Like many kids, I grew up climbing trees and dreaming of becoming President.
As an adult, I have had the good fortune of spending my entire professional career around trees, and now I’ve been elected President — of the world’s largest group of professional natural resource managers, researchers and academicians.
As the world celebrates the International Year of Forests, I am honored and humbled to have been chosen by my peers to serve as 2011 President of the Society of American Foresters (SAF), the world’s largest association of forestry professionals.
Just as with this blog, I hope to use this tremendous opportunity with SAF to help people better understand our science-based profession, and the invaluable contributions that healthy, growing forests provide in the form of carbon sequestration, water filtration, wildlife habitat, recreation, aesthetic beauty and, of, course, the many wonderfully useful wood and paper products that we all rely on every day. As the Society of American Foresters says, “Trees are the answer” to many of today’s environmental and social challenges.
I hope you will take a moment to visit the SAF website to learn more about sustainable forest management, and that you’ll feel free to contact me at any time should you have questions about how America’s foresters are working to keep forests healthy and growing.
