Social Impact Heroes Helping Our Planet: Why & How Jeremy Whigham Of Alabama A&M University Is Helping To Change Our World
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Take a critical look at where you choose to live, what you eat, how far you drive. These questions and decisions may seem mundane or innocuous but they have an impact. The suburban lifestyle is incompatible with sustainability and conservation. Full stop. Ecosystem harm is being done on our behalf, in the pursuit of our spending power.
As a part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeremy Whigham.
Jeremy has spent his professional life in the woods as a forester, wildlife resources biologist, and camp ranger. His current role is Forester and FireDawgs Chief for Alabama A&M University where he supports the student fire fighting team (The FireDawgs), student learning, and several research projects. He holds a B.S. and Master’s of Forest Resources from the University of Georgia.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
Absolutely. I feel like I grew up twice; once on a dirt road farm and once in the suburbs; owing to a move my family made when my father changed employment. They are very different experiences. Row-crop farms are largely mechanized these days, most work being done by tractors. The closest kid my age was over a mile away. All that to say, farm life can be pretty isolating for a child. I remember dirt was my favorite medium for play. Running toy cars and tanks through it, building canals and filling them with water. When that got boring, studying exactly which bugs ant lions can tackle became interesting. After moving to a middle class neighborhood which was newly minted from farm land, had half-acre lots, blacktop streets, and was miles away from town. But now there were many kids nearby. Seeing how life carries on from both sides I think informs my own viewpoints as an adult.
You are currently leading a social impact organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change in our world today?
Foremost, at Alabama A&M we aim to train complete foresters that are aware of the challenges ahead, but have a foundation of the tools available to meet those challenges. The challenges addressed by forestry are numerous; worsening fire seasons, invasive pests, sustainably-growing wood products, conserving ecosystems, and public outreach. A forester needs a quality education in finance, logistics, biology, policy, measurements, and taxonomy (to name a few subjects). Not to mention curriculum that enhances one’s ability to communicate because these skills cannot be undervalued. We include a healthy dose of “boots on the ground” training as well. A student wildland firefighting team called the “FireDawgs” began in 2009 that is still going strong, and has become a support to other HBCU’s growing their own programs. We respond to calls for assistance with wildlfire from the Alabama Forestry Commission. Assisting the Forest Service’s efforts with wildfire has been a series of individual efforts during the summer, but we are currently working out an agreement to respond together as a team. We stay ready for wildfires and benefit our local community by leading prescribed burns on private and public properties. Belonging on a fire team is a great way to build leadership skills for our students while getting important time in the field, and meeting local landowners and government representatives.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
I chose to pursue a forestry degree almost on a whim; not really knowing what a forester does but also not being able to imagine myself doing anything else for a job, so i thought “why not?”. Spending time in the woods tends to grow on you. But I can point to two particular moments that have stuck with me. Reading an early account of the Southeast, before European settlement, written by a botanist absolutely floored me. The author’s descriptions of the flora and fauna of the South leaves the present-day reader feeling a sense of loss at the great forests and woodlands that have since disappeared. I now find value in the little pieces that remain even more. The second event I remember vividly is a helicopter flight I took out of an airport in West Atlanta. Part of my previous job was dropping fire ignition devices from the helicopter to speed execution of prescribed fires. The particular assignment that day was a tract located roughly 60 miles from the airport. That was my first helicopter flight out of Atlanta. At that altitude and pace the vastness of the sprawl is stunning. It was a sequence of the following: neighborhood, fastfood, gas station, Home Depot, Walmart. This just repeated again and again as the chopper moved at 60 miles an hour; all connected by a four-lane highway. It didn’t stop until we reached the assignment. That highway, like all the rest in that City, are gridlocked in traffic twice every day. And this is the American Dream? There must be a better way.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
Every year the forestry schools of the Southeast square off in a competition of physical and mental forestry skills among the students. All forestry schools are there including Auburn, University of Florida, Clemson, and others. These are large forestry schools with a long history of tradition. We are a small forestry school by comparison, and relatively young. Because of Covid, we had not attended the event in years, so long in fact that our students who attended the last competition are now graduated. Here we are, little Alabama A&M, competing. We took five students to complete in about 20 events so every student is doing at least two events — one student did four! We did manage a couple of nice finishes; particulary in the knife throw, log roll, and timber estimation, but the real prize was seeing the comradere built between our students and those of the other forestry schools. Everyone camping together and sharing in friendly competition tends to bring people together. The students are excited to compete next year. We host the event in 2025 so that will be another exciting challenge.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
HBCUs like Alabama A&M University have a long and proud tradition of supporting student education through building confidence, fostering a sense of pride and belonging, and cultivating positive impact through service. None of this is possible without the help from mentors in our community. This program is strong because of partnerships with the Forest Service, USDA, and the Alabama Forestry Commission. And of course, I can’t not mention our alumni who come back and mentor the students. I’ve had my own mentors, my professors at University of Georgia come to mind. What I learned from them is the importance of making the most of one’s college years. I try to impress upon the students that when they complete this program, they will have skills that will provide for their livelihood and provide a service to humanity. Our need to use our natural resources wisely will only become more urgent.
Are there three things the community, society, or politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
Insist that the municipality has a written and transparent development plan addressing zoning before new roads are built or traffic lanes added. So many road-widening or highway-dividing schemes, ostensibly built to shorten travel times, themselves encourage sprawling development that quickly induce travel times to pre-construction levels. New lanes, without reasonable zoning, are the primary cause of our retreating rural areas. When infrastructure moves in, applying prescribed fire becomes much more difficult and typically just stops entirely. This leads to a cascade of negative consequences as the landscapes remain or transition to fire intolerant communities. Fire dependent species disappear. Wildfire danger increases as fuels build, but to elevate the stakes, now human life and property are at risk because they are in the wildland-urban interface.
Another is to support initiatives that promote prescribed fire. Fire is a natural (and once very common) element in North America. Natural landscapes cannot exist here without it. Prescribed fire is our second-best protection on a large scale against catastrophic wildfire. There is a misconception that we have the option to prevent every fire, as if it’s a matter of policy. The truth is that the only choice we ever had was between having frequent, low intensity fires such as existed historically, or more intense and destructive, though less frequent wildfires. It’s clear to me that it is much preferable to have the former. We need laws to support that. The Southeast has the Nation’s strongest protections for prescribed fire. It’s literally codified in our law. These laws recognize fire as part of a cultural heritage and a necessary tool for forest and field management. They give legal protection to landowners and professionals who carefully administer prescribed fire. My own children are the twelfth generation of fire providers on this continent, a practice the first generation likely learned from the natives.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
I can’t speak to running a business because I work in higher education, but I can say that any organization that wants to do their part to create a more sustainable and environmentally conscious world needs to approach it from a holistic perspective. At Alabama A&M University, we don’t just offer a forestry degree and teach students how to fight wildfires and call it a day. We are focused on sustainability and creating a more climate resilient world across all of our curriculum. We launched the largest sustainable bus system in Alabama, and across higher education. Our goal is to be one of the greenest and most climate resilient institutions, not just among HBCUs but among all of higher ed, and that requires us to be intentional and to look beyond the impact of any single individual program. Consistency and intentionality builds reputation. Reputation drives profit. Profit drives impact at scale.
What are some things you wish you knew when you first started and why?
- When advocating for a cause, especially a cause that needs a change in human behavior, stand shoulder to shoulder with those you are trying to persuade, not face to face. In the context of conservation, this involves both the conservationist and public standing side by side and observing the environmental concern. Then they begin to understand, maybe even on their own come to the correct conclusion to address the problem. That is the most likely to change human behavior for the better. Contrast this with standing face to face and preaching exactly what lifestyle choice the public needs to make to resolve the issue. The latter method is not likely to result in any meaningful impact.
- Meet people where they are, metaphorically and physically. My previous work as a camp ranger taught me this. It was a unique position, being responsible for camp facilities and leading conservation ethics among the campers. I learned that if the cabin lights don’t come on or the toilet doesn’t flush, they are not much interested in anything I might say about conservation. Similarly, a farmer doesn’t want to hear that he’s plowing too close to the creek and it’s impacting wildlife. He’s trying to pay the bills. Instead he might listen how that widening stream buffers might increase his hunting lease income or that perhaps there is a conservation payment available for the conservation practice that allows all to share in the cost and benefit of conservation.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
To this question, one might answer “Well, because you live in the environment, you should keep it clean for your own health”. That’s a good enough answer I guess. In developed nations, we have laws that pretty much compel us to keep our environment “healthy enough” for human habitation. My own interests lie beyond that though. Human population continued to grow after the last passenger pigeon was killed. The last wild red wolf disappeared and we seemed to suffer no ill. But the Southeast became a simpler place, with less wonder; less room to connect with our primitive self. And we’ve continued to watch any remaining semblance of wild space retreat further from our population centers. How can biodiversity and functioning ecosystems be restored? What has become clear to me is that as much as we need more people making a positive impact, we must have many more people simply operating under the Hippocratic Oath to “First, do no harm.” Take a critical look at where you choose to live, what you eat, how far you drive. These questions and decisions may seem mundane or innocuous but they have an impact. The suburban lifestyle is incompatible with sustainability and conservation. Full stop. Ecosystem harm is being done on our behalf, in the pursuit of our spending power.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Fear is the path to the dark side.” –Master Yoda
Now I’d say that are some things we should absolutely fear, but who am I to correct a 900 year old Force-wielder? I take it to mean that we’ll be happier if we don’t let a tendency to cling to the comfortable routine keep us from daring to pursue our passions. I once had the choice between two job offers in my field, one was clearly the safe choice, but couldn’t fully enable my potential. The other offer challenged my greatest professional strengths. Neither was a bad choice, but making a choice out of fear of the uncertain is a dark place to be.
How can our readers follow you online?
Readers can keep up with the FireDawgs and connect with me on Instagram @Jeremy.whigham and @aamuforestryclub.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Social Impact Heroes Helping Our Planet: Why & How Jeremy Whigham Of Alabama A&M University Is… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.