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To any small rural town, anytime you have a sawmill closed or shut down, it's devastating.
It not only effects the population of people that are there but it also really affects
the school system.
My dad worked at the Fremont's sawmill as well as his duties on the ranch. There was
always something as a job that you know he really liked and enjoyed. I think that maybe you know,
when the Fremont's sawmill closed in 1996 it really engrained in my head that
I needed to go to college, and I need to have that education as a back up if anything.
I was really surprised I felt at home, I felt that it was a family atmosphere. I give a
lot of credit to the professors, with their open door policy they have within the
College of Forestry and the ability to ask them questions and I think it goes both ways, the professors
aren't afraid to push their students, to ask them hard questions, whether it be in the classroom
setting or during a test that really prepares them for what the real world is about.
I felt that maybe I would be able to provide some input on the direction that our forest
will go into in the future so we may have job opportunities in future generations in a rural setting. Or, so
that it would prevent or inhibit the risk or susceptibility of a large standard placing wildfire
to come ripping through. You know, what I consider my backyard.
In the past years we have seen standard placing wildfires that are uncharacteristic of our
historic fire regime, moving across the landscape and they continue to seem to get larger and
largest as the years go by
If we don't; have the ability to understand fire and its effects on the landscape, then
we aren't able to treat the landscape both in an economically feasible way, or an ecologically
appropriate way. What I like most about this job is that everyday is different.
Some people ask me what I do on a day-to-day basis and for everyday, I give them a different
answer. If eel like I am making a different working on this particular zone and in turn
the and in tern the larger forest and landscape we have reduced the amount of fuel accumulation
and we have changed the structure, the continuity of the fuels that are there. From a fire suppression
standpoint, we've improved the safety of fire suppression crews that may need to go into
that area.
When I hear a fire dispatch. Of course I'm thinking, okay "fire ready." I know my engines
are ready to respond, depending on where it is o the landscape, how am going to assist
that landscape in what capacity am I going to assist on that fire.
As a specialist in the forest service, I take that upon myself to take care of the wellbeing
of my community
How we can continue to improve the infrastructure in place to eliminate the threat of another
business closing.
This is my backyard. Things that I've enjoyed, I want future generations to enjoy and how
do we set this landscape up for that success.