Kyle Gill started in his role as Director of Operations for the Cloquet Forestry Center (CFC) and Hubachek Wilderness Research Center (HWRC) in April 2024. At the University of Minnesota, Kyle earned his M.S. in Natural Resources Science and Management (2014) and his B.S. in Environment and Natural Resources (2007) .
Since 2015, Kyle has served as the Forest Manager and Research Coordinator for the UMN Experimental Forests, which includes CFC, HWRC, and other forested lands in St. Louis and Carlton Counties. In this role, he looks for connections between research and stewardship practices and continues a legacy of practicing sustainable land and data stewardship. This work allows the Experimental Forests to host a wide variety of natural resources research, education, and demonstration projects. He has collaborated with project leaders from public and private universities, industry partners, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and other community partners to support their research and teaching efforts.
Kyle is also involved in forestry professional societies and cooperatives. He currently serves as the co-chair of the communications committee for the Minnesota Society of American Foresters and has previously served as the State Chair and Lake Superior Chapter Chair. He is also a member of the Eastern Research Forest Managers group. He has contributed a variety of case studies to the Great Lakes Silviculture Library, which is supported by the Sustainable Forests Education Cooperative (SFEC), about land stewardship practices he and his predecessors have undertaken at the CFC. Kyle has served as an instructor for SFEC and other workshops, and has presented on research and stewardship at local, regional, and national conferences.
Q & A with Kyle Gill
- What do you hope to accomplish during your time in this role?
Our great team of people at CFC and HWRC are tasked with being good stewards of the Land, the buildings, and knowledge generated from both so that the Centers can host and support applied research, teaching, and stewardship relevant at a variety of scales of space and time. My hope is to be leader of the team in an era focused on relationship development and community vitality with both human and non-human members of our networks and communities. I see our Centers as two hubs in an interconnected network spanning academic, ecological, and economic communities. Our team members all have personal, professional, institutional, and other relationships across this network and, especially, a role to play in acting as representatives of the University of Minnesota in our rural communities. As such, we have a lot of land-, knowledge-, and facilities-based opportunities and responsibilities that we can share from our hubs. I’d like us to make sure to consider the relationships in both our human communities and expand our thinking beyond human scope to ecological communities and non-human beings - systems and beings we too often simply consider resources for our research or other use. I don’t think any of us want to be that person who only comes calling when we need to pull or take something from our friends! Instead, we want to be in reciprocal relationships.
- What does a typical work day look like for you?
On the typical work day and week, I set some intentions of what I’d like to work on in the short term that contributes to bigger and longer-term projects. But one of the best things about working for the University of Minnesota at a research and teaching forest is that no two days are ever alike!
My tasks look different every day, week, and season. On any given day, I could be at my computer reviewing a project proposal for a new or renewing field-based research or teaching project, working with data to keep our 113+ year weather station records or forest stewardship data up to date, developing a forest stewardship prescription that both supports ecological community vitality while also generating income so we can pay for seedlings, equipment, or other treatments that do not generate income, or reviewing job applications or our annual budget. On another day I might get to be out leading a workshop or wagon tour that highlights the applied research, teaching, and stewardship projects located on the land - especially restoration of fire in our fire-dependent community in collaboration with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Or, I might be connecting with people to explore ideas of how they might use the CFC or HWRC for their meeting, research, teaching, or group retreat needs. Or, I might be strategizing on how to prioritize practices of inclusive excellence locally and across the Research & Outreach Centers (ROC) system with the ROC DEI team. A couple of the main things that stay consistent are that (1) No day looks the same as the previous and (2) I work to keep out of the “hyperactive hive mind” of email communications because it can be such a trap of false productivity.
- What has been your favorite part of working at CFC/HWRC since 2015?
Continuous opportunities for personal and professional growth. Learning is a core personal value for me that aligns with one of the primary reasons the University of Minnesota exists.
I have really enjoyed the opportunities to philosophize about forest stewardship and assess the cognitive and cultural biases - predispositions - in my decision making. We all see and experience life through chosen and unchosen cultural and personal filters; I like to say that as humans, we’re all special and unique snowflakes but it is easy not to notice that we’re in a blizzard. I feel as though I’ve been tasked with being a good land steward and attempting to understand the whats, whys, and hows associated with the complex decision framework for land stewardship actions and inactions. As a gay, cis-gendered, Euroamerican white male with academic training in silviculture and applied forest ecology from UMN, I see the world both uniquely as an individual but also with some biases. My favorite part of my career so far has been assessing those unique and collective aspects in myself and the cultural identity groups to which I belong through the roles in which I help make land-based decisions for action or inaction. I enjoy being able to share and learn from others through writing reports and relationship-building dialogue.
The specific project(s) on which such learning has come to the forefront is working with fire. I had an understanding of fire in fire dependent ecological communities from my training, graduate work, and working on post-fire ecophysiology research projects during undergrad. I did not receive an understanding of my cultural relationship with fire, however, because the biased understanding from western science was that humans are generally separate from nature and not involved with “natural” fire regimes. Having this bias blown apart by fire history research and fire restoration projects has been an unexpected yet incredible learning opportunity. While many things have contributed to this explosion of understanding, it has primarily been fostered by recognizing that I get the opportunity to work on Indigenous land and recognizing that there are responsibilities that come with this opportunity. I am attempting to decolonize my mind and practices, and appreciate all the opportunities I have to collaboratively learn from and work with Indigenous knowledge keepers and practitioners.
- What motivates you each day?
Surprisingly (at least to me), I don’t think I’ve pondered my specific daily motivations. My guess is that maybe I’m motivated by a complicated mix of known, unknown, chosen, and unchosen personal and cultural biases?! Or more simply, food and deadlines?
I hope that on an average day, I’ll be most motivated by gratitude, generosity, and curiosity. No day is ever guaranteed and every day is a chance to be rooted in gratitude for the fact that we get to pursue what is in front of us. Death is a beautiful part of every being’s reality because it creates a constraint that sharpens our existence; the fact that we even get to exist at all and that we all grow up to be absorbed back into the earth is a fascinating part of life. I’ve been fortunate/unfortunate to have had to say farewell to a number of friends already even though I’m just in my “early-middle-middle-ages.” This has sharpened my understanding that no next day is guaranteed and it creates an opportunity for gratitude and joy for simply being in any given present moment. I hope this fosters a generous spirit and way of being in the world that I appreciate and get to share with others. I also want to be rooted in curiosity because there’s always more to know and experience.
- What do you do in your free time?
I be. Afterall, I am a human ‘being’ not a human ‘doing.’ I’ve intentionally pursued a healthy life-work balance so that when not at work, you can find me not at work. But I be while also doing things like endurance sports, such as running, skiing, and biking;walking, hunting, or skijoring with my dog Arlo; playing and listening to music; baking bread and eating good food; and connecting with friends and family. And I feel like there might be nothing more delightful than a great nap!