CWU researchers studying charcoal, pollen to find out more about fire history

Researchers at Central Washington University are studying charcoal and pollen found in the bottom of lakes in Eastern Washington to learn more about fire history in the area.

Megan Walsh, an associate professor in the Department of Geography in her sixth year at Central, is teaching graduate and undergraduate students how to conduct charcoal research and how it can help people understand the fire landscape of an area thousands of years in the past.

Walsh got hooked on charcoal research while completing her bachelor's of science at the University of Denver. She did her master's degree counting charcoal at the University of Utah, and earned her Ph.D. counting charcoal and pollen at the University of Oregon.

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