Dr. Megan Walsh

Current Positions

Professor, Department of Geography
Director, Integrated Energy Management Program
Director, Cultural and Environmental Resource Management Masters Program

Education

Ph.D. (U. of Oregon, 2008)- Natural and Anthropogenic Influences on the Holocene Fire and Vegetation History of the Willamette Valley, Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington; co-advisors: Drs. Cathy Whitlock and Patrick J. Bartlein

M.S. (U. of Utah, 2002)- Fire History of Two Selected Sites in the Spruce-Fir Life Zone of the Uinta Mountains, Utah, Determined Using Macroscopic Charcoal Analysis; advisor Dr. Katrina Moser

B.S. (U. of Denver, 1999)- Minors: Geography and French

Teaching

Courses currently taught at CWU (visit my website for more information):

• GEOG 107: Our Dynamic Earth (annually multiple quarters)
• GEOG 355: Geography of the Pacific Northwest (annually summer quarter)
• GEOG 387/487: Biogeography (every other spring quarter, odd years)
• GEOG 388/488: Weather and Climate (every other winter quarter, odd years)
• IEM 302: Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (every other fall quarter)
• SUST 301: Introduction to Sustainability (occasionally)
• GEOG 425: Geographical Field Methods (occasionally summer quarter)
• GEOG 454: Forest Environments (every other spring quarter, even years)
• GEOG 455: Pyrogeography (every other fall quarter, odd years)
• GEOG 493: Geography Field Experience (annually multiple quarters)
• CERM 505: Research Design and Proposal Development (occasionally)
• CERM 506: CERM Colloquium (annually fall quarter)
• CERM 522: CERM Resource Analysis (occasionally)

Current Research

For more information on my research visit my website.

I am a biogeographer and paleoecologist interested in the late Quaternary environments of western North America and Central America, specifically the role of fire on the landscape. I use high-resolution macroscopic charcoal and pollen analysis to reconstruct past changes in fire activity and vegetation and evaluate their relationship with climatic variability and human activity. I mostly work with sediment cores from lakes and wetlands, but I also work with archaeological sediments. I have done field work in Oregon, Washington, Utah, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, and most recently Belize. To find out more about my research and the Paleoecology Lab at CWU, click on the link to my website above!

Specific Interests:
Late Quaternary paleoecology and paleoclimatology; the role of fire in ecosystems of the western United States and Central America; (paleo)human/environment interactions; biogeographical impact of global climate change; application of paleoecological data to land-management policy

Current and past research locations:

• Eastern Cascades/Okanogan Highlands of Washington
• Western Cascades of Oregon
• Olympic Peninsula of Washington
• Northern Idaho Panhandle
• Northern and Southern Belize
• Willamette Valley of Oregon

Research Publications

Publications can be found on my website.

Brown, K.J., Dietz, E., Walsh, M.K., Hennebelle, A., Power, M.J. (2024). Charred particles and other paleofire proxies. In: Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, 3rd Edition. Elsevier.

McCutcheon, P. T., Ferry, J.D., Burtchard, G.C., Walsh, M.K. (2023). An approach for explaining technological and functional variation between four montane lithic assemblages near Mount Rainier, Washington. Journal of Northwest Anthropology 57(2), 167-193.

Mark, S. Z., Abbott, M. B., Steinman, B. A., Fernandez, A., Wise, E. K., Walsh, M. K., Whitlock, C. (2023). A link between hydroclimate variability and biomass burning during the last millennium in the interior Pacific Northwest. Geophysical Research Letters 50: e2023GL105202.

Walsh, M.K., Haydon, K.C., Swedberg, D. (2023). Postglacial fire and vegetation history from Doheney Lake in the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area, Okanogan County, Washington (USA). Northwest Science 96(1-2): 1-21.

Walsh, M.K., Anderson, K., Deardorff, E., Johnson, S., Kim, D., Mitre, R., Morrey, T., Nurmi, S., Ojeda, D., Telfer, L., Tumin-Roberts, J. (2021). Evaluating best practices for macroscopic charcoal-based fire history reconstructions through a research experience for undergraduates. Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers 83: 98-119.

Wetherell, L.R., Ely, L.L., Roering, J.J., Walsh, M.K., Burchfield, M.J., Nace, K.E., Wetherell, M.M., Struble, W.T. (2021). Quantifying sedimentation patterns of small landslide-dammed lakes in the central Oregon Coast Range. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, DOI: 10.1002/esp.5106.

Rushton, Z.A. and Walsh, M.K. (2021). Holocene fire history reconstruction of a mid-elevation mixed-conifer forest in the eastern Cascades, Washington (USA). The Holocene 31(5): 478-490.

Walsh, M.K., Duke, H.J., Haydon, K.C. (2018). Toward a better understanding of climate and human impacts on late Holocene fire regimes in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Progress in Physical Geography 42(4): 478-512.

Walsh, M.K., Lukens, M.L., McCutcheon, P.T., Burtchard, G.C. (2017). Fire-climate-human interactions during the postglacial period at Sunrise Ridge, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington (USA). Quaternary Science Reviews 177: 246-264.

Walsh, M.K., Marlon, J.R., Goring, S., Brown, K.J., Gavin, D.G. (2015). A regional perspective on Holocene fire–climate–human interactions in the Pacific Northwest of North America. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 105, 1135-1157. DOI: 10.1080/00045608.2015.1064457.

Walsh, M.K., Prufer, K.M, Culleton, B.J., and Kennett, D.J. (2014). A late Holocene paleoenvironmental reconstruction from Agua Caliente, southern Belize, linked to regional climate variability and cultural change at the Maya polity of Uxbenká. Quaternary Research 82, 38-50.

Walsh, M.K. (2014). Teaching geographic field methods using paleoecology. Journal of Geography 113, 97-106.

Marlon, J.R., Bartlein, P.J., Long, C., Gavin, D., Anderson, R.S., Briles, C.E., Colombaroli, D., Brown, K.J., Hallett, D.J., Power, M.J., Scharf, E., Walsh, M.K. (2012).  A long-term perspective on wildfires in the western US. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109, 3203-3205.

Power, M.J., Mayle, F.E., Bartlein, P.J., Marlon, J.R., Anderson, R.S., Behling, H., Brown, K.J., Carcaillet, C., Colombaroli, D., Gavin, D.G., Hallett, D.J., Horn, S.P., Kennedy, L.M., Lane, C., Long, C., Moreno, P.I., Paitre, C., Robinson, G., Taylor, Z., Walsh, M. 2012. Climatic control of the biomass-burning decline in the Americas after AD 1500.  The Holocene, 23: 3-13.

Marlon, J.R., Cui, Q., Gaillard, M. -J., McWethy, D., Walsh, M. (2010). Humans and fire: Consequences of anthropogenic burning during the past 2 ka. PAGES News 18, 80-82.

Walsh, M.K., Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J. (2010). 1200 years of fire and vegetation history in the Willamette Valley, Oregon and Washington, reconstructed using high-resolution macroscopic charcoal and pollen analysis. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 297, 273-289.

Kennett, D.J., Piperno, D.R., Jones, J.G., Neff, H., Voorhies, B., Walsh, M.K., Culleton, B.J. (2010). Pre-pottery agriculturalists on the Pacific Coast of Southwest Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science 37, 3401-3411.

Walsh, M.K., Pearl, C.A., Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., Worona, M. (2010). An 11,000-year-long fire and vegetation history from Beaver Lake, central Willamette Valley, Oregon.  Quaternary Science Reviews 29, 1093-1106.

Reynolds, R.L., Mordecai, J.S., Rosenbaum, J.G., Ketterer, M.E., Walsh, M.K., Moser, K.A. (2010).  Compositional changes in sediments of subalpine lakes, Uinta Mountains (Utah): evidence for the effect of human activity on atmospheric dust inputs. Journal of Paleolimnology 44, 161-175.

Marlon, J.R., Bartlein, P.J., Walsh, M.K., Harrison, S.P., Brown, K.J., Edwards, M.E., Higuera, P.E., Power, M.J., Anderson, R.S., Briles, C., Brunelle, A., Carcaillet, C., Daniels, M., Hu, F.S., Lavoie, M., Long, C., Minckley, T., Richard, P.J.H., Shafer, D.S., Tinner, W., Umbanhowar, Jr., C.E., Whitlock, C.  (2009). Wildfire responses to abrupt climate change in North America.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 106, 2519-2524.

Power M.J., et al. (2008). Changes in Fire Regimes Since the Last Glacial Maximum: An Assessment Based on a Global Synthesis and Analysis of Charcoal Data. Climate Dynamics 30, 887-907.

Walsh, M.K. (2008). Natural and Anthropogenic Influences on the Holocene Fire and Vegetation History of the Willamette Valley, Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington.  PhD Dissertation, University of Oregon, Eugene.

Walsh, M.K., Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J. (2008). A 14,300-year-long record of fire-vegetation-climate linkages at Battle Ground Lake, southwestern Washington. Quaternary Research 70, 251-264.

Whitlock, C., Bianchi, M.M., Bartlein, P.J., Markgraf, V., Marlon, J., Walsh, M., McCoy, N. (2006). Postglacial vegetation, climate, and fire history along the east side of the Andes (lat 41-42.5°S), Argentina. Quaternary Research 66, 187-201.

Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., Bianchi, M.M., Briles, C., Brunelle, A., Long, C., Markgraf, V., Marlon, J. Meeker, C., Power, M., Walsh, M. (2003). Disturbance frequency changes in western North and South America during the Holocene. EOS Transactions 84.

Walsh, M.K. (2002). Fire History of Two Selected Sites in the Spruce-Fir Life Zone of the Uinta Mountains, Utah, Determined Using Macroscopic Charcoal Analysis. Master’s Thesis, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Walsh, M. (2016). Fire and disturbance ecology. McGraw Hill, AccessScience, Online Encyclopedia of Science and Technology.

Walsh, M. (2014). Publishing in open-access journals: is there a risk? Northwest Science 88, 266-268.

Walsh, M.K. (2005). Vegetation history of the southern Willamette Valley. In: Mount Pisgah Arboretum Guidebook: A Natural History of the Southern Willamette Valley, Oregon, 11^th Edition, (Rhoda M. Love, ed.), pp. 140-146.