Lynda LaFond, a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and native of Akeley, enlisted with the military when she was 17, hoping to see the world.

She spent her first three years stationed in Okinawa, Japan, before a deployment to Turkey and later Iraq. She excelled working with weaponry for F-15 and F-16 fighter planes. In 2004, she received the John Levitow Award for outstanding leadership and scholastic qualities, the highest recognition presented at Airman Leadership School.

Although proud of her service, LaFond eventually realized she wanted a different future. “I always loved biology,” said LaFond, who inherited a passion for land and wildlife management from her family. “I grew up hunting and looking for chokecherries to make jam, and now wild leeks, morel mushrooms, spearmint and wild bergamot.”

When she returned home, she enrolled at Bemidji State University, where she met biology professor Dr. Elizabeth Rave, who inspired her interest in conservation management and helped her find a project on a military base.

Much to her pleasure, LaFond spent two summers at the Grand Forks (N.D.) Air Force Base, studying the effects of various land management initiatives on populations of small mammals living in and around the base’s restored tallgrass prairie.

“I spent about 20 days a month trapping mice, looking at plants and getting my hands dirty,” she said. “Military lands can be great places to study protected ecosystems.”

Lafond received her bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in chemistry from Bemidji State in 2014. Along with a BSU master’s degree in biology, she has nearly completed a second degree in environmental studies with a minor in toxicology and plans to pursue a doctorate.

In February, LaFond received The Wildlife Society’s 2015 Student Conservation Award, given to a Minnesota student who shows high scholastic achievement and promise as a future wildlife professional. She is a founding member of The Wildlife Society’s BSU chapter and has served as its president and vice president.

“She’s smart, she’s talented and she has ambition,” said Rave, who nominated her for the award. “She’s passionate about the outdoors, and she takes the initiative to get things done. I know she will go far.”

Inspired by her BSU experience, LaFond aspires to manage military lands — perhaps returning to Japan — and then teach in the field of biology.

“I really couldn’t have asked for a better place than Bemidji State to study biology,” she said. “I’m surrounded by all these passionate people who push me and support me.”