Brianne Mecum
GIS and Data Visualization Manager
Oceana Staff
Brianne Mecum is the GIS and Data Visualization Manager in Oceana’s Alaska office, where she leads the development of spatial analysis and visual storytelling through cartography and design to support campaigns from the Arctic to the California Current and beyond.
Brianne has worked on a wide range of issues, including efforts to stop offshore drilling in the Arctic, protecting critical habitats in the Bering Strait, or mapping and defining ecological hotspots across the North Pacific through Oceana’s Important Ecological Area Atlas projects. She has also had the immense honor of contributing to subsistence mapping projects in partnership with Arctic communities, mapping local and traditional indigenous knowledge and place names. While she can often be found organizing and managing spatial data and going blurry eyed wading through massive datasets, her real passion lies in cartography and design when she gets to use her artistic side to make beautiful maps and graphics. With a background in Physical Geography, Natural Resources Planning, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from Western Washington University, Brianne brings a multidisciplinary approach to her work, bridging science, policy, communication, and design. She is passionate about using cartography and data visualization to make complex environmental issues accessible and compelling and to, hopefully, inspire action. Outside the office, Brianne enjoys exploring Southeast Alaska’s wilderness by ski, bike, boat, or on foot. She can often be found adventuring with her two young kids, rediscovering her love for Alaska and the natural world through their eyes.
