Meet the pros

[Ron Wenrich]

Here's the place for you foresters to strut your stuff.  We'd like to see who the foresters are, and what is their background.  We would like to see the following:

Degree:
Years of experience:
Areas of expertise:

After that, you can add anything else you desire.  That can include your professional affiliations, schools you attended, professional courses you have taken, your home address.  Don't forget to link to your home site. 

[Ron Wenrich]

Ron Wenrich

Degree:  BS in Forest Science, Penn State, 1970
Years of experience:  35
Areas of expertise:  Sawmill mgmt, fiber procurement, timber sale preparation, forest inventory and planning.  Primarily involved in hardwood forests and mills.

Past board member of the Pennsylvania Forestry Assn. 

[Texas Ranger]

Degree:  BS in Forest Science, MU 1962  MBA 67 MU
Years of experience:  41
Areas of expertise:  All parts of a state forester for 13 years, fire, management, pest control, public information, etc.  The rest as a consulting forester, providing full service to clients from the individual to local, state, and federal clients.

[SwampDonkey]

Bill Crawford

Degree: B.Sc. Forestry, UNB Fredericton 1993

Continuing education courses: GIS in Forestry, BC Coastal Gully Assessments, Tolerant Hardwood Management in the NE, Tree Marking and Stand Improvement.

Years Experience: 15

Areas of Expertise: GIS/GPS, silviculture, timber appraisal and land valuation, harvest layout and supervision, small woodlot management and planning, forest products marketing.

Certifications: Registered BC Coastal Timber Cruiser #209.

[WDH]

Danny Hamsley

BS Forest Resources UGA 1977, MS Forest Soils UGA 1979.

Years of experience - 30

Expertise:  Wood procurement, Timber appraisal, Timber buying, Land Management, Forest soils, Tree and wood ID, Small mill sawmilling, woodworking.

[Texas Ranger]

121 years of experience for 4 guys, not bad, but means we are a bunch of old codgers getting ready to retire, leave SwampDonkey to carry on the work.

[Jeff]

We have a bunch to weigh in yet. 

[Riles]

Well I'm just gonna screw up all the stats. Don't think I even qualify as "one of the pros."

John Rielley

BS Electrical Engineering, Clemson 1983,
MS Management, Troy State 1999,
BS Forestry, Louisiana Tech 2007.

Years of experience: 1?

Expertise: Test taking, classroom discussion, being mistaken for forestry professors, reminding forestry students that "I have underwear older than you," filling out job applications.

Passed the NC Registered Foresters exam, certified NC pesticide applicator, small-scale pine plantation owner.

[Tillaway]

Bob Thurman
Mustang Forester 

a combined 25 years experience in both public and private sectors.

Expertise: Timber Sale Preparation and Administration, Log Accountability, Timber Inventory and Valuation, GPS/GIS

Continuing education: Silviculture, Archeology, Forest Engineering, Riparian Management, Mensuration, Plant Pathology

[Dodgy Loner]

Justin Tyson

B.S. in Forestry, UGA 2005
M.S. in Forestry, UGA 2007

Years of Experience: Depends on what you call "experience".  I've been studying forestry seriously since 9th grade, about 10 years ago, but I only have a couple years total of work experience.

My jobs have included:
Teaching Assistant, Univ. of Georgia - Athens, GA 2004-2006
Summer intern, Weyerhaeuser Co. - Columbus, MS 2004
Summer intern, Weyerhaeuser Co. - Washington, NC 2005
Research Technician, Aracruz Celulose - Aracruz, Brazil 2006
County Extension Agent, UGA Cooperative Extension - Clayton, GA 2008-Present

Areas of Expertise: Tree and Wood Identification, Arboriculture, Wood Properties, Turning Trees into Furniture

[Ron Scott]

Ron Scott

Degree: B.S. in Forestry, Michigan Tecnological University 1961 plus
12 continuing education certificates of 150 hours each over 3 year periods.

Years Experience: 51

USDA Forest Service 38 years
Consulting Forester 13 years

Areas of Expertise: Land & Resource Management Planning; Ecosystem Sustainability, Stewardship Plans, Environmental Analysis Preparation, Public Involvement, Timber Stand Improvement, Timber Appraisals, Timber Sale Preparation and Administration, Reforestation, Fuelwood Management, Wildlife Habitat Management (game & non-game), Visual Quality Improvement (aesthetics), Riparian & Wetland Area Protection, Underwater Surveys & Mapping, Recreation Management (campgrounds, trails, motorized & non-motorized, winter sports area planning & management), Utility Rights of Way Management, Wilderness and Natural Area Management, Forest Roads Management, Forest Fire Pevention and Presuppression.

Affiliations: Society of American Foresters (elected Fellow 1991), SAF Cerified Forester; Association of Consulting Foresters of America, Inc. Michigan Registered Forester # 612, Michigan Forest Association, Michigan United Conservation Clubs, National Wild Turkey Federation, Michigan Wild Turkey Federation, Friends of the Forests' (Huron-Manistee National Forests), US Navy and Fleet Marine Force (3rd Marine Division Recon) 1953-1957.

[WDH]

 

Ron,

That is quite a lot of wood that you have chopped, brother.  Keep on keeping on .

[tonich]

Toni Karov

Degree:  Master of Science in Forestry
Institution: University of Forestry, Sofia, Bulgaria (http://www.ltu.bg), 1997
Years of experience - 11: 
1.   Deputy Director of State Forestry Unit in Shiroka laka, BG (Public sector) 1997-2003
2.   Private Consulting Forester Shiroka laka, BG (Private sector) 2003-present
Areas of expertise:  silviculture, harvest layout and supervision, forest inventory, woodlot management
Silviculture: Coniferous forests, composed by Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris), Austrian Pine (Pinus Nigra), Norway Spruce (Picea abies), Silver Fir (Abies alba). Provided different silvicultural system as Selection, Group-Selection, Group-Shelterwood.
Broadleaved forests, composed by Common Beech (Fagus silvatica), Oriental beech (Fagus orientalis), Pedunculate oak (Quercus robur), Sessile oak (Quercus petraea), Cerris oak (Quercus cerris), Italian Oak (Quercus frainetto) etc., tend by Shelterwood and Gap silvicultural system.
Specialty: Introduction of Selected Wood in even-aged coniferous stands.


Don’t know if it makes any difference, though. 

[Phorester]

Been a State Service Forester for 34 years.  VA Tech graduate, 1974.  Experienced with both eastern hardwood management and southern pines. Lots of forest fire experience (Southern). Have written hundreds of forest management plans. Have done hundreds of prescribed burns, been on hundreds of forest fires.  Grew Christmas trees for 25 years.  Teach forest management topics, forest fire control. Give several talks each year to everybody from  kids to adults.  Certified Arborist. Enjoy a good discussion.  Like to solve problems.  Play a mean bluegrass guitar.  Do a little woodworking.

[BWT]

Degree: BS Forest Resource Management from Southern Illinois University 2008

Years of Experience: Working on it.

Area of Expertise: Fire Ecology, Southern Pine, GPS, and GIS (mostly ARCMAP) if you want to call it expertise.

Job: County Forester

[Texas Ranger]

Dang, Ron, I thought I was the old man here!

[Riles]

Welcome to the forum BWT. What part of Florida?

[WDH]

Play a mean bluegrass guitar. 

OK Phorester!  I play the bass fiddle.  Maybe one day we can hook up and play a tune in the forest around a fire (campfire).  We could draw from the food thread and cook up something at the same time

[Ron Scott]

TR, yes, we're "old foresters". A few of us are able to go back and see the long term results of some of our work, good and not so good, but sure endorses the experience level. I need to really retire one of these days. When I was 70, I said that I was going to quit, but when people call for help I seem to have a hard time saying no!

I was out again yesterday examining an 80 acre parcel for a management prescription. The doctor says that the walking is the best thing for me.

[Texas Ranger]

Yup, just finished a 3000 acre cruise, not one of my more enjoyable outings, but it keeps beans in the pot.  It was a cruise only a forester could enjoy, big plantations, and being sold to an investment group.  The information provided to the buyers is, to say the least, not worth the paper it was written on.  One 300 acre tract had been posted with over $300,000 worth of timber, but when we drove up, the only tree seen was a corner marker.  Easy to cruise that one, more difficult on others.

I enjoy the work, would like to keep after it as long as I can, but some of it is getting a little more like torture.  That paint gun back pack keeps getting heavier, and heavier.