Logan Brown '95
Peace Corps AdminstrationTHE PEACE CORPS was in the back of Logan Brown's mind throughout college. After graduating in 1995, he did some environmental organizing work, but he wanted to see if his skills would transfer to different regions with different problems. When he signed up for the Peace Corps, he had wanted to go to Central America. Instead, he was stationed in the remote far east of Russia, near Siberia. But Brown was in no way discouraged. "That's all part of the adventure," he said, "going somewhere you've never been or would never think to go otherwise."After three months of intensive language training,
Brown was sent to his village to work with a non-governmental organization for environmental development. Primarily, the group was concerned with eliminating the poaching of the Siberian tiger and developing new techniques for tracking the elusive animal. In the winter, he worked alone in the field, taking turns with his coworkers doing one-week stints in a remote research station. In the mornings Brown would trek a 3-kilometer triangle through the woods looking for markings. In the afternoons he would cut wood, cook, and get water. Although he faced dangerously cold temperatures, limited water sources, and the constant threat of an encounter with a tiger, Brown enjoyed this part of the job. "I really developed a taste for solitude," he said.
In the fall and summer he taught ecology and helped direct the curriculum for environmental education at the village school. As part of this program, Brown had his students paint pictures of the local endangered species. He and a coworker then wrote a proposal to orchestrate a large mail exchange of similar paintings by American students. They received the grant and used the extra money to turn the students' art into a wall calendar. Proceeds from the calendar were slated to fund the next year's mail exchange. In addition to the harsh weather, Brown found the social climate to be another glacial challenge. For the first several months, he was paraded around the village as an oddity. Villagers often asked him if he were a spy. The question bothered him at first. But as he became acclimated to a different perspective, Brown realized the cause of their concern; Eastern Russia is one of the last great repositories for natural resources, and for years foreigners have capitalized on this by heavily foresting and hunting the area. To the villagers, "spy" was synonymous with someone who takes advantage of them. They weren't worried about national security; they were worried about being manipulated. For Brown, their anxiety further legitimized his mission.  | | Logan Brown '95 sitting on the step of the caravan that served as his research outpost in eastern Russia, where he tracked endangered Siberian tigers and taught ecology as a Peace Corps volunteer. |
Brown left Russia a few months early to receive medical treatment in the United States. He returned to the fast pace of D.C. (the transition after coming back was harder than going over, he said) and signed on as an employee, helping to organize the Peace Corps' educational programs. While getting his Master's degree a year later at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, he worked as a campus recruiter. Brown is now putting his experiences to good use as a Ph.D. student in natural resources at the University of Vermont. Brown joined the Peace Corps because he wanted to take his work to another level. "I've done environmental work in a foreign culture, and that's given me a tremendous amount of confidence. Now, when I'm approached with a tough challenge or unique problem, I say, 'No problem. We can take care of that,'" he said. "After the Peace Corps, things aren't so intimidating.""There is tremendous educational value in taking everyday issues and seeing them through different cultural lenses," he said. "I had a lot of personal growth on that trip, and it colors what I do every day." Update - As of 2004, Logan Brown '95 works with the Peace Corps Adminstration in Greensboro, North Carolina.
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