Dr. Melissa Pingree

Dr. Melissa Pingree is a Research Applications Scientist with the Western Fire and Forest Resilience Collaborative, where she works to translate fire and forest science into practical tools, syntheses, and guidance for land managers across the western United States. Her expertise bridges fire ecology, forest soil science, and applied land management, with a particular focus on how wildland fire shapes soil biogeochemistry, carbon and nitrogen cycling, and post-fire landscape recovery. 

Prior to joining WFFRC, Dr. Pingree served as a Forest Soil Scientist with the USDA Forest Service on the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana, where she led the forest-wide soils program, contributed to NEPA planning, and led the Burned Area Emergency Response and Rehabilitation program. She remains engaged in the National Federation of Federal Employees Forest Service Council (NFFE-FSC) Union as a shop Steward for Local 60 serving western Montana Forest Service bargaining unit employees. Before joining the Forest Service, she worked as a Soil Scientist with the Bureau of Land Management's Medford District in Oregon, leading Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation efforts following major wildfires and contributing to river management planning along the Wild and Scenic Rogue River corridor. 

Dr. Pingree also conducted postdoctoral research at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, investigating biochar as a carbon sequestration tool in boreal forest soils, and at the University of Idaho, where she developed novel methods for characterizing microbial transport by wildland fire smoke. She earned her PhD in Environmental and Forest Sciences from the University of Washington, her M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences from Western Washington University, and her B.Sc. in Resource Conservation from the University of Montana.