Lindsay Abercrombie MSEE ’12

Lindsay Abercrombie MSEE ’12 grew up in Santa Barbara, CA, then attended and graduated Cal Poly San Louis Obispo for her undergraduate education in animal science. After working as an intern in Africa for eight months, she began researching for graduate school. She settled on the Master of Science in Environmental Education at Southern Oregon University (SOU).

While at SOU in the MSEE program, she earned a graduate assistantship which paid her out of state tuition. “I believe the MSEE program, which has now been discontinued, was one of the best in the country. Stewart Jaynes, Karen Stone and Michael Parker were among the best professors I ever had. They were smart, energetic, engaging and caring,” said Abercrombie. She really loved her time in the field in nearby Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument and Fall in the Field programming at the Deer Creek Field Station. 

During the culminating project of the MSEE program, Fall in the Field, graduate students worked with a team of thirteen environmental educators in designing and carrying out a two-site, seven-week residential environmental education program for 2nd through 9th grader students. The MSEE candidates taught classes on natural history, ecology, geology, botany, and other topics, tailored specific for grade level, in an outdoor setting. Students also supervised service-learning projects including trail maintenance and construction, and habitat restoration.

After graduating spring of 2012, Abercrombie secured a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wildlife tech job in Pinedale, WY, doing surveys of lizards, raptors and mule deer along with quaking aspen surveys. She worked in this role for two years  then moved to Rock Springs, WY with an environmental consulting company as an environmental scientist, studying ground water and soil for one year. In 2015 became a full time BLM employee in Lander, WY, as a surface compliance tech then an environmental protection specialist. Currently she is a Natural Resource Specialist statewide program lead in Lander where she oversees compliance, environmental inspections and monitoring along with spill mitigation for oil and gas leases on BLM public land. All fall under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. “I get to teach new BLM employees and actually got to build a training curriculum from scratch that I’m very proud of. I really love my job and believe I am making a difference out in the field these past 10 years.”

At home, Abercrombie and her US Forest Service employee husband Cody have four horses of which two are adopted BLM mustangs. “Our BLM wild horses really bond with their humans and develop a much closer bond then domestic horses do. We love to get them out into the nearby Wind River Range for adventures.”

“I gained a lot from my time at SOU; it gave me a wealth of knowledge and experience that has benefited me greatly in my career with the Federal government. I look back fondly on my time at SOU and would encourage anyone who is interested in getting a great, hands-on education, in a great town, to consider SOU!”

Learn more: Bureau of Land Management