Name: Craig Comstock
Title: GIS Analyst, UROP Coordinator
Phone: 406-243-6777
Email:
Go Back
Craig Comstock is GIS Analyst at the National Center for Landscape Fire Analysis, College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana and coordinates the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program
Growing up in Bakersfield left me with an appetite for dynamic and diverse landscapes. I am not saying I lived in a purely static environment; however, the elements lacking were to be part of the list that would fuel my passion for exploration. After high school I became interested in fire service. I worked on a shot crew out of Bodfish, Calif. Station 72 for two summers (1989 and 1990); the crew is currently known as Rio Bravo Hotshots. During the spring semesters of those years I attended Columbia College's fire program, where I focused on municipal fire service coursework. I left the fire program to pursue a degree in Geography at the University of Montana.
I graduated from the U of M in 1999 and immediately began working for the Forest Service as a cartographic technician, working primarily on land status. After four years with the USFS, I started working at U of M as a GIS Analyst for the NCFLA. My current projects at NCLFA are the Wildland Fire BaseMap and the Fire Atlas. During the fire season in the northern hemisphere I am fortunate to be a member of our Fire Intel Module and have the opportunity to make my office the field.
I am a person with keen interest in the varied landscapes across the Northern Rockies, the Great Basin and the Pacific Northwest. Both my job and my personal endeavors allow me to be connected to these landscapes in ways that are meaningful to me. In my spare time I enjoy exploring Western Montana by foot, wheel and ski. At NCLFA I have increased my understanding of fire ecology, which has enhanced the way I view the spatio-temporal patterns across the landscape encountered during my outdoor endeavors.
