Posted on 01/13/2007 12:46:22 PM PST by La Enchiladita
WASHINGTON - Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth will retire next month and move back to Missoula, crossing paths with his replacement, Abigail Kimbell, who will move from that city to become the agency's first female chief.
Kimbell has been regional forester for the Northern Region since February 2004. She will be the agency's 16th chief.
Bosworth, whose retirement will be effective Feb. 2, received a standing ovation from agency employees who gathered Friday afternoon to hear the announcement of his replacement.
"I started with the Forest Service at a time when our focus was on getting out the timber cut," Bosworth said. "That's what we were all about. As you know, that's changed. The '90s were a period of transition to an era of focusing on what we leave on the land rather than what we take away."
The agency, during Bosworth's tenure updated its business procedures to transform itself from an agency at high risk of fraud and abuse to one that regularly gets clean audits, he said.
Kimbell also received a warm welcome from the crowd.
"I am honored, humbled, excited and not just a little bit frightened to take the helm of this great agency from someone I respect as deeply as I respect Dale Bosworth," she said.
She said some of the biggest challenges she will face include the changing demands for goods and services from the national forests, working with aging facilities, reducing hazardous wildfire fuels, addressing climate adjustments, while serving the diverse and growing American population, especially in the areas where urban and wildlands meet.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., voiced concerns about Kimbell, saying she has been willing to raise fees.
"While I'm pleased a Montanan has been picked for this important job, I'm concerned about Gail's willingness to charge additional fees to access public lands," Baucus said in a statement. "That's a wrong approach. I hope she backs away from plans that would limit Montanans' access to public lands for hunting, fishing and recreation."
(The) energy it takes from our organization trying to get forest health under control through thinning and prescribed fire - it's going to take a long time to get where we need to get," he said.
Bosworth said he kept his home in Missoula and will move back there to retire.
Ping.
Damn! I was hoping it would be Norm Mineta as it would get that wooden-headed idiot out of the DOT!
"The '90s were a period of transition to an era of focusing on what we leave on the land rather than what we take away.""
Translation: No tampering with the dry timber to ensure wildfires turn into catastrophes.
YOu must not like the FS....
My hubby who knows both of them some says Gail is good people.
Don't assume that about any Forester worth their salt. The agency was pretty much forced by court and congress to move in that direction, but doesn't mean they don't know the real meaning of mixed use. The really bad stuff came in when Dombeck, a non FS Clinton appointee was chief. The stuff making the dead and red wood stay on the ground are lawsuits. Forest managers would like it to go away.
bump
(playing with matche'zz);0)
I lived in that area in the 80's - what happened to the timber companies, and just as important - the families that sought a living via logging - is a damn shame. I went through a period of crunchy-granola philosophy, hey I was young and idealistic. Then I realized what was (and still today) going on. I'd rather have a logger for a neighbor than a so-called "environmentalist" anytime.
"True believer" environmentalists are scum. IMHO, of course.
The forest service chief ought to have a job title along the lines "the biggest stump".
wouldn't it be prudent to name Forest Gump to head the Forest department? My gosh- why can't they use hteir heads for once?
The following link does not relate to this thread http://sacredscoop.com
Thanks, Knitting. I posted this and ran out the door, so just looking in now.
Too bad about those lawsuits tying up common sense forest management.... grrrr.... yeah, I guess I was an environmentalist before I learned a thing or two.
Some, of course, say that the gubmint should not be owning and managing as much land as it does. I believe President Bush last year announced some BLM land would be leased or sold, a larger acreage than has been done in a long time...
That said, I would like to know it is sold TO when that occurs.
...would like to know WHO it is sold to ...
(For some reason, blogging is ruining my ability to include all necessary words in a sentence...)
She looks very academic. And yes, she looks like an Abigail.
I will never forget my early-90s trip up to Eureka, CA and environs. We took a drive through an area that had once bustled with logging and the towns were ghostly, especially the town of Orick with its deserted hotel and the large boarded-up Lumberjack Bar.
I would not know if the town has revived by now, but I was struck by the beautiful setting and the herd of elk I saw there.
The government is the original owner of every inch of land that wasn't owned before the US was founded. Most of the BLM lands were lands that the GLO couldn't sell. Unless your land was owned by Spanish or French landgrant, the odds are that the US owned it at one time.
Just some trivia.
The Forest Service was set up first and primarily to preserve and protect watersheds, and also to protect timberlands.
Again, a lot of these were lands owned by the US, unsold lands. A good bit of'em were considered undesirable, even, too steep to log, but critical for watershed.
You can than the US Geological Survey for deciding that watershed areas be protected. It was their idea, and they wanted to be the management office to handle it.
Denver today is crying because their watershed got screwed up in the fires of 2002. It takes a while to get those lands back in shape, and stupid lawsuits that prevent cities from protecting them just make it worse!
There is "environmentalism" which is a belief system, and then there is the study of the environment, it's interrelationships, the ways we can use it, the effects and dynamics. I like to call this conservationism nowadays, to protect it from the green movement, which seems to want to freeze a moment in time instead of looking at a dynamic system that changes, evolves, gets used, and to make it the best system for all concerned, where things are maximized, gets managed!
There's a lot of real science involved.
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