great tool for the forest and the public for years to come.
What advice do you have for someone wanting to serve their country as a Forest Service employee?
Be willing to try new things and move new places. Always take the opportunity to go out in the field whenever you can to get a new perspective and see the big picture. Always be present. Be brave! Get out of your comfort zone. Life is short. Don't waste it!
No comments:
Post a Comment