Though she didn’t know it at the time, Dr. Serra Hoagland’s upbringing put her on a path to becoming the only Native woman with a PhD to work for the U.S. Forest Service. Growing up in Placerville, Calif., a small town west of Sacramento in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Dr. Hoagland just knew that she wanted to be outdoors. “My biggest thing was to finish my homework and go outside — that was my goal for the day,” recalls Dr. Hoagland, this year’s winner of the Most Promising Engineer or Scientist Award.
But the pathway Dr. Hoagland has followed from being an outdoor enthusiast to a PhD in natural resource management and research, and occupant of a unique position as Forest Service liaison to Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Mont., hasn’t been entirely straight.
In fact, Dr. Hoagland, who grew up far from the Laguna Pueblo Reservation in New Mexico, began her undergraduate career pursuing her love of math at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. But at the end of her freshman year, when Dr. Hoagland found herself on academic probation and struggling with an advanced calculus class, she made a strategic decision to switch her major. “I thought back to my roots and realized how much I loved wildlife and animals as a kid,” she remembers. “I am so grateful I found wildlife and ecology because it is the foundation of who I am at the most basic level.”
The past decade-plus has proven just how correct Dr. Hoagland’s instincts were. After graduating from Cal Poly, she earned a master’s in environmental science and management from the University of California, Santa Barbara, before graduating from Northern Arizona University with a PhD in forestry in 2016 and joining the U.S Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in January the following year. It’s a position that requires Dr. Hoagland to wear many hats. She spends part of her time in the field doing research, particularly on spotted owl habitat — knowledge that she shares with tribes to help guide their wildlife management.
Another aspect of Dr. Hoagland’s work is aimed at pinpointing wildlife-related research questions that would benefit tribes. In fact, she is involved in a first-of-its-kind tribal assessment that will guide future Forest Service research and development. Dr. Hoagland was also asked to submit a proposal to work on the Indian Forest Management Assessment Team, which develops a report every 10 years to improve how tribes manage their forest resources. Past reports have been written exclusively by non-Natives.
Though impressive, Dr. Hoagland’s credentials — which also include membership on the Intertribal Timber Council and the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society, as well as in a litany of scientific journal articles she has authored and edited — are only part of her story. What’s arguably more impactful is how she is using her experience and expertise to cultivate Native students interested in natural resource management and research.
As the only Forest Service employee to have a duty station at a tribal college, Dr. Hoagland spends countless hours mentoring and advising students, working with research assistants, facilitating job searches, and helping students attend seminars and conferences and win scholarships. “I’m there to serve as a support and role model. But I'm not just a cheerleader — I want to push students,” she says. “I think setting expectations that are realistic and watching them succeed and push ahead is when you start to see that confidence and pride and honor swell. My philosophy is to help them push those boundaries and make that next step.”
Dr. Hoagland sees her cultivation of young Native scientists as an important part of instilling critical Indigenous teachings in natural resource management. “I think it’s a step toward fulfilling our tribal sovereignty,” she says. “We need to have more Indians in leadership positions making decisions and acknowledging a relationship with the land and using practices we have built over millennia living on the landscape. When environmental management is backed in tradition, long-term stewardship and maintenance of our resources is possible.”
For young Native students, there’s another big upside. “In times like now with COVID, there are more people trying to relocate to smaller rural towns and work from home,” she says. “The demands on natural resources will increase. We are also facing climate change, wildfires, and invasive species. The positive thing with forestry and wildlife management is that it all means job security.”
