Regional foresters of the Alaska Region

Historic, Archive Document

Do not assume content reflects current
scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.

Reserve
aSD566
. A35U58
2012
Ov

FOREST SERVICE . UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

United States
Department of
Agriculture

National

Agricultural

Library

Advancing Access to
Global Information for
Agriculture

USDA

equal opportunity provider and employer.

REGIONAL FORESTERS
of the ALASKA REGION

U8. Department ol Ag»re
“ Natienal Agricultural Library

m ^ 1

Branch

“The greatest good for the greatest number of people in the long rum

Gifford Pinchot

Ap» 0n

S %

Produced by the Alaska Region • Beth Pendleton, Regional Forester

Forest Service, Alaska Region • U.S. Department of Agriculture

R10-FR-008 July 2012

The story of Alaska's great national forests cannot be separated from the
compelling story of its people and their history. This timeline is predated
by over 10,000 years of settlement by Alaska Natives before the first
Europeans arrived.

1741

Z1776

1799

1805

1867

1880

1892

1896

1902

1905

1907

1910

1911

1913

1919

1924

1933

1937

1942

1942

1948

The first European expedition to Alaska was led by Russians Vitus Bering
and Aleksei Chirikov.

Captain James Cook of England journeys into Turnagain Arm and Prince
William Sound.

Aleksandr Andreyevich Baranov establishes the Russian trading post
known today as Old Sitka.

First cargo of Russian furs from Russian America is delivered to China.
Secretary of State, William H. Seward, negotiates purchase of Russian
America for $7.2 million, less than two cents per acre.

Joe Juneau and Richard Harris discover gold in Snow Slide Gulch and
established a mining camp that would grow to become present-day
Juneau.

President Benjamin Harrison establishes Afognak Forest and Fish
Culture Reserve, a precursor to the Chugach National Forest.

The Klondike Gold Rush begins.

President Theodore Roosevelt establishes Alexander Archipelago
Forest Reserve— a precursor to the Tongass National Forest.

William A. Langille, the first forest supervisor for the Alaskan Forest
Reserves.

Tongass and Chugach national forests established by Presidential
proclamation.

Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot fired by President Taft over his
efforts to protect Chugach lands near Cordova from coal mining.

William G. Weigle, forest supervisor of the national forests in
Alaska.

First Alaska Territorial Legislature convenes.

Charles H. Flory, district forester (became first in region to be called
regional forester).

Congress extends citizenship to all American Indians and Alaska
Natives.

Civilian Conservation Corps in Alaska builds campgrounds, roads, trails,
and restores Native totem poles in Old Kassan.

B. Frank Heintzleman, regional forester (became Governor of the Alaska
Territory in 1953).

Japan bombs Dutch Harbor; invades Aleutian Islands.

Alaska Spruce Log Program established on Tongass to provide airplane
lumber for military use.

The Alaska Highway opens to civilian traffic.

1951 The first of two 50-year timber contracts begins with a pulp mill in
Ketchikan.

1953 Arthur W. Greeley, regional forester

1956 Timber sales reach 200 million board feet per year.

1956 Percy D. Hanson, regional forester

1957 Atlantic Richfield discovers oil on the Kenai Peninsula, ushering in
Alaska's modern oil era.

1959 Alaska is admitted to the United States as the 49th state.

1962 Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center is built— the first in the Forest Service.

1964 W. Howard Johnson, regional forester

1964 Wilderness Act passed to protect wilderness resources. An earthquake
rocks Southcentral Alaska.

1969 National Environmental Policy Act passed to establish a national policy
for the environment.

1971 Charles A. Yates, regional forester

1971 Congress passes Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).

1974 Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Ac- )assed
requiring forests to submit plans that provide for multipl - use and
sustained yields of products and services.

1976 John A. Sandor, regional forester

1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) passed to
bring a balance to competing demands on Alaska's natui resources.

1984 Michael A. Barton, regional forester

1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound.

1990 Tongass Timber Reform Act passed

1994 Phillip J. Janik, regional forester

1997 Record of Decision for the Tongass Land and Resources Management
Plan Revision.

1999 Rick D. Cables, regional forester

2001 Dennis E. Bschor, regional forester

2001 USDA promulgates the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

2002 Tongass National Forest celebrates the 100th anniversary of the
Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve, forerunner of the Tongass.

2007 Chugach National Forest Centennial

2009 Heen Latinee Experimental Forest established near Juneau for

researchers to study the largest temperate rainforest in the world.

2009 Secretary of Agriculture directs USDA agencies to develop an
economic diversification strategy to help Southeast Alaska
strengthen its economy.

2010 Beth G. Pendleton, regional forester

Fish & Industry

$63.4 M Commercial salmon harvested from NFS
$79 M Commercial salmon harvest associated with
NFS fish production (12yr. average)

a &

21.95 M

3.3 M

5.3 M

5.8 M

2.1 M

364 K

53.6 K

16.7 K

21.4 K

1.3 K

536

31

Mining

56 Mines with plans of operations

Recreation

2.8 M
1.1 K
1.2K
188

Water

Acres of national forest land in Alaska
Acres of national monument
Acres of wetlands
Acres of designated wilderness
Wilderness study acres
Acres of lakes
Miles of streams
Miles of coastline
Miles of anadromous fish streams
Miles of road

Miles recommended Wild & Scenic Rivers

Number of federally recognized tribes within national forest responsibility

er
33 M
44 M

Recreation visits

Total special-use permits

Miles of hiking trails

Number of public use recreation cabins

Board feet of timber harvested
Board feet of timber sold

William A. Langille
William G. Weigle
Charles H. Flory
B. Frank Heintzleman
Arth ur W. Greeley
Percy D. Hanson
William H. Johnson
Charles A. Yates
John A. San lor
Mich ae I A. Barton
Phillip J. Janik
Rick D. Cables
Dennis E. Bschor
Beth G. Pendleton

Fiscal

648 Employees in Alaska
15 Towns with Forest Service staff
$103.7 M Total budget
$44.8 M Total FY 10 Economic Recovery
$18.84 M Secure Rural Schools

$9 M In contracts awarded in Alaska
$6.8 M in contracts awarded to Alaskan firms

1

2

WILLIAM A. LANGILLE

n recording the annals of the U.S. Forest Service in
'Alaska, historian and author Lawrence Rakestraw said,
“For the first six years of its management, the story of the
Alexander Archipelago and of the Tongass nation forests
is essentially the story of one man — William Alexander
Langille.”1

William Langille was born in Nova Scotia in 1 868. He attended public schools in
Nova Scotia and Chicago, Illinois, before moving with his family to Hood River,
Oregon, in 1880. Langille and his brother became guides on Mount Hood and
participated in the creation of the Cascade Range Forest Reserve.

Langille was an accomplished outdoorsman, a skillful hunter, and a “man of
magnificent physique.”2 In 1897, Langille' s imagination was captured by the
Klondike Gold Rush. He traveled to Alaska and shared a cabin with Jack London
and “Buck,” the hero of London's story, The Call of the Wild. Langille mined at
Dawson, Yukon Territory, Canada, and later in Nome, Alaska.

In 1902, while prospecting in Nome, Langille was summoned to Washington,
D.C., to talk with President Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, who became
the Foiest Service s first chief. They offered Langille the fine salary of $1,800 to
$2,000 per year to work in Alaska as a forestry expert.

Langille letumed to Alaska in 1903. He traveled extensively in the Southeast,
mostly by boat. He eventually made his way to Prince William Sound, Valdez, and
the Kenai Peninsula. After reaching Seward, he traveled by dog team to Fairbanks
to see the forests in the interior. I le later came full circle, returning to Southeast to
become the forest supervisor of the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve.

Langille initially set up his headquarters in Wrangell, and then relocated to the
ai&ei town of Ketchikan. He found office space for twenty dollars a month, and
later had a floating office on the newly acquired Forest Service launch Tahn , the
List of several ranger boats in Alaska.

1905 - 1911

During his long field trips, Langille carried a .22 rifle and lived
off the land. He was well versed in botany, mammology, and
photography. He used his extensive cartography skills to map
boundaries and timber sales. He was a detailed record-keeper.
Langille was also an excellent writer who was able to convey in
words his spirit of adventure and appreciation of the natural beauty
he encountered in his daily work.

Langille’s research and reports back to Washington influenced
policymaking on the “vast natural resources in the Alaska." He
met with the public and government officials to tackle both new
and old issues surrounding existing timber mills, timber sales,
timber trespassing, mining and minerals, game laws, fisheries,
and healthy salmon streams. He was keenly concerned about
wildlife preservation and the wanton trophy hunting on the Kenai
Peninsula.

Following the passage of the Antiquities Act in 1906, Langille was
instrumental in the preservation of historic sites on federal lands
and focused on totem poles and Native community houses. He
helped to create the Sitka National Monument, site of the Native
village that fought with the Russians in 1804.

On Langille’s recommendation, the Chugach National Forest
was designated in 1907. He traveled from Ketchikan to Valdez
to meet the public and explain new forest policy. At that time,
copper mining and fishing were the main sources of income in
Prince William Sound. Also in 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt
established the Tongass National Forest, which was consolidated a
year later with the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve.

Langille resigned from the Forest Service July 31, 1911. He is
considered to be the father of forestry in Alaska in part because he
established the boundaries of the Chugach and Tongass national
forests. His real legacy, however, was the methodical research,
meticulous recordkeeping, and trove of correspondence he left to
set the stage for those who would later take up the role as head of
the Forest Service in Alaska.

3

Forest Ranger on the Tongass (circa 1918).

Forest Service office in Cordova (1917).

4

WILLIAM G. WEIGLE

Ifliam Weigle was bom September 20, 1866,
in Bendersville, Pennsylvania. He worked as a school
principal and railroad worker. He attended a summer forestry
course conducted by Yale University at Grey Towers, the
Pinchot estate in Milford, Pennsylvania. He later co itinued
his education at Yale, and joined the Forest Service n 1905,
working in Pennsylvania and New York. '

As Weigle’s career progressed, he traveled west, taking charge of timber sales in
Wisconsin, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, ( Vuiahoma, and
Oregon. In 1909 he became supervisor of the Coeur d’Alene National Forest in
Idaho. It was there he first took on the task of clearing saloons and brothels from
national forest lands, a job skill that would prove useful in Alaska.

Weigle was a hero of the Great Fire of 1910 that claimed 85 lives and consumed
three million acres in Montana and Idaho. He helped evacuate the citizens of
Wallace, Idaho, holding out in a mine shaft when he was caught in the flames.

By 1910, the dean of the Yale Forestry School, Henry Solon Graves, had
succeeded Gilford Pinchot as Forest Service Chief. Graves was keenly interested
in the management ot Alaska’s forests and desired to send well-educated foresters
to the field. He sent Weigle to Alaska in 1911 to succeed William Langille, who
trained Weigle in navigation and the operation of boats.

Weigle wrote. The motor boat took the place of the saddle and pack horse; hip
boots and a rain slicker the place of chaps; and it was much more essential that a
i anger knew how to adjust his spark plug than be able to throw a diamond hitch.
His steed may do just as much pitching and bucking, but this is prompted not by a
spirit ot animal perversity but by the spirits of climatic adversity/’4

Weigle was described as “...a large, powerful, redheaded man of German ancestry,
e was a man of action rather than a philosopher, a practical forester who liked
wor . Weigle, a bachelor, was well liked and respected by his staff, who
appreciated his raw humor and relaxed management style.

1911 - 1919

When Weigle arrived in Alaska he hired forest examiners, surveyors,
scalers, and rangers. The people who lived on the Tongass National Forest
were generally satisfied with the management of timber sales, and salmon
fishing was productive. On the Chugach, however, many blamed the
Forest Service for cancellation of coal claims, saying it delayed economic
development.

With the added staff came the need for more boats. In addition to the Tahn ,
the Restless , Prospector , and Ranger 4 were added to the fleet. A wanigan,
or houseboat, was built to provide better accommodations for the field crew.

Weigle’s men marked timber sales, cruised timber, enforced regulations,
surveyed, and furnished transportation not only for government officials,
but for scattered settlers in need of assistance and rescue. Timber sales
increased due to demands for construction timber, fish boxes, and Sitka
spruce for airplane construction during World War I. Setting boundaries
on the Tongass and Chugach was a major task, taking place during a time
when competing interests of governing officials — such as agriculture
and railroad building — were threatening to eliminate the national forests.
The crews faced hazardous weather, high tides, bears, mosquitoes, thick
underbrush, and devil’s club.

Lawrence Rakestraw wrote:

Weigle was a worthy successor to Langille, and his administration was
marked by many achievements. He opened the forest to agricultural
as well as to timber use. The Forest Service during that time was
under fire almost continually, and Weigle stood firm against many
pressures. He gave the forests strong administration and through the
use of common sense settled many disputes amicably. Sometimes a
heroic and sometimes a comic figure, he was admired for his best
qualities and loved for his foibles.6

William Weigle gave up bachelorhood to marry a Ketchikan schoolteacher.
In 1919, he left Alaska for Washington State to become the Snoqualmie
National Forest supervisor.

5

Loading clear Sitka spruce at Juneau Lumber Mills for shipment by scow to Seattle, Washington (1923).

Paradise Valley at Cooper Landing with a Emergency Conservation Work Act (ECW), trail crew (1933).

6

CHARLES H. FLORY

harles H. Flory was bom June 24, 1 880, in Arcanum,
Ohio.7 He was a graduate of Yale University who
served as chief of operations in Portland, Oregon, h 1919,
Flory was named superintendent of Alaska’s forests. In 1921,
bowing to both internal and external pressure to decentralize
the agency, the Forest Service separated Alaska from the
Portland office to create District 8. Flory became Alaska’s first
district forester.

The Forest Service was in a time of transition, and the Alaska district was both
underfinanced and understaffed, and known as . .the most neglected of all
districts.’ 8 Chief Forester Greeley traveled to Alaska to personally inspect the
forests, but many plans that were made for the Chugach and Tongass never came
to fruition.

Flory s many sideline activities detracted from his day-to-day work as district
forestei. He spent time as an ex-officio commissioner for the Department of
Agriculture for Alaska, founded the Juneau Garden Club, collected rocks, and

wrote a manuscript on the history of the Ballinger-Pinchot dispute, which was later
lost.

In 1920, Flory became the Forest Service representative to the Alaska Committee,
a multi-agency effort to develop coordinated policies for land issues, patents,
records, boundary issues, and surveys. Flory also served as chairman of the Alaska
onmnssion foi a peiiod, which was set up in 1930 to coordinate activities of
aT ,epa*mCnt Agr^cu^ure> Department of Commerce, and the Land Office in
as a. ie work took about half of Flory ’s time, and required him to be out of the
office a great deal.

aiopuv n . 1 w i eg i ui is, so riory Decani

, J , !'eglonal forester- At time, Flory ’s office was moved from
Ketchikan to Juneau, which has remained the site of the regional office.

1919 - 1937

Alaska continued to grow in the 1920s. In fact, during the 1920s and 1930s,
timber sales thrived, with mills in Juneau, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Craig,

Sitka, Seward, and Cordova. By 1921 there were 10 ranger boats in use, and
boatmen were an important component of the workforce. The marine station
on Gravina Island near Ketchikan was enlarged to handle boat building and
repair.

The Forest Service continued to work on the boundaries of the Chugach and
Tongass national forests, negotiating with the National Park Service and
General Land Office’s Alaska Field Division. The Tongass added Icy Strait,
Lituya Bay, the west side of Lynn Canal, and the Mansfield Peninsula. The
boundaries of the Glacier Bay National Monument were established in 1925.

Between 1919 and 1928, the Navy took aerial photographs that were
important tools in developing the timber resources in Southeast Alaska. For
the first time, an overview of the nine million acres of the Juneau Ranger
District could be done in one day by plane.

In 1931, field divisions were set up to replace ranger districts at Ketchikan,
Petersburg, Juneau, Anchorage and Cordova. Several inspectors came from
the Washington Office during this period, and in general, praised the local
administration.

In 1933, during the Great Depression, Flory took over all the Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) projects in Alaska. He was interested in Native
antiquities and Alaska history. He used some CCC funds to work with the
National Park Service and the University of Alaska to excavate the site
of Old Sitka. About 1,000 Russian and Native artifacts were located and
transferred to the University of Alaska. He worked with the Park Service to
move and preserve totem poles from Old Kasaan. CCC workers also built
trails, bridges, roads, campgrounds and other facilities.

Controversy surrounded Flory’s administration in 1936. Common practices
in Alaska, such as allowing the use of Forest Service boats to take families
on picnics, came under fire from the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau
of Personnel. Shortly after, Flory was transferred to Washington State. B.
Frank Heintzleman, who condemned the report and Flory’s move, was
nevertheless named Alaska’s new regional forester.

7

CCC enrollee Joe Thomas uses an adz to work on Baranof totem at Wrangell. He is wearing a traditional
Tlingit potlatch button blouse (1941).

B. FRANK HEINTZLEMAN

rank Heintzleman was bom in Pennsylvania
December 3, 1888. He studied at Pennsylvania State
Forest Academy and Yale University. He served in the Forest
Service in the Pacific Northwest before coming to Alaska in
1918 to be a deputy forest supervisor. In 1937, he succeeded
Charles Flory as regional forester, serving during the
presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman.

Heintzleman was described as “...short in stature, tremendously energetic, an able
public speaker, and devoted to community affairs.”9 He was considered to be tough
on his men but quick to defend them from outside criticism. He was a lifelong
bachelor who enjoyed social life, and was dedicated to Alaska and its issues. He
was active in the Presbyterian Church, the Masons, the Juneau Public Library, and
the Alaska Historical Library and Museum.

Heintzleman believed forest research was essential in developing the technical
tools needed tor proper forest management. When he lacked funds for research, he
used timber management money. Maybeso Experimental Forest was established
on Prince of Wales to determine the effects of clearcutting on salmon streams and
to investigate the effects of clearcut timber harvesting on forest regeneration and
regrowth.10 Heintzleman also had measurements taken of trees being cut for saw
timber and piling in order to make local volume tables.

Heintzleman had oversight of the Civilian Conservation Corps in Alaska. By
1937, the CCC had enrolled 1,037 men who were working in the national forests
of Alaska out of Ketchikan, Petersburg, Juneau, and Prince William Sound. They
built fish traps, a dock, a boat harbor, a bear observatory, houses, shelters, cabins,
and a biological laboratory. CCC enrollees also traveled to isolated Native villages
to clear land, create sanitation drainage, repair community houses, build telephone
lines, build fences, and clean up after floods.

In 1939, Heintzleman used Works Project Administration and CCC funds to begin
a totem pole restoration at Sitka National Monument. The workers used a new
pieseivative called Pennatox D, developed by the Forest Service’s Forest Products

1937 - 1953

Laboratory, to keep the poles from rotting. Forest Service architect Linn Forrest
designed a new Native community house. The CCC totem pole project was
quite successful. Forty-eight old poles were restored, 54 were duplicated, and
1 9 new poles were carved.

The Forest Service underwent some major changes during World War II. Many
of the men entered the armed forces. There was an increased need for wood
production for military bases, and more importantly, high grade spruce for
airplane production. In 1942, Heintzleman headed the creation of the Alaska
Spruce Log Program at Edna Bay on Prince of Wales Island. There were up to
250 loggers and family members living in the logging camps. The goal was to
produce 100 million feet of airplane lumber per year.

Heintzleman thought timber and power development were crucial to Alaska’s
economic growth. He had to balance his values with the public’s desire to
manage national forests for recreation and wilderness values. These competing
interests intensified as Alaska faced potential statehood.

Like his predecessors, Heintzleman was concerned with the complicated legal
and moral questions concerning Native land claims and rights. Heintzleman
expanded the Forest Service’s relationship with the Alaska Native Brotherhood
and Alaska Native Sisterhood. The controversy surrounding Heintzleman’s
ambition to establish a pulp industry in Alaska led to the passing of the
Tongass Timber Act in 1947, which provided for contracts of timber sales with
the receipts to be put in an escrow account pending the settlement of Native
claims. The Ketchikan Pulp Company was formed in 1951, and the Alaska
Pulp Development Co. began plans for a large sawmill and pulp mill in Sitka in
1953.

Heinztleman was elected a Fellow of the Society of American Foresters in
1951. When his Forest Service career ended in 1953, President Dwight D.
Eisenhower appointed Heintzleman to a four-year term as Governor of the
Alaska Territory, where he remained a strong ally of the Forest Service. He was
awarded the Sir William Schlich Memorial Medal for distinguished service to
forestry in 1958."

Heintzleman died in Juneau, Alaska, on June 24, 1965, and was buried in
Fayetteville, Pennsylvania.

9

Workers construct the territory's first pulp mill at Ward Cove, the largest single industrial investment in
Alaska to date, at nearly $52.5 million (1953). Photo courtesy of Ketchikan Museums.

Starting in the early 1950s, the forests began to rely on chartered aircraft, which was less expensive than
maintaining boats.

10

ARTHUR W. GREELEY

rthur White Greeley was bom in Washington, D.C.,
August 1, 1912. He received a bachelor’s degree in
forestry from the University of Washington in 1934, and a
master of forestry degree from Yale University in 19 5. He
was the son of William B. Greeley, who became the i ird For-
est Service Chief in 1920. 12 Arthur Greeley greatly w embled
his father in physical appearance.

Greeley began his Forest Service career in 1935, working as ranger, timber
sale assistant, assistant supervisor, and forest supervisor. In 1953, who Frank
Heintzleman was appointed Governor of the Alaska Territory, Greele ; became
Alaska’s regional forester. He was 41 .

When Greeley arrived in Alaska, one of his first priorities was to hire more men.
The region had been chronically understaffed. He moved Malcolm E. Hardy,
the Petersburg ranger, to Anchorage to serve as the Chugach National Forest
supervisor. Hardy’s first office was over a local saloon. Chugach employees began
to rely on charter aircraft, which was less expensive than maintaining boats.

Gieeley set up two supervisor areas on the Tongass National Forest. The North
Tongass office was led by Clare M. Armstrong at Juneau. The South Tongass
office was set up in Ketchikan and led by C. M. Archbold. Since boats were still
an efficient means of travel in Southeast, the W. A. Langil/e and W. E. Weigle were
purchased in 1 954 and added to the fleet.

• ^ .vy, 1 V/IVOl V1V.C

mnuu HlVClllUiy USHlg pilULUgl 10 nv,—

the Navy’s aerial survey of Southeastern Alaska. The inventory was useful for
toiest management decisions and to estimate how many pulp mills the region could
support. Large-scale timber production was ramping up in the early 1950s. A pulp
mi was undei construction in Ketchikan and plans were being made for a pulp
mi in Sitka^ Timber sales had gone up from 60 million board feet in 1952 to 200
million in 1956. - Forest Service researchers were studying the effects of clearcut
ogging on salmon ains. Efforts were made in clearcut areas to protect viewsheds,

*f t0 TmiZf t*1° e^ects °f dearcuts on the natural landscape that could be
seen from the roadways.

1953 - 1956

Several small mills were operating on the Chugach National
Forest, and a new highway, albeit rough, opened up the Kenai
Peninsula from Anchorage to Homer. The pristine view along the
highway was sometimes marred by forest fires unintentionally
set by road building crews or the Alaska Railroad with its coal-
burning locomotives. In the Cordova area, hunting camps were set
up along the Copper River, the site of one of the most important
nesting grounds in the nation for some waterfowl species. Native
land claims continue to be an issue on the Tongass National Forest,
while mining claims on the Chugach remain unresolved.

Following the Depression and World War II, a new generation of
outdoor enthusiasts used public lands at an ever increasing rate.
Greeley realized that as recreation use increased, so did the need
for recreational planning. Facilities, campgrounds and roads that
had been built during the CCC era were showing age. Groups such
as the Sierra Club opposed those who demanded the Forest Service
build more facilities. At the same time, investors who wanted to
exploit natural resources on public lands pressured Congress to
relax regulations. Land managers were caught in the middle.14

By 1956, the region was in transition. Due to the increase in
timber sales, Greeley recognized the importance of ongoing forest
inventory work. He also foresaw the need to increase recreational
planning.

Greeley was considered to be a very successful regional forester.
“Greeley’s stay in Alaska was brief, but his record was exceptional.
He had a keen sense of history and the vision needed for planning
tar ahead. He was well liked in the region; his competence and
integrity earned him the respect of the lumbermen.”15

In 1956 Greeley moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was
appointed Regional Forester, North Central Region. In 1959 he
moved to the Washington Office, and in 1966 was appointed
Associate Chief of the Forest Service. He retired in 1971 to become
a Christian minister. He died June 5, 2004, at age 91.

11

Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, the first Forest Service visitor center in the nation, opened in 1962.

PERCY D. HANSON

\ ercy “Pete” Hanson was bom September 18, 1901,
ffy in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada. He received
a degree in forestry at the University of California, Berkeley
in 1924, and joined the Forest Service in 1926.

In 1935, Hanson became the forest supervisor of the Lassen National Forest in
California, focusing on fire prevention plans. He worked his way up thrc ugh
the ranks, and was promoted to assistant regional forester in charge of timber
management. In 1944, he became regional forester of the Northern Region in
Missoula, Montana.

He was well suited for the job. “An outdoorsman, Hanson fished, hunted, and
explored the mountains, often combining such recreation with an inspect on trip.
He placed his priorities for the postwar decade on tree planting, fire pro tion,
and the building of access roads into remote parts of the region so that r cure and
damaged timber could be harvested.” 16

Hanson was the Northern regional forester during the 1949 Mann Gulch fire in
Montana, where 13 firefighters died. He created the smoke-jumper training center
near Missoula, joined with partners to create a firefighting reserve force, and
recruited Native firefighters.

In 1956, Hanson succeeded Arthur Greeley as regional forester in Alaska. Hanson
was aware that the lack of roads in communities situated around Alaska’s national
forests limited the opportunities for sports and recreation. He was interested in
game-management planning, and “there was a large development of hunting during
Hanson s term of office, especially of elk on Afognak and moose in the Yakutat
area. 17 Cabins and trails were built for the convenience of hunters, and Hanson
looked for means to connect timber roads in Southeast Alaska with existing state
highways and ferry routes.

Hanson s careful consideration of road placement helped to minimize sediment
getting into salmon spawning streams. He developed a gravel-cleaning machine
machine to clear streambeds, which was designed to improve spawning grounds. A
fisheries biologist was added to the Forest Service research staff. He continued the
process of moving from forest protection to forest management.18 Timber sales

1956 - 1963

continued to grow as well as create controversy. “Strong language
was bandied about”19 between the Ketchikan Spruce Mills and the
Forest Service over timber grading and scaling and standards set by
the Forest Service for road building, which resulted in a cancelled
timber sale. This led to the Forest Service’s preparing of volume
tables for scaling logs and a school for scalers.

Although the Georgia-Pacific Corporation made a bid in 1955 for 7.5
billion board feet for pulp manufacture, the sale was not completed,
and the project was eventually dropped. In 1957, investors from
Japan formed the Alaska Lumber and Pulp Company and set up
a site at Silver Bay near Sitka, acquiring land under the Tongass
Timber Act of 1947.

Hanson improved infrastructure, building ranger stations,
warehouses, cabins and trails. The Mendenhall Glacier Visitor
Center, the first Forest Service visitor center in the nation, opened in
1962.

The popularity of the Mendenhall’s trails and interpretive programs
influenced the desire to have a similar center at Portage Glacier on
the Chugach National Forest. A forest highway was built to Portage
Glacier, as well as the Mitkof Highway in Petersburg and roads in
Yakutat. New campgrounds were built on the Kenai Peninsula and
old ones were refurbished.

When Alaska achieved statehood in 1959, Hanson’s ability to work
with the state government became increasingly important. The Forest
Service signed cooperative agreements with the state and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service concerning timber harvests, recreation, and
game management of wildfowl, elk and moose.

Hanson was concerned about multiple-use management of the
forests. During his administration, a series of natural areas were
either created or considered, and within a decade, a large number
were reserved. Hanson was known as a planner, though many of his
plans would be carried out by his successors.

Hanson died in May 1988.

13

Alaska Marine Highway interpreter Fred Harivish talking with travelers on one of the ferries of the Marine
Highway (1969).

W. HOWARD JOHNSON

/^) oward Johnson began his Forest Service career in
1925 on the Olympic National Forest. He later studied
forestry at the University of Washington before beginning
his permanent appointment in 1935. He also worked or? the
Columbia, Snoqualmie, and Tongass national forests He
later spent two years in Washington, D.C., and several years
in Missoula, Montana. Johnson returned to Juneau in 964
to become regional forester, following the retirement f P.D.
Hanson.

Johnson, who was perceived as being well suited for the job, was often compared
to George Drake, a professional forester who began his Forest Service career in
the Pacific Northwest in 1912. Lawrence Rakestraw said of Johnson, " ' practical
torester of the George Drake type, a wilderness lover, concerned with civic affairs,
and with a strong sense of justice, he was a worthy successor to the previous
regional foresters.”20

During Johnson s tenure, many of the old-timers in Alaska retired and were
replaced by new employees. Some thought change was too rapid, resulting in
a small group of highly experienced men being replaced by a larger but less
experienced workforce.

Johnson benefitted from the dedicated planning and work done by his
predecessors. Timber sales increased from 219 million board feet in 1955 to 405
million in 1965. By this time, research data indicated that timber could be cut on
a more continuous basis due to the natural regeneration properties of hemlock and
spiuce. New cutting and milling techniques were developed. Logging previously
done by hand was now completed with tractors and cables.

In 1968, Johnson spent eight days in the South Tongass, traveling by boat and
plane, to review experimental balloon logging techniques. Balloon logging allowed

tor cutting in areas that were previously inaccessible, and reduced the impact of
logging on the soil.

1964 - 1971

The large Ketchikan Pulp Company mill, the smaller Ketchikan Spruce Mills, and
a new mill at Wrangell were making the dream of a “pulp-producing empire”21 a
reality.

Johnson’s administration, like Weigle’s, was characterized by both accomplishments
and controversy.22 Recreation management was very successful. By the 1960s,
however, just as Americans were finding time for recreational activities, society was
becoming more urbanized. Sensing that the public was becoming less connected
to the outdoors, the Forest Service began to recognize a greater need for solid
interpretive programs.

In 1968, Forest Service naturalist D. Robert Flakala created a partnership with
the Alaska State Ferry System to place Forest Service information desks, staffed
by seasonal interpreters, on state femes. This highly successful program would
introduce thousands of ferry patrons to the Tongass National Forest in its more
than 40 years of operation. Travelers to Alaska were treated to slide shows and
lectures from knowledgeable Forest Service employees who interpreted the natural
landscapes and wildlife seen along the ferry routes in Southeast and Southcentral
Alaska.

Many of the controversies that arose for the Johnson administration came from state
politics. Competing interests on Admiralty Island, a lawsuit from the Sierra Club
over a timber sale, and the approval of the transfer of 400,000 acres of National
Forest System lands to the state were controversial.

Since 1960, natural resources had been managed for timber, recreation, water
and wildlife under the Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act. With the passage of the
Wilderness Act of 1964, Johnson also began to look for appropriate areas to set aside
as wilderness study areas. He held a public wilderness workshop in Juneau in 1969
with the Alaska Conservation Society, the Sierra Club, and the Wilderness Society.23
Johnson explained his plans to prepare complete studies of major wilderness areas
by 1970, including the Nellie Juan area on the Chugach. On the Tongass, study
areas were proposed for Tracy Arm-Fords Terror, Walker Cove, Russell Fiord, and
Chichagof-Yakobi Islands. Johnson also developed a plan to protect the Sitka black-
tailed deer and the 800-1,000 brown bears on Admiralty Island.24

Johnson retired in February 1971 and moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington, the
following year. He died March 10, 1988, at the age of 80.

15

In 1971, members of a stream clearing crew stand by as a section of log is winched from the stream tribu-
tary in the Craig area as a result of the 1968 windstorm.

Log and gravel bridge in Basket Bay, Tenakee, over a gorge in 1974. The number of trails, shelters, and
campgrounds expanded as landscape architects were hired beginning in 1973.

16

CHARLES A. YATES

harles Yates, a native of California, began his career
with the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934. After
attending junior college, he worked for the Forest Service on
the Shasta National Forest. During World War II, he sewed
as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. After tl e war,
he continued his education and graduated from Oregon tate
University in 1948. 25

Yates spent most of the first two decades of his Forest Service career working
in California as a fire control assistant, a district ranger and a forest supervisor
In 1962, he moved to the Rocky Mountain Region to serve as assistant regional
forester. He returned to California in 1966 as deputy regional forester of the Pacific
Southwest Region. In 1971, he succeeded W. Howard Johnson as regional forester
in Alaska.

Like those of his predecessors, Yates' administration was one of change and
controversy.26 Continuing with plans made by previous regional forester How
Johnson, Yates moved the headquarters of the North Tongass from Juneau to Sitka,
and added a headquarters in Petersburg. In 1973, he did away with ranger districts.

The early 1970s were tumultuous for the Forest Service in Alaska. Yates dealt
with bad press and environmental lawsuits. He halted logging operations by the
Alaska Lumber and Pulp Company until additional studies of the West Chichagof-
Yakobi area could be completed.27 Groups such as the Alaska Loggers Association
wanted to limit the amount of designated wilderness and manage the forests for
multiple use and resource extraction. Conservation groups such as the Southeast
Alaska Conservation Council, which was formed in 1970, desired to see increased
wilderness and no further development.28

Yates spent much of his time and attention on land-use planning. He created
the Alaska Planning Team and conducted many other planning activities. The
Wilderness Act of 1964 required that roadless areas of more than 5,000 acres be
reviewed for possible wilderness status as determined by Congress. The National

1971 - 1975

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 required the Forest Service to
consider how their actions might affect the natural environment. In
1974, the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act
directed land managers to set up interdisciplinary teams to develop
land management plans and to involve the public in decision making
processes.

With the amendment of the Sikes Act in 1974, the Forest Service began
to work more closely with the state in regulating fish and wildlife
programs and off-road vehicle use.2t) More than 200 fisheries habitat
improvement projects took place on the Chugach and Tongass national
forests from 1962 through 1975, with the costs split between the Forest
Service and the Alaska Department of Fish & Game.30

One of the most significant laws passed during Yates’ term as regional
forester was the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of
1971. The act gave Alaska Natives $962 million and approximately 44
million acres of land to settle their land claims. Regional and village
corporations were set up to manage the allotments. To protect the
public interest, ANSCA put a limit on the number of acres that could
be withdrawn from Forest Service, National Park Service, and Fish
and Wildlife Sevice. However, some leaders in the Forest Service were
alarmed by amendments that increased the number of acres of Forest
Service lands that could be characterized as ‘‘traditional use,” and
thereby available for selection.31

Recreation management also changed during Yates’ tenure. The
environmental movement and the desire by visitors to see the land in its
natural state led to Yates’ efforts to mitigate the visual impact of clear-
cutting. In 1973, the Forest Service began hiring landscape architects to
set guidelines for and to improve the visual quality of the forests.32 The
number of trails, shelters, and campgrounds expanded.

Yates retired in March 1975. He lives in Novato, California, where he
moved with his wife in 1976.

17

John Sandor accepts the Gifford Pinchot Medal from the Society of American Foresters in 2007.

Sunny Creek fish ladder located at Sunny Creek on Prince Of Wales Island, (August 1984).

JOHN A. SANDOR

sy' ohn A. Sandor was bom December 22, 1926, in
„ / Buckley, Washington. He was an Army medic in World
War II, graduated in 1950 from Washington State University
with a bachelor’s degree in forestry, and earned a mast r’s
degree in public administration from Harvard Univers y in
1959.

Sandor worked as a research forester in 1951 at the Pacific Northwest ■ ..mst &
Range Experimental Station in Olympia, Washington. In 1953, he trav i to
Alaska to work on forest surveys of the Tongass National Forest. Later, he served
as assistant regional forester for personnel management in the Southei Legion,
Atlanta, Georgia, assistant to the chief, Washington, D.C.; and as dep gional
torester. Eastern Region, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He returned to Alask , regional
forester March 13, 1976.

By 1976, the Forest Service workforce was becoming more diverse. In a i 979
letter to historian Lawrence Rakestraw, Sandor said the biggest organizational
change that happened during his assignment was the “emphasis on brii
fisheries, wildlife, and other specialists into the organization.”33 Feelin hat such

char|ge had broad public support, Sandor added 30 fisher and
wildlife biologists to his staff, as well as recreation specialists.

in 1 Q7a r^sta^'s^lc"h die i anger districts that had been abolished by Charles Yates

in KfUrhiL-2 ^ti suPerv‘sor districts for the Tongass: the Ketchikan area

Forest QPr,an’ i 6 1 *, inC aiea 'n Petersburg; and the Chatham area in Sitka. The

build Cenfp1CC iinTu nC^' y 311 3Cre °* 'and to dle City and Borough of Juneau to
build Centennial Hall, which housed a Forest Service Visitor InfoLtion Center.

that Sr:?StMT8ement ACt (NFM A) Was Passed in 1 976 “d required
a lb whig Jo™ nub, w “ P'an Using a" interdisciplinary approach and
the completion of the I979 Tone 0ll|e °f ,Sandor’s h‘ghest accomplishments was
nation completed underNFMA7^SS ^ Manag™ent Pla"’ ** first plan in the

1976 - 1984

Like his predecessor, Yates, Sandor was involved with controversy and legal issues.
Much of this was attributed to the scope of legislation that was passed during his
administration. Groups such as the Sierra Club and Sitka Conservation Society
took issue with complex legislation such as the Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act,
the National Environmental Policy Act, which took effect in January 1970, and the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 . Enacted in 1980, the Alaska National
Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), codified the subsistence hunting and
fishing rights of Alaskans.

Sandor is active in the Society of American Foresters and helped to form the
Alaskan chapter. He served on the Board of Directors for the Natural Resources
and Environmental Administration Section of the American Society for Public
Administration.

Sandor was a participant in the 1978 World Forestry Trade Mission to Japan and
the People’s Republic of China. In 1979, Sandor received the State Conservationist
Award in Alaska presented by the Alaska Wildlife Federation and Sportsman’s
Council. In 1981, he received an Outstanding Alumni Award in Forestry from
Washington State University. He also received the Department of Agriculture’s
Superior Service Award in 1983.

Sandor retired from the Forest Service in 1984. His contributions to the State of
Alaska did not end, however. He was the Commissioner of the Alaska Department
of Environmental Conservation from 1990 to 1994 and served as a member of the
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council.

In 2007, Sandor received the Gifford Pinchot Medal from the Society of American
Foresters (SAF). This award recognizes an SAF member who has made outstanding
contributions in the administration, practice, and professional development of North
American Forestry.

In announcing Sandor’s retirement, Chief of the Forest Service R. Max Peterson
said, “John has made a major contribution to the Forest Service and especially to the
national forests in Alaska. During the delicate negotiations involved in writing the
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, he was known as a man of honesty,
and professional integrity by members of Congress and the various interest groups.”35

John, and his wife, Lenore, live in Douglas, Alaska.

19

Forest Service employee standing on the oil-coated beach of Eleanor Island (April 6, 1989).

Opened to the public in 1986, and rededicated with new exhibits in 2001, the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center i
built upon the terminal moraine left behind by Portage Glacier in 1914. Photo courtesy of Ron Neibrugge.

20

MICHAEL A. BARTON

ike Barton was bom in Lincoln, Nebraska. He
began his Forest Service career in 1959 as a research
technician while attending the University of Michigan. He
received a bachelor of science in forestry degree in 1961.
After serving in the U.S. Army, he obtained his master’s
degree in forest hydrology in 1965 from the University of
Michigan.

Barton worked three years as a watershed scientist on the Superior National Forest
and was promoted to chief of water quality section in the Eastern Region. From
1971-1974, he was the deputy forest supervisor of the Ottawa National Forest in
Minnesota. In 1974, Barton moved to Washington, D.C. He held the positions
of water rights and water quality specialist; program evaluation and system
development specialist; and director of Watershed Management. During his Forest
Service career, Barton received many awards for natural resource management. He
was on the National Fisheries Task Force which developed and marketed a national
system to revitalize and strengthen the Forest Service fisheries program.

In 1979, Barton moved to Juneau to serve as deputy regional forester for the
Alaska Region. In 1984, he was appointed regional forester. Like other regional
foresters who came before him. Barton would be called on to deal with issues
that were both problematic and controversial. One of the most difficult and
unprecedented was the worst environmental disaster in American history at that
time.

On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez supertanker hit a reef in Prince William
Sound, spilling almost 1 1 million gallons of North Slope crude oil. The spill
would eventually cover 1 1,000 square miles of ocean, killing untold numbers of
biids, seals, otters, and whales, and decimating the sound’s fishing industry. As
part of a criminal plea agreement, Exxon paid a $150 million fine and cooperated
with cleanup efforts. Barton became a founding member of the Oil Spill Trustee
Council, representing the Secretary of Agriculture in an interagency group
that included the U.S. Department of the Interior, the NationafOceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

1984 - 1994

Restoration work in the previously pristine Sound would continue many
years after Barton's retirement.

Native subsistence hunting and fishing rights were debated and litigated
in Alaska for 60 years before Barton was appointed regional forester.

In 1990, the Federal Subsistence Board was established to set up a
program for subsistence management on federal public lands in Alaska.
Barton served on the board as the representative for the Secretary of
Agriculture. The workload was heavy. Regional advisory councils were
set up, public meetings were held, various subsistence hunting proposals
were evaluated, and determinations were made concerning customary
and traditional use of subsistence areas by rural residents.

The Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990 modified long-term timber
sale contracts in Alaska to “enhance the balanced use of resources on
the forests and promote fair competition within the Southeast Alaska
timber industry.”36 Pulp mill owners, who were supported by the
Alaska congressional delegation, tried unsuccessfully to have the law
overturned. Ketchikan Pulp Company and the Alaska Pulp Company
were losing a great deal of money and faced huge expenses to update
their mills to comply with new pollution standards. In 1993, APC closed
their mill, blaming the price of timber. In 1994, Barton, under direction
from the Washington Office, terminated APC’s 50-year contracts. A
series of lawsuits between the Forest Service and both pulp mills ensued.

Barton was active in the Society of American Foresters, the Soil
and Water Conservation Society of America, the American Forestry
Association, the American Fisheries Society, the National Woodland
Owners Association, Ducks Unlimited, the Rotary Club, and the Little
League Baseball Program.

In 1994, Barton retired from the Forest Service and became the
Commissioner of the Alaska State Department of Transportation and
Public Facilities. In 2010, Gov. Sean Parnell appointed Barton to the
Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority Board of Trustees.

Barton lives in Douglas, Alaska with his wife, Sharon.

21

ll I

, f: 'll

91

mjps \ n \ f lvTl -

BR.' . » fll ■ m r ■

lv IK

mm

. v 2

The Russian River Trail on the Chugach National Forest descends from the campground to the river.

PHILLIP J. JANIK

hil Janik was bom on February 8, 1945, in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He received a bachelor’s d :gree
in forestry from the University of Montana, Missoula, in.

1967. He moved to Virginia in 1967 to join the Navy. !
served as a naval officer at sea during the Vietnam conft: r
and was a naval ROTC instructor at Oregon State Univ sity.
After his military service, he received a master’s degre :
wildlife science from Oregon State University.

Janik joined the Forest Service in 1974 as a forest biologist on the Siuslaw
National Forest in Oregon. He assisted with the design of timber sale pr< :ts and
worked with forest leadership on issues relating to fish and wildlife man.' ment.
He worked in Oregon during the spotted owl debate. From 1979 to 1981
worked in the Intermountain Region in Ogden, Utah. He moved to Alas in 1983
as the regional director ot Wildlife, Fisheries and Subsistence.

Janik was considered to be personable, a good leader and decision make- and
dedicated to the principles ot sound land management. These traits gamed him
increasing levels of responsibility. From 1989 to 1994, Janik served as assistant
director of Wildlife and Fisheries in the Washington Office. On May 4 1994, Janik
moved to Juneau to become the eleventh regional forester for the Alaska Region.

In 1994, the Tongass National Forest used a new approach to traditional forest
planning. Research scientists from the Pacific Northwest Research Station
joined the toiest planning team “to bring objective, independent thinking into
t ic p aiming piocess and to maximize development and application of the
most up-to-date science in the plan.”37 It was hoped that the formulation of the
in erdisciphnary Tongass Land Management Planning (TLMP) team would

p ° UtCC,a ,?,Csieintifically cred>ble, legally defensible, and resource sustainable
Forest plan >38 that could be quickly developed.

baselinp ('evci^ ^lat stewardship ot the land was non-negotiable and should be the
c o ensure sustainability of all forest resources over time. He thought it

1994 - 1997

was vital to base the size of timber sales in Alaska on valid scientific data,
including the effects of logging on wildlife habitat. He thought the failure to do
so would open the door for the courts to become involved in the agency’s land
management decisions.

“His most notable achievement as Alaska regional forester was the completion of
the revision of the Tongass Land Management Plan in 1997. He involved scientists
throughout the revision process, pioneering a science-based forest management
strategy focusing on conservation of this unique, old-growth rainforest.”39

After leaving Alaska, Janik returned to the Washington Office. From 1998 to 2004
he served as chief operating officer and deputy chief for State and Private Forestry.

In the latter part of his career, Janik focused on sustainability and the
responsibilities of public land managers to be good stewards. He was a member
of the Chief’s Sustainability Roundtable and served on the Sustainable Forestry
Initiative External Review Panel. He was active in the Society of American
Foresters and the American Fisheries Society, served on the board of the
Institute for Culture and Ecology, and was involved with numerous conservation
organizations.

Janik was described as having a, “...cheerful, energetic, and positive attitude
that engaged every person around him and he valued ideas from any source. His
dedication to forest conservation and sustainable forestry was both obvious and
infectious, and his constant search for better and more effective ways to promote
good forest management was an inspiration to all who worked with him.”4”

Janik was an active member of the Pacific Northwest Forest Service Retirees’
organization called Old Smokeys. He played a large role in the success of the 2005
Forest Service Centennial Reunion in Portland, Oregon, serving as the key liaison
with the Chief’s staff.

Janik died unexpectedly at age 61 of pneumonia in Vancouver, Washington, April
28, 2006. He is survived by his wife Pat, two sons, and one daughter.

Subsistence lifestyles play a major role in Alaska. Here, locals seine for sockeye in Sitkoh Lake. Photo cour-
tesy of Ben VanAlen.

Balls Lake Trail. Under Cables' tenure, recreation infrastructure, including cabins and trails, was improved,
and the road system was developed on Prince of Wales Island.

24

RICK D. CABLES

ick Cables was bom in Pueblo, Colorado, January 5,
1954. He graduated summa cum laiide from Northern
Arizona University in 1976 with a bachelor of science d< it
in forestry. In 1990, he graduated from the U.S. Army W<
College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

From 1972 through 1975, Cables worked as a wildland firefighter for the National
Park Service. In 1976, he became a forestry technician on the Kaibab Nations i
Forest in Arizona. He was a second-generation Forest Service employee — hi
mother Jackie worked for the Forest Service in Colorado. Cables was a forest
on the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico; a silviculturist and district range
on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona; a natural resources staf
specialist in Washington, D.C.; forest SLipervisor for the White Mountain Nat >al
Forest in New Hampshire and Maine; and forest supervisor for the Pike and
San Isabel national forests and Comanche and Cimarron national grasslands in
Colorado and Kansas.

In May 1999, Cables moved to Alaska to become the regional forester during a
period of great change. He spent his initial weeks on the job traveling to all the
ranger districts to meet with employees and visit local communities. From those
visits, he developed a paper called “A View from Here” to lay out his vision for
the future of the Alaska Region. He developed a five-year strategic plan based
on Communities; Alaska Natives; Recreation and Tourism; and Organizational
Effectiveness.

By 2000, local economies were suffering from the reduction of the timber
program, which had been winding down for over a decade. The mill in Sitka was
closed, and the mill in Ketchikan was struggling. At the time, the Forest Service
workforce was designed to sustain a large timber program and a large engineering
program related to road building. Without them, the need for staff in small
communities diminished. Forest Service employees were generally well educated,
came with stable salaries and families, and were civic minded. The loss of even
a few employees could affect the tax bases to support schools and other services.
Cables wanted to address the consequences of downsizing, saying the federal

1999 - 2000

government built whole communities around the timber industry and
“...then, in a blink of an eye, they took it away.”41

Cables thought future opportunities to provide jobs and sustainable
economies would be associated with recreation and tourism, programs
that had been historically overshadowed in Alaska. Under his tenure,
recreation infrastructure, including cabins and trails, was improved, and
the road system was extended on Prince of Wales Island.

The sustainability of economic growth could not be separated from
the economic growth of Alaska Natives. Like his two immediate
predecessors, Cables was the Secretary of Agriculture’s representative
to the Federal Subsistence Board. He thought it incumbent on the
Forest Service to recognize the commitment of Alaska Natives to the
subsistence lifestyle, and to dovetail the interests of the Forest Service
to theirs. When Forest Service staff were cut in the Native community
of Hoonah, Cables allowed the locals to make use of the Forest Service
office, bunkhouse and other outbuildings. Furthermore, Cables directed
State & Private Forestry, headquartered in Anchorage, to redirect many
of their grants to Southeast Alaska. The decision was controversial
with some S&PF employees whose previous interests were centered on
forests in Southcentral and Interior Alaska.

While the Alaska Region contained the two largest national forests in
the system, it was still a region with just two forests. Cables examined
traditional roles and responsibilities of the ranger districts, forest
supervisors offices, and the regional office to determine how to make
necessary internal shifts to maximize the organizational efficiency of a
21st Century workforce.

Cables moved to Colorado in late 2000 with his wife Cindy and three
children to become regional forester for the Rocky Mountain Region.

In 201 1, the Governor of Colorado appointed Cables to head the newly-
combined Colorado Division of Wildlife and Colorado State Parks. He
maintains close ties with the Forest Service.

2008 Central Council President William Martin and Denny Bschor meet at the 73rd General Assembly of the
Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes.

Lynn Young and Denny Bschor are two of the founding members of the Fiddlin' Foresters, a group of em-
ployees who use old-time music to spread the agency's message of natural resource conservation.

26

DENNIS E. BSCHOR

enny Bschor was bom in Peoria, Illinois, July
^ 17, 1947. He earned a bachelor’s in forest management

from Iowa State University in 1969. He served two years
with the U.S. Anny in Italy and returned to Colorado in
1971. His Forest Service career started on the Rio Grande
National Forest. He also held positions on the Grand Mesa,
Uncompahgre, Gunnison, and Pike and San Isabel, Bighorn,
and White River national forests.

In 1985, Bschor became the assistant director in planning and the Office oi
Information for the Rocky Mountain Region and was promoted to director c
Public Affairs in 1986. In 1993, he was acting director of Recreation and Public
Services. In 1994, he was forest supervisor of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie
National Forest. In 1998, he became the Director of Recreation, Heritage sub
Wilderness Resources in Washington, D.C.

Bschor was intrigued by the wildness and uniqueness of Alaska and the
commendable reputation of the Forest Service employees in the region. He became
Alaska’s thirteenth regional forester in January 2002. His strong background
in recreation, wilderness and cultural heritage would serve him well in his new
position.

During a 2005 Forest Service Centennial event, names of employees who died in
the line of duty were read. Spurred by the ceremony as well as recent employee
fatalities in the Alaska Region, Bschor increased his commitment to the employee
safety program. In 2006, the region celebrated an important milestone of 10 years
of aviation safety.

By 2005, it was clear that the demand for visitor services and facilities could
impact the wildland character of the very forests visitors came to see. Bschor
emphasized the need for strategic planning related to recreation. In 2008, almost
50,000 people visited the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center in Ketchikan and
436,000— mostly cruise ship passengers— visited Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau.
The Alaska Railroad and the Forest Service developed whistle stop stations

2002 - 2009

between Anchorage and Seward to allow for people of all abilities to
access the roadless backcountry. In 2009, the Chugach was designated a
Children’s Forest to promote stewardship, education, and volunteerism in
area youth.

Bschor was aware of the ongoing economic hardships facing communities
due to the decline of the timber industry. On January 25, 2008, he released
the Record of Decision for Tongass Land Management Plan Amendment
which was developed through a collaborative effort with the State of
Alaska and the public. Changes included the addition of old growth
reserves and protection for goshawk nests, karst lands, and Native sacred
sites. The amount of timber that could be sold was generally unchanged.
The Nature Conservancy established the Tongass Futures Roundtable
to open a dialogue among a diverse group of stakeholders, with Forest
Service support.

On April 16, 2008, Bschor participated in an historic and unprecedented
ceremony to acknowledge the Forest Service’s removal of Alaska Native
traditional smoke houses, cabins and fish camps in Southeast Alaska
from the 1930s to the 1960s. This greatly improved relations between the
Forest Service and Alaska Natives. When a new experimental forest was
established in 2009 by the Pacific Northwest Research Station, the region
facilitated the naming of the new forest to Heen Latinee, which means
“River Watcher” in the Tlingit language.

In 2008 through 2009, the region faced budget cuts and an imperative from
the Washington Office to make the organization leaner and more efficient.
Along with other regional foresters across the nation, Bschor worked with
his leadership and the union to reorganize and downsize the workforce.
Bschor desired to be known for creating “. . .an organizational climate
where diversity of viewpoint is accepted, where bad news can be safely
delivered, where honesty is consistently rewarded, and where we can all
pull together to carry out management decisions that are openly made. 4"

Bschor was a founding member of the Fiddlin’ Foresters, a group of
employees who used their music to share a message of conservation in
America. He retired in 2009. He and his wife, Cheryl, live in Carefree,
Arizona.

27

Beth Pendleton with Richard and Janice Jackson, presidents of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sister-
hood Grand Camp, wears the button blanket commissioned by the Tongass National Forest in 2002 in
recognition of the Forest's Centennial.

Kayakers enjoy the pristine beauty and solitude of Misty Fiords National Monument.

BETH G. PENDLETON

< eth Pendleton was bom April 15, 1958, at the
&O Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia. She received a
bachelor’s in wildlife biology from the University of Vermont,
a master’s in wildlife and fisheries from South Dakota St e
University, and a master’s in journalism from the University
of Wyoming. She was a graduate of Harvard’s Senior
Executive Fellows Program and American University’s I y
Leadership program.

Pendleton worked as managing editor for the National Wildlife Federation
Institute for Wildlife Research in Washington, D.C. After joining the Forest
Service, she held several key positions in the Alaska Region, including tear
leader for the 1997 Tongass Forest Plan Revision; director for Recreation, ids
and Minerals, and deputy regional Forester for Operations. She also worked
as program manager for Wildlife and Fisheries in Washington, D.C., and he
short-term assignments as Rocky Mountain Region deputy regional forestei id
as Pacific Southwest Research Station director. In 2006, she became the dep- y
regional forester for Natural Resources for the Pacific Southwest Region.

It had taken many years for women to be admitted to the professional ranks c the
agency. In 1992, Elizabeth Estill became the first female regional forester. In 2007,
Abigail Kimbell became the first female chief in the 102-year history of the Forest
Service.4’ In March 2010, Pendleton was selected as regional forester for Alaska.
She had the respect of her colleagues and was perceived as well qualified and even
tempered. When asked how significant it was for a woman to be appointed to the
top job, she replied, “The time had come.” 44

One ot Pendleton s first challenges was addressing the needs of local communities
that depended on the national torests for their livelihoods. The nation was in a
drawn-out economic recession. In Alaska, timber jobs were at their lowest levels
in 50 years. Outmigration from rural towns to the urban areas of Anchorage
and Juneau thieatened the economic stability of small communities and made it
difficult to keep schools open.

2010 - PRESENT

The Tongass Transition Framework was instituted in May 2010. The Forest Service joined two
other USDA agencies (Farm Services Agency and Rural Development), along with the U.S.
Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration and the State of Alaska,
to work with stakeholders to focus on job creation in Southeast Alaska. The group is making
investments in four sectors: forest products, ocean products, visitor services, and renewable
energy.

By 2010, more than 400,000 acres of second growth timber have been inventoried in
Southeast Alaska, much of which is in the 30- to 60-year age bracket. Emphasis is being
placed on pre-commercial thinning, growing a more integrated forest products industry, and
offering second growth timber sales. Broad authorities encourage the agency to develop
integrated timber projects and allow for stewardship contracting. The Forest Service is using
receipts from the harvest of commercial products to invest in the restoration of salmon habitat
and trails or the replacement of old culverts (red pipes) on the forest.

The region is improving visitor services for one million annual visitors to the Tongass and
Chugach and working to ensure the relevancy of recreation services. There is a surge in new
proposals for renewable energy, including hydroelectric and biomass, which could aid remote
communities that still depend on diesel as a heat source. Both the Chugach and the Tongass
are designated as Children’s Forests, actively engaging thousands of youth annually.

In 2012, Alaska is at the forefront of climate change, with visibly receding glaciers, yellow
cedar decline, and changes in species composition. Significant investments are being made for
climate science research and education.

Pendleton’s personal and professional passion is to develop stronger relationships with Alaska
Natives and grow a workforce that better mirrors the population served by the Forest Service.
Her service on the Federal Subsistence Board reinforces her understanding of the economic
necessity of subsistence to rural residents, recognizing that the subsistence lifestyle means,

' • putting food on the table, creating handicrafts, and maintaining the spiritual and cultural
connections Alaskans have to the land.”45

Pendleton embraces the transformational change in the agency around employee and public
safety. She actively engages employees in risk assessment and focuses on getting the job done
safely, continuous learning, and returning home safely each day.

Pendleton lives in Juneau with her husband. Grey. They have one son.

End Notes

'Rakestraw, Lawrence. A History of the United States Forest Service in Alaska,
USDA Forest Service, 2002 reprint, p. 17.

2Rakestraw, p.18.

^Biographical record of the graduates and former students of the Yale Forest
School, New Haven, 1913.

4http://www.fs.fed.us/rlO/tongass/forest_facts/resources/heritage/rangerboats.

html.

5Rakestraw, p. 65.

6Rakestraw, p. 8 1 .

7Biographical record, Yale Forest School.

KRakestraw, p. 84.

9Rakestraw, p. 86.

10http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/exforests/maybeso/index.shtml.

"Henry Clepper, Leaders of American Conservation, Natural Resources
Council of America, 1971.

12www.foresthistory.org/ead/Greeley_Family.html.

13Rakestraw, p. 141.

14 Rakestraw, p. 135.

"Rakestraw, p. 141.

16The National Forests of the Northern Region, Living Legacy, http://www.
forest history.org/ASPNET/Publications/region/ l/history/chap9.htm.

17Rakestraw, p. 141.

"Rakestraw, p. 141.

"Rakestraw, p. 142.

20Rakestraw, p. 141.

2 'Rakestraw, p. 141.

22Rakestraw, p. 141.

"Rakestraw, p. 152.

30

24Rakestraw, p. 153.

"Rakestraw, p. 156.

26Rakestraw, p. 157.

27Rakestraw, p. 157.

28Rakestraw, p. 158.

29Rakestraw, p. 158.

30Rakestraw, p. 171.

"Rakestraw, p. 159.

"Rakestraw, p. 168.

"Rakestraw, p. 155

34http://tongass-fpadjust.net/Documents/Final_EIS_Volume_I_Part_l.pd
"SourDough Notes, Issue 401, June 1984.

36Tongass Timber, James Mackovjak, 2010, The Forest History Society, pg.
37http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/keyfind.pdf.
38http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/keyfind.pdf.
39http://www.foresthistory.org/ead/Janik_Phillip_J.html.
4(,http://www.foresthistory.org/ead/ Janik_Phillip_J.html.

41Interview with Teresa Haugh, 2011.

"Interview with Sandy Frost, 2002.

"Women in the Forest Service: Early History, Gerald W. Williams, Ph.D.,
http://www.fs.fed.us/ aboutus/history/women.shtml.

"Interview with Teresa Haugh, April 2012.

"Haugh, 2012.

Appreciation is extended to the following for their correspondence
or interviews:

John Sandor and Mike Barton (to Marie Kanan)

Phil Janik (to Pamela Finney and Marie Kanan)

Dennis Bschor (to Sandra Frost and Marie Kanan)

Rick Cables and Beth Pendleton (to Teresa Haugh)

Publisher: Forest Service, Alaska Region
Content: Marie Kanan, Teresa Haugh
Design/lllustration: Carol Teitzel
Contributors: Ray Massey, Kevin Mclver,
Wendy Zirngibl

Front cover: Taylor Creek by Karen
Dillman.

Back cover: Sow and Cub on Cordova
Ranger District by Milo Burcham.

Table of Contents: Chugach Mountain
Range by Charles Lovely.

Regional Foresters of the Alaska Region 1905-20/2 may contain copyrighted
material that is used with permission of the copyright owner. Publication in
a government document does not authorize any use or appropriation of this
copyright material without consent of the owner and they are not in the public
domain. Any text and photos without attributed copyright may be reproduced
in whole or in part as they are in the public domain. Please credit USDA
Forest Service. You may learn more about the Forest Service-Alaska Region at
http://www.fs.usda.gov/rlO or call (907) 586-8806.Twitter: @AKForestService

31

NATIONAL AGRicULTUnAi 3RARY