Content area
Full Text
When I read the Journal of Forestry, visit the SAF website, and attend national and local SAF events, I'm humbled to be among such a great bunch of folks. I admire the foresters who've been around for a while and am continually renewed by the energy of students and young foresters. Right now, I fit where most Americans do in our society . . . right in the middle. Not really old enough to be wise, yet feeling die aches and pains of getting older and tripping a lot in the woods. Most foresters in my age group (foresters that have been practicing about 20 years) entered this career as it was on the verge of tremendous change. We were children during the Vietnam War, the 1970s oil crisis, the rise of Earth Day, and the Iran hostage crisis. We were teens during the Reagan administration, the second British Invasion that included Band Aid and "We Are the World," The Cosby Show, and the creation of CNN. During this time, the Yellowstone fires and the Exxon Valdez oil spill created a renewed public interest in forest and natural resource management, enticing my generation with the promise of plenty of job opportunities because there would be abundant Forest Service retirements in the 1990s that needed filling.
Forestry has changed a lot since then. And although there were plenty of forestry milestones well before my generation, I thought it worthwhile to share some of my observations from over the past 20 years.
"Ranger Smith" Reputation
We foresters continue to have a difficult time shaking the reputation of being more like Ranger Smith (foil to Yogi Bear) than professionals who can bring answers or discussion points to the table. We are making progress as more and more people and local decisionmakers deal with managing their urban-rural interface, water issues, and invasives. Keep in mind, however, that the face of professional forestry to most of these audiences is fire managers, urban foresters, or riparian foresters. Interaction with who we think of as a traditional forester is still a rarity for most Americans.
Technology
Computers and efficiency is a double-edged sword. On one side, the Internet has offered forestry and natural resource professionals tremendous opportunities to reach and educate the...
