New U.S. Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell, 16th chief of the USDA Forest Service spoke to the members of the National Capital SAF at a luncheon at the USDA headquaters in Washington, DC, on March 8, 2007.

The benefits of membership in SAF and the current and future challenges facing the US Forest Service were just two of the many topics discussed during the March 8 National Capital SAF luncheon featuring the agency’s newly appointed agency Chief Gail Kimbell.

Before being selected as the agency’s 16th Chief, Kimbell served as regional forester in the agency’s northern region in Missoula, Montana, which includes northern Idaho, and North Dakota. Prior to becoming regional forester, she worked in the agency’s Washington Office as associate deputy chief of the National Forest System, where she assisted in the development of the Healthy Forests Initiative.

Kimbell began her address by telling the audience of her involvement in SAF and how her membership in the Society has benefited her throughout her career.

 

“As a professional forester, I have been a SAF member since 1974. In fact, I helped start a student chapter at the University of Vermont in 1973,” said Kimbell. “I think it is vitally important for natural resource professionals to belong to SAF or to other professional societies. We need to keep abreast of developments in our fields. Professional memberships are a great way to do that. I have always encouraged professional memberships at the Forest Service, and I will continue to do so.”

[Editor Note: Chief Kimball's endorsement of professional society membership of June 29, 2007 .]

Following these remarks, the remainder of Kimbell’s speech addressed the change in the agency’s managem ent perspective from maximizing timber production to maintaining ecosystem health and how that shift in focus has altered its priorities.

“Beginning in the late 1980s, but with roots that go back much further, our management underwent changes. We focus more and more on the health of the ecosystems we are managing. That’s where our primary focus is today—on restoring the lands we’re charged with managing for health and resilience,” she said during her address. “Not everyone had made note of the changes over the past 20 years. Some seem stuck in the past, fighting and re-fighting those old battles from the 1970s and 1980s over timber and roads, that’s why we started talking about the four threats. It was a way of saying, time out. Look at what’s really happening on the national forests.”

Moreover, said Kimbell, other issues such as population growth and climate change are likely to affect the agency’s focus in the future.

“Population growth is putting huge pressures on the national forests and grasslands. We’re losing 4,000 acres of open space per day and the developments springing up around public lands are raising all kinds of land management issues pertaining to access, damage and degradation, and endangered species,” she said. “To support all that growth the most basic resource we need besides land is water. We’re already short of water, particularly in many places in the West, and the demand for water, and the associated conflicts over water rights, are likely to grow.”

In regard to climate, Kimbell noted that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at or near the level of business as usual, there could be massive ecological dislocations by the middle of the century.

“There could be all sorts of forest type conversions. At higher levels, for example, there could be changes from fir to mixed-conifer, we could have grasslands in some places where there are now forests, we could have forests in some places that are now shrublands,” she said. “We could see local species extinctions and the local loss of entire ecological communities. Fire season severity is already growing and the word “megafires” has now entered our vocabulary. Municipal water supplies could be threatened and the forestry, ranching, and outdoor industries could all be in trouble.”

Yet despite these challenges, Kimbell said that she is confident that the conservation community can address them successfully and she pointed to conservation easements and the efforts to purchase tracts of industrial timberlands as proof. She also said that she believes that the Forest Service is “on the right track” in regard to efforts to protect ecosystem health and resilience.

“Active management is key to addressing the threats we face and to realizing our vision for the national forests. There is rising public acceptance for active management particularly due to growing fire seasons. We simply can’t protect ecosystems and people from uncharacteristically severe fire, from the spread of invasive species, or from unmanaged recreation and user conflicts without stepping in and taking action.”

That action, said Kimbell, must be based on sound science and research and requires strong working relationships both in the U.S. and abroad.

“The challenge of sustainable land management is global,” she said. “As chief, I look forward to seeing how we can work better with other countries of promote sustainability worldwide.”

“Ultimately,” said Kimbell, “it all hinges on partnerships. Collaboration is a lot of work, is costly, and it can be time consuming, but it is worth it when communities come together to restore the health and resilience of a forested landscape.”

Joe Smith
Forestry Source Editor, SAF National Office

New U.S. Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell
to Speak at NCSAF Luncheon
Thursday, March 8, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

“Abigail Kimbell is a veteran of the Forest Service who began as a seasonal worker and has since filled an impressive series of field assignments” said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns. "Gail brings a wealth of knowledge to her new position. She is well respected both within the agency and by our stakeholders. I'm confident she will do a terrific job as Chief.”

Prior to being named the first female Chief of the Forest Service, Gail served as Regional Forester for the Northern Region in Missoula, Montana, which includes Montana, northern Idaho, and North Dakota. She developed a reputation there for focusing on quality resource management and building on shared resource management goals with a broad range of stakeholders, including other agencies and communities. Before becoming regional forester, Gail served in the Washington Office as Associate Deputy Chief for the National Forest System, with responsibility for assisting in the development of the Healthy Forests Initiative.

Gail grew up in New England, and earned her undergraduate degree in forestry at the University of Vermont, after which she continued her studies with a M.S. in Forest Engineering from Oregon State University. Gail remained in Oregon to begin her Forest Service career in 1974, where she worked as engineer, forest planner, and district ranger. Before her first move to Washington, D.C., she moved up through positions as forest supervisor in Colorado, Wyoming, and on the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. She brings a wealth of experience back with her to Washington.

We welcome Gail back to NCSAF, and know that she will have a lot to say. As an active SAF member, she’s a strong supporter of professional forestry and science-based resource management that meets community needs.

Loren B. Ford, Program Chair