Contributors

Contributed entries to this blog are welcome and encouraged. Please contact Sharon at [email protected] with your entry.

Current Regular Contributors include:

Sharon Friedman

I came to the planning world relatively late in my career.  Although I worked on forests that were planning in the late 70’s and early 80’s (as the Area Geneticist for the Winema, Fremont, Ochoco and Deschutes), I managed to avoid planning except for some silvicultural models. I was the Director of an NFS Genetics Lab in Placerville, CA for a couple of years, then went on a hiatus to the RPA staff (worked on the 95 RPA), then managed the McIntire Stennis research program for the Agency Formerly Known as CSREES, then back to FS  R&D and then back to the National Forests in the NEPA shop in DC, and finally ended up as the Planning Director for the Rocky Mountain Region.  Somehow I also became a Roadless geek from many years of working on Colorado Roadless. But, fortunately for my sanity, I have done many other interesting non-planning things, which are in the link above. I have a B.S. in Forestry from U.C. Berkeley, a Masters in Forest Science from Yale F&ES and a Ph.D. in Genetics from University of New Hampshire.

I’m retired from the Forest Service now and enjoy community building in various forms. I also dabble in spiritual stuff, including researching and writing on the interface between the sacred and the psychic.

Jon Haber

After acquiring a B.S. in Resource Conservation from the University of Montana and a M.S. in Regional Natural Resource Planning from Colorado State University, I was employed for 32 years by the Forest Service. I helped develop forest plans for the Helena and Mt. Hood National Forests, and then spent the rest of my career working on regional and multi-regional planning efforts, planning litigation, and national planning policy and planning regulations from the Northern Region office here in Missoula. That included a long-term detail to Washington for the 2000 regulations, and participating on the national core team that developed the current 2012 Planning Rule. Along the way I picked up a law degree from Lewis and Clark College, and worked on litigation and appeals for the Pacific Northwest Region. I have always been interested in wildlife conservation, and I’ve specialized in applying the diversity provisions of National Forest Management Act and Endangered Species Act requirements. I’ve tried to promote thinking about coordinating planning for wildlife on both sides of the Forest Service “green line.” I’m still trying to contribute as a consultant, spending most of my time working for Defenders of Wildlife.

Larry Harrell

I am semi-retired from the Forest Service after 25+ years of experience, mostly in timber management. I have ample experience in marking timber and controlling loggers. My first job with them was as a fire lookout, 2500 feet above the north shore of Lake Tahoe. I have also been a firefighter, a wildlife surveyor and research data collector. My work has spanned across the country, working in 25 different National Forests, in 11 different States. My expertise is in controlling loggers, working on salvage projects, both as an independent Harvest Inspector and as a Timber Sale Administrator. I am also a freelance photographer, capturing fine art mountain landscapes, and re-capturing my old Kodachrome slide images. You don’t have to be a member of Facebook to access my page at: www.facebook.com/LarryHarrellFotoware Enjoy!

Matthew Koehler

I grew up in rural Wisconsin – in the Village of Elkhart Lake – surrounded by the Kettle Moraine State Forest, where my family goes back six generations. I’ve lived in Missoula, Montana since 1996 working on a variety of public lands, wildlife, wilderness, environmental and ‘fair trade’ issues.  My love for forests and wildlands came from my family and our time in nature enjoying our public lands. My dad was a house painter and got just one week vacation a year and it was always spent tent camping on public lands, mainly the Northern Highlands State Forest or various spots in the Chequamegon and Nicolet National Forests in Wisconsin. I paid my way through college by working at a lumber company building trusses and even spent a summer as a wildland firefighter in Oregon.

I’ve worked on public lands issues for the past 28 years for a number of conservation organizations. In my free-time I enjoy gardening, landscaping, putting up (and cooking up) food, hunting morels, elk and deer and, if you can believe it, playing the game of golf.

Les Joslin

Les Joslin is a retired U.S. Navy commander; a former U.S. Forest Service firefighter, wilderness ranger, and resource manager; and a former college and university instructor who lives and writes in Bend, Oregon. He has produced a dozen published titles–mostly on Forest Service history–and edited the Pacific Northwest Forest Service Association’s quarterly OldSmokeys Newsletter from 2006 through 2019.

Andy Stahl

Andy Stahl, a forester, is Executive Director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics.   Andy has worked for the USDA-Forest Service, Associated Oregon Loggers, National Wildlife Federation, and Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund (now called Earthjustice).

Steve Wilent

Steve Wilent is editor and publisher of Natural Resources Management Today, a monthly digital newsletter for North American natural resources professionals who manage fish, forests, range, water, wildlife, and other resources, as well as for the people who depend on or enjoy these resources (NRMToday.com). He served as editor of The Forestry Source, the monthly newspaper of the Society of American Foresters, from 2004 to June 2021. Wilent has been a forestry and natural-resources instructor at Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC), in Gresham, Oregon, since 1996. MHCC’s Natural Resources Technology program offers associate of applied science degrees (AAS) in forestry technology and wildlife management. Wilent has taught a variety of courses, including Wildland Fire Management and Fire Ecology, Timber Harvesting, Forest Measurements, Intro to Natural Resources, Current Issues in Forest Resources, and others.

Gil DeHuff

My experience in forestry began with the USFS fighting fires, brushing lines and doing TSI in Northern California the summer of ’64. Then I worked for the USFS in summers and part time the rest of my undergraduate years as caretaker for an experimental forest in VA and statistician in PA. Graduated from Va. Tech with a BS in Forest Management (with a biometrics option) and from UGA with a masters in quantitative forest management. Was in the Navy and then began my forestry carreer in 1971 retiring at the end of 2009. In-between I had very broad experience in the forestry and wood products industry mostly in the south with some corporate experience in San Francisco. Experience includes research experimental design and statistical analysis, computer programming and modeling with heavy experience in planning from Va to Tx, designing and managing large forest inventory systems and financial analysis for decision making including sale and purchase of significant acreages; specked, oversaw set up and managed a GIS system; division industrial engineer for two sawmills and two plywood plants and managed a sawmill. The wood products experience was in the middle of two stints on the forestry side. In summary, I was a change agent and a “bleeding edge” tech savvy person that got pulled in to meet a lot of different needs. Per the old Chinese curse: I have had an interesting life. Currently my pursuits are limited by fluctuations in my wife’s health so I come and go from this blog as her situation changes.
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