REGIONAL FORESTERS

OF THE ALASKA REGION

1905 - 2012

FOREST SERVICE • UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

KAREN DILLMAN
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
REGIONAL FORESTERS

OF THE ALASKA REGION

“The greatest good for the greatest number of people in the long run.”

Gifford Pinchot

Forest Service, Alaska Region • U.S. Department of Agriculture

R10-FR-008 July 2012

Produced by the Alaska Region • Beth Pendleton, Regional Forester
The story of Alaska’s great national forests cannot be separated from the 

compelling story of its people and their history. This timeline is predated 

by over 10,000 years of settlement by Alaska Natives before the first 

Europeans arrived.

1741	 The first European expedition to Alaska was led by Russians Vitus Bering

and Aleksei Chirikov.

1776 	 Captain James Cook of England journeys into Turnagain Arm and Prince

William Sound.

1799 	 Aleksandr Andreyevich Baranov establishes the Russian trading post 	 	

	 known today as Old Sitka.

1805 	 First cargo of Russian furs from Russian America is delivered to China. 	 	

1867 	 Secretary of State, William H. Seward, negotiates purchase of Russian

	 America for $7.2 million, less than two cents per acre.

1880 	 Joe Juneau and Richard Harris discover gold in Snow Slide Gulch and 	 	

	 established a mining camp that would grow to become present-day	 	

	 Juneau.

1892 	 President Benjamin Harrison establishes Afognak Forest and Fish	 	

	 Culture Reserve, a precursor to the Chugach National Forest.

1896 	 The Klondike Gold Rush begins.

1902 	 President Theodore Roosevelt establishes Alexander Archipelago	 	

	 Forest Reserve—a precursor to the Tongass National Forest.

1905 William A. Langille, the first forest supervisor for the Alaskan Forest 	 	

	 Reserves.

1907 	 Tongass and Chugach national forests established by Presidential

	 proclamation.

1910	 Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot fired by President Taft over his 	 	

	 efforts to protect Chugach lands near Cordova from coal mining.

1911 William G. Weigle, forest supervisor of the national forests in 		 	

	 Alaska.

1913 	 First Alaska Territorial Legislature convenes.

1919 Charles H. Flory, district forester (became first in region to be called 	 	

	 regional forester).

1924 	 Congress extends citizenship to all American Indians and Alaska 	 	

	 Natives.

1933 	 Civilian Conservation Corps in Alaska builds campgrounds, roads, trails,

and restores Native totem poles in Old Kassan.

1937 B. Frank Heintzleman, regional forester (became Governor of the Alaska

Territory in 1953).

1942 	 Japan bombs Dutch Harbor; invades Aleutian Islands.

1942 	 Alaska Spruce Log Program established on Tongass to provide 	airplane		

	 lumber for military use.

1948 	 The Alaska Highway opens to civilian traffic.

1951 	 The first of two 50-year timber contracts begins with a pulp mill in 	 	

	 Ketchikan.

1953 Arthur W. Greeley, regional forester

1956	 Timber sales reach 200 million board feet per year.

1956 Percy D. Hanson, regional forester

1957 	 Atlantic Richfield discovers oil on the Kenai Peninsula, ushering in 	 	

	 Alaska’s modern oil era.

1959 	 Alaska is admitted to the United States as the 49th state.

1962 	 Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center is built—the first in the Forest Service.

1964 W. Howard Johnson, regional forester

1964	 Wilderness Act passed to protect wilderness resources. An earthquake 	

	 rocks Southcentral Alaska.

1969 	 National Environmental Policy Act passed to establish a national policy 		

	 for the environment.

1971 Charles A. Yates, regional forester

1971	 Congress passes Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).

1974 	 Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act passed 	 	

	 requiring forests to submit plans that provide for multiple use and 	 	

	 sustained yields of products and services.

1976 John A. Sandor, regional forester

1980 	 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) passed to	 	

	 bring a balance to competing demands on Alaska’s natural resources.	 	

1984 Michael A. Barton, regional forester

1989	 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound.

1990 	 Tongass Timber Reform Act passed

1994 Phillip J. Janik, regional forester

1997 	 Record of Decision for the Tongass Land and Resources Management 	 	

	 Plan Revision.

1999 Rick D. Cables, regional forester

2001	 Dennis E. Bschor, regional forester

2001 	 USDA promulgates the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

2002 	 Tongass National Forest celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 	 	

	 Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve, forerunner of the Tongass.

2007 	 Chugach National Forest Centennial

2009 	 Héen Latinee Experimental Forest established near Juneau for

	 researchers to study the largest temperate rainforest in the world.

2009 	 Secretary of Agriculture directs USDA agencies to develop an 	 	 	

	 economic diversification strategy to help Southeast Alaska 	 	 	

	 strengthen its economy.

2010	 Beth G. Pendleton, regional forester

TIMELINE
Alaska Region in 2012

 2 William A. Langille

 4 William G. Weigle

 6 Charles H. Flory

 8 B. Frank Heintzleman

10 Arthur W. Greeley

12 Percy D. Hanson

14 William H. Johnson

16 Charles A. Yates

18 John A. Sandor

20 Michael A. Barton

22 Phillip J. Janik

24 Rick D. Cables

26 Dennis E. Bschor

28 Beth G. Pendleton

© CHARLES LOVELY

1

Fiscal

Employees in Alaska

Towns with Forest Service staff

Total budget

Total FY 10 Economic Recovery

Secure Rural Schools

In contracts awarded in Alaska

In contracts awarded to Alaskan firms

648

15

$103.7 M

$44.8 M

$18.84 M

$9 M

$6.8 M

Commercial salmon harvested from NFS

Commercial salmon harvest associated with 

NFS fish production (12yr. average)

Fish & Industry

$63.4 M

$79 M

Acres of national forest land in Alaska

Acres of national monument

Acres of wetlands

Acres of designated wilderness

Wilderness study acres

Acres of lakes

Miles of streams

Miles of coastline

Miles of anadromous fish streams

Miles of road

Miles recommended Wild & Scenic Rivers 

Number of federally recognized tribes within national forest responsibility

Land & Water

21.95 M

3.3 M

5.3 M

5.8 M

2.1 M

364 K

53.6 K

16.7 K

21.4 K

1.3 K

536

31

Mining

56 Mines with plans of operations

Recreation

Recreation visits

Total special-use permits

Miles of hiking trails

Number of public use recreation cabins

2.8 M

1.1 K

1.2K

188

Timber

Board feet of timber harvested

Board feet of timber sold

33 M

44 M
William Langille was born in Nova Scotia in 1868. He attended public schools in 

Nova Scotia and Chicago, Illinois, before moving with his family to Hood River, 

Oregon, in 1880. Langille and his brother became guides on Mount Hood and 

participated in the creation of the Cascade Range Forest Reserve.

Langille was an accomplished outdoorsman, a skillful hunter, and a “man of 

magnificent physique.”2

 In 1897, Langille’ s imagination was captured by the 

Klondike Gold Rush. He traveled to Alaska and shared a cabin with Jack London 

and “Buck,” the hero of London’s story, The Call of the Wild. Langille mined at 

Dawson, Yukon Territory, Canada, and later in Nome, Alaska. 

In 1902, while prospecting in Nome, Langille was summoned to Washington, 

D.C., to talk with President Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, who became 

the Forest Service’s first chief. They offered Langille the fine salary of $1,800 to 

$2,000 per year to work in Alaska as a forestry expert.

Langille returned to Alaska in 1903. He traveled extensively in the Southeast, 

mostly by boat. He eventually made his way to Prince William Sound, Valdez, and 

the Kenai Peninsula. After reaching Seward, he traveled by dog team to Fairbanks 

to see the forests in the interior. He later came full circle, returning to Southeast to 

become the forest supervisor of the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve. 

Langille initially set up his headquarters in Wrangell, and then relocated to the 

larger town of Ketchikan. He found office space for twenty dollars a month, and 

later had a floating office on the newly acquired Forest Service launch Tahn, the 

first of several ranger boats in Alaska.

2

I n recording the annals of the U.S. Forest Service in Alaska, historian and author Lawrence Rakestraw said, 

“For the first six years of its management, the story of the 

Alexander Archipelago and of the Tongass national forests 

is essentially the story of one man—William Alexander 

Langille.”1

WILLIAM A. LANGILLE

One of many early logging camps on the Tongass.

October morning on the Copper River (1909).
1905 - 1911

3

During his long field trips, Langille carried a .22 rifle and lived 

off the land. He was well versed in botany, mammology, and 

photography. He used his extensive cartography skills to map 

boundaries and timber sales. He was a detailed record-keeper. 

Langille was also an excellent writer who was able to convey in 

words his spirit of adventure and appreciation of the natural beauty 

he encountered in his daily work.

Langille’s research and reports back to Washington influenced 

policymaking on the “vast natural resources in the Alaska.” He 

met with the public and government officials to tackle both new 

and old issues surrounding existing timber mills, timber sales, 

timber trespassing, mining and minerals, game laws, fisheries, 

and healthy salmon streams. He was keenly concerned about 

wildlife preservation and the wanton trophy hunting on the Kenai 

Peninsula.

Following the passage of the Antiquities Act in 1906, Langille was 

instrumental in the preservation of historic sites on federal lands 

and focused on totem poles and Native community houses. He 

helped to create the Sitka National Monument, site of the Native 

village that fought with the Russians in 1804.

On Langille’s recommendation, the Chugach National Forest 

was designated in 1907. He traveled from Ketchikan to Valdez 

to meet the public and explain new forest policy. At that time, 

copper mining and fishing were the main sources of income in 

Prince William Sound. Also in 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt 

established the Tongass National Forest, which was consolidated a 

year later with the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve.

Langille resigned from the Forest Service July 31, 1911. He is 

considered to be the father of forestry in Alaska in part because he 

established the boundaries of the Chugach and Tongass national 

forests. His real legacy, however, was the methodical research, 

meticulous recordkeeping, and trove of correspondence he left to 

set the stage for those who would later take up the role as head of 

the Forest Service in Alaska.
As Weigle’s career progressed, he traveled west, taking charge of timber sales in 

Wisconsin, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, and 

Oregon. In 1909 he became supervisor of the Coeur d’Alene National Forest in 

Idaho. It was there he first took on the task of clearing saloons and brothels from 

national forest lands, a job skill that would prove useful in Alaska.

Weigle was a hero of the Great Fire of 1910 that claimed 85 lives and consumed 

three million acres in Montana and Idaho. He helped evacuate the citizens of 

Wallace, Idaho, holding out in a mine shaft when he was caught in the flames. 

By 1910, the dean of the Yale Forestry School, Henry Solon Graves, had 

succeeded Gifford Pinchot as Forest Service Chief. Graves was keenly interested 

in the management of Alaska’s forests and desired to send well-educated foresters 

to the field. He sent Weigle to Alaska in 1911 to succeed William Langille, who 

trained Weigle in navigation and the operation of boats. 

Weigle wrote, “The motor boat took the place of the saddle and pack horse; hip 

boots and a rain slicker the place of chaps; and it was much more essential that a 

ranger knew how to adjust his spark plug than be able to throw a diamond hitch. 

His steed may do just as much pitching and bucking, but this is prompted not by a 

spirit of animal perversity but by the spirits of climatic adversity.”4

Weigle was described as “...a large, powerful, redheaded man of German ancestry. 

He was a man of action rather than a philosopher, a practical forester who liked 

fieldwork.”5

 Weigle, a bachelor, was well liked and respected by his staff, who 

appreciated his raw humor and relaxed management style. 

W illiam Weigle was born September 20, 1866, 

 in Bendersville, Pennsylvania. He worked as a school 

principal and railroad worker. He attended a summer forestry 

course conducted by Yale University at Grey Towers, the 

Pinchot estate in Milford, Pennsylvania. He later continued 

his education at Yale, and joined the Forest Service in 1905, 

working in Pennsylvania and New York.3

Forest Ranger on the Tongass (circa 1918).

WILLIAM G. WEIGLE

Forest Service office in Cordova (1917).

4
1911 - 1919

When Weigle arrived in Alaska he hired forest examiners, surveyors, 

scalers, and rangers. The people who lived on the Tongass National Forest 

were generally satisfied with the management of timber sales, and salmon 

fishing was productive. On the Chugach, however, many blamed the 

Forest Service for cancellation of coal claims, saying it delayed economic 

development. 

With the added staff came the need for more boats. In addition to the Tahn, 

the Restless, Prospector, and Ranger 4 were added to the fleet. A wanigan, 

or houseboat, was built to provide better accommodations for the field crew.

Weigle’s men marked timber sales, cruised timber, enforced regulations, 

surveyed, and furnished transportation not only for government officials, 

but for scattered settlers in need of assistance and rescue. Timber sales 

increased due to demands for construction timber, fish boxes, and Sitka 

spruce for airplane construction during World War I. Setting boundaries 

on the Tongass and Chugach was a major task, taking place during a time 

when competing interests of governing officials—such as agriculture 

and railroad building—were threatening to eliminate the national forests. 

The crews faced hazardous weather, high tides, bears, mosquitoes, thick 

underbrush, and devil’s club. 

Lawrence Rakestraw wrote: 

Weigle was a worthy successor to Langille, and his administration was 

marked by many achievements. He opened the forest to agricultural 

as well as to timber use. The Forest Service during that time was 

under fire almost continually, and Weigle stood firm against many 

pressures. He gave the forests strong administration and through the 

use of common sense settled many disputes amicably. Sometimes a 

heroic and sometimes a comic figure, he was admired for his best 

qualities and loved for his foibles.

6

William Weigle gave up bachelorhood to marry a Ketchikan schoolteacher. 

In 1919, he left Alaska for Washington State to become the Snoqualmie 

National Forest supervisor.

5
6

The Forest Service was in a time of transition, and the Alaska district was both 

underfinanced and understaffed, and known as “...the most neglected of all 

districts.”8

 Chief Forester Greeley traveled to Alaska to personally inspect the 

forests, but many plans that were made for the Chugach and Tongass never came 

to fruition. 

Flory’s many sideline activities detracted from his day-to-day work as district 

forester. He spent time as an ex-officio commissioner for the Department of 

Agriculture for Alaska, founded the Juneau Garden Club, collected rocks, and 

wrote a manuscript on the history of the Ballinger-Pinchot dispute, which was later 

lost.

In 1920, Flory became the Forest Service representative to the Alaska Committee, 

a multi-agency effort to develop coordinated policies for land issues, patents, 

records, boundary issues, and surveys. Flory also served as chairman of the Alaska 

Commission for a period, which was set up in 1930 to coordinate activities of 

the Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, and the Land Office in 

Alaska. The work took about half of Flory’s time, and required him to be out of the 

office a great deal. 

In 1930, all Forest Service districts were renamed regions, so Flory became 

Alaska’s first regional forester. At that time, Flory’s office was moved from 

Ketchikan to Juneau, which has remained the site of the regional office. 

CHARLES H. FLORY

harles H. Flory was born June 24, 1880, in Arcanum, 

Ohio.7 He was a graduate of Yale University who 

served as chief of operations in Portland, Oregon. In 1919, 

Flory was named superintendent of Alaska’s forests. In 1921, 

bowing to both internal and external pressure to decentralize 

the agency, the Forest Service separated Alaska from the 

Portland office to create District 8. Flory became Alaska’s first 

district forester.

C

Paradise Valley at Cooper Landing with a Emergency Conservation Work Act (ECW), trail crew (1933).

Loading clear Sitka spruce at Juneau Lumber Mills for shipment by scow to Seattle, Washington (1923).
7

Alaska continued to grow in the 1920s. In fact, during the 1920s and 1930s, 

timber sales thrived, with mills in Juneau, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Craig, 

Sitka, Seward, and Cordova. By 1921 there were 10 ranger boats in use, and 

boatmen were an important component of the workforce. The marine station 

on Gravina Island near Ketchikan was enlarged to handle boat building and 

repair. 

The Forest Service continued to work on the boundaries of the Chugach and 

Tongass national forests, negotiating with the National Park Service and 

General Land Office’s Alaska Field Division. The Tongass added Icy Strait, 

Lituya Bay, the west side of Lynn Canal, and the Mansfield Peninsula. The 

boundaries of the Glacier Bay National Monument were established in 1925. 

Between 1919 and 1928, the Navy took aerial photographs that were 

important tools in developing the timber resources in Southeast Alaska. For 

the first time, an overview of the nine million acres of the Juneau Ranger 

District could be done in one day by plane. 

In 1931, field divisions were set up to replace ranger districts at Ketchikan, 

Petersburg, Juneau, Anchorage and Cordova. Several inspectors came from 

the Washington Office during this period, and in general, praised the local 

administration. 

In 1933, during the Great Depression, Flory took over all the Civilian 

Conservation Corps (CCC) projects in Alaska. He was interested in Native 

antiquities and Alaska history. He used some CCC funds to work with the 

National Park Service and the University of Alaska to excavate the site 

of Old Sitka. About 1,000 Russian and Native artifacts were located and 

transferred to the University of Alaska. He worked with the Park Service to 

move and preserve totem poles from Old Kasaan. CCC workers also built 

trails, bridges, roads, campgrounds and other facilities.

Controversy surrounded Flory’s administration in 1936. Common practices 

in Alaska, such as allowing the use of Forest Service boats to take families 

on picnics, came under fire from the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau 

of Personnel. Shortly after, Flory was transferred to Washington State. B. 

Frank Heintzleman, who condemned the report and Flory’s move, was 

nevertheless named Alaska’s new regional forester.

1919 - 1937
Heintzleman was described as “...short in stature, tremendously energetic, an able 

public speaker, and devoted to community affairs.”9

 He was considered to be tough 

on his men but quick to defend them from outside criticism. He was a lifelong 

bachelor who enjoyed social life, and was dedicated to Alaska and its issues. He 

was active in the Presbyterian Church, the Masons, the Juneau Public Library, and 

the Alaska Historical Library and Museum. 

Heintzleman believed forest research was essential in developing the technical 

tools needed for proper forest management. When he lacked funds for research, he 

used timber management money. Maybeso Experimental Forest was established 

on Prince of Wales to determine the effects of clearcutting on salmon streams and 

to investigate the effects of clearcut timber harvesting on forest regeneration and 

regrowth.10 Heintzleman also had measurements taken of trees being cut for saw 

timber and piling in order to make local volume tables. 

Heintzleman had oversight of the Civilian Conservation Corps in Alaska. By 

1937, the CCC had enrolled 1,037 men who were working in the national forests 

of Alaska out of Ketchikan, Petersburg, Juneau, and Prince William Sound. They 

built fish traps, a dock, a boat harbor, a bear observatory, houses, shelters, cabins, 

and a biological laboratory. CCC enrollees also traveled to isolated Native villages 

to clear land, create sanitation drainage, repair community houses, build telephone 

lines, build fences, and clean up after floods. 

In 1939, Heintzleman used Works Project Administration and CCC funds to begin 

a totem pole restoration at Sitka National Monument. The workers used a new 

preservative called Permatox D, developed by the Forest Service’s Forest Products 

8

F rank Heintzleman was born in Pennsylvania  December 3, 1888. He studied at Pennsylvania State 

Forest Academy and Yale University. He served in the Forest 

Service in the Pacific Northwest before coming to Alaska in 

1918 to be a deputy forest supervisor. In 1937, he succeeded 

Charles Flory as regional forester, serving during the 

presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman.

B. FRANK HEINTZLEMAN

CCC enrollee Joe Thomas uses an adz to work on Baranof totem at Wrangell. He is wearing a traditional 

Tlingit potlatch button blouse (1941).

Falling a giant spruce on the Tongass April 4, 1941.
1937 - 1953

9

Laboratory, to keep the poles from rotting. Forest Service architect Linn Forrest 

designed a new Native community house. The CCC totem pole project was 

quite successful. Forty-eight old poles were restored, 54 were duplicated, and 

19 new poles were carved.

The Forest Service underwent some major changes during World War II. Many 

of the men entered the armed forces. There was an increased need for wood 

production for military bases, and more importantly, high grade spruce for 

airplane production. In 1942, Heintzleman headed the creation of the Alaska 

Spruce Log Program at Edna Bay on Prince of Wales Island. There were up to 

250 loggers and family members living in the logging camps. The goal was to 

produce 100 million feet of airplane lumber per year.

Heintzleman thought timber and power development were crucial to Alaska’s 

economic growth. He had to balance his values with the public’s desire to 

manage national forests for recreation and wilderness values. These competing 

interests intensified as Alaska faced potential statehood.

Like his predecessors, Heintzleman was concerned with the complicated legal 

and moral questions concerning Native land claims and rights. Heintzleman 

expanded the Forest Service’s relationship with the Alaska Native Brotherhood 

and Alaska Native Sisterhood. The controversy surrounding Heintzleman’s 

ambition to establish a pulp industry in Alaska led to the passing of the 

Tongass Timber Act in 1947, which provided for contracts of timber sales with 

the receipts to be put in an escrow account pending the settlement of Native 

claims. The Ketchikan Pulp Company was formed in 1951, and the Alaska 

Pulp Development Co. began plans for a large sawmill and pulp mill in Sitka in 

1953.

Heinztleman was elected a Fellow of the Society of American Foresters in 

1951. When his Forest Service career ended in 1953, President Dwight D. 

Eisenhower appointed Heintzleman to a four-year term as Governor of the 

Alaska Territory, where he remained a strong ally of the Forest Service. He was 

awarded the Sir William Schlich Memorial Medal for distinguished service to 

forestry in 1958.11

Heintzleman died in Juneau, Alaska, on June 24, 1965, and was buried in 

Fayetteville, Pennsylvania.
Greeley began his Forest Service career in 1935, working as ranger, timber 

sale assistant, assistant supervisor, and forest supervisor. In 1953, when Frank 

Heintzleman was appointed Governor of the Alaska Territory, Greeley became 

Alaska’s regional forester. He was 41.

When Greeley arrived in Alaska, one of his first priorities was to hire more men. 

The region had been chronically understaffed. He moved Malcolm E. Hardy, 

the Petersburg ranger, to Anchorage to serve as the Chugach National Forest 

supervisor. Hardy’s first office was over a local saloon. Chugach employees began 

to rely on charter aircraft, which was less expensive than maintaining boats.

Greeley set up two supervisor areas on the Tongass National Forest. The North 

Tongass office was led by Clare M. Armstrong at Juneau. The South Tongass 

office was set up in Ketchikan and led by C. M. Archbold. Since boats were still 

an efficient means of travel in Southeast, the W. A. Langille and W. E. Weigle were 

purchased in 1954 and added to the fleet.

In 1948, the Forest Service developed a timber inventory using photographs from 

the Navy’s aerial survey of Southeastern Alaska. The inventory was useful for 

forest management decisions and to estimate how many pulp mills the region could 

support. Large-scale timber production was ramping up in the early 1950s. A pulp 

mill was under construction in Ketchikan and plans were being made for a pulp 

mill in Sitka. Timber sales had gone up from 60 million board feet in 1952 to 200 

million in 1956.13 Forest Service researchers were studying the effects of clearcut 

logging on salmon runs. Efforts were made in clearcut areas to protect viewsheds, 

that is, to minimize the effects of clearcuts on the natural landscape that could be 

seen from the roadways. 

10

A rthur White Greeley was born in Washington, D.C., 

 August 1, 1912. He received a bachelor’s degree in 

forestry from the University of Washington in 1934, and a 

master of forestry degree from Yale University in 1935. He 

was the son of William B. Greeley, who became the third Forest Service Chief in 1920.12 Arthur Greeley greatly resembled 

his father in physical appearance.

ARTHUR W. GREELEY

Workers construct the territory’s first pulp mill at Ward Cove, the largest single industrial investment in 

Alaska to date, at nearly $52.5 million (1953). Photo courtesy of Ketchikan Museums.

Starting in the early 1950s, the forests began to rely on chartered aircraft, which was less expensive than 

maintaining boats.
11

1953 - 1956

Several small mills were operating on the Chugach National 

Forest, and a new highway, albeit rough, opened up the Kenai 

Peninsula from Anchorage to Homer. The pristine view along the 

highway was sometimes marred by forest fires unintentionally 

set by road building crews or the Alaska Railroad with its coalburning locomotives. In the Cordova area, hunting camps were set 

up along the Copper River, the site of one of the most important 

nesting grounds in the nation for some waterfowl species. Native 

land claims continue to be an issue on the Tongass National Forest, 

while mining claims on the Chugach remain unresolved.

Following the Depression and World War II, a new generation of 

outdoor enthusiasts used public lands at an ever increasing rate.

Greeley realized that as recreation use increased, so did the need 

for recreational planning. Facilities, campgrounds and roads that 

had been built during the CCC era were showing age. Groups such 

as the Sierra Club opposed those who demanded the Forest Service 

build more facilities. At the same time, investors who wanted to 

exploit natural resources on public lands pressured Congress to 

relax regulations. Land managers were caught in the middle.14

By 1956, the region was in transition. Due to the increase in 

timber sales, Greeley recognized the importance of ongoing forest 

inventory work. He also foresaw the need to increase recreational 

planning.

Greeley was considered to be a very successful regional forester. 

“Greeley’s stay in Alaska was brief, but his record was exceptional. 

He had a keen sense of history and the vision needed for planning 

far ahead. He was well liked in the region; his competence and 

integrity earned him the respect of the lumbermen.”15 

In 1956 Greeley moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was 

appointed Regional Forester, North Central Region. In 1959 he 

moved to the Washington Office, and in 1966 was appointed 

Associate Chief of the Forest Service. He retired in 1971 to become 

a Christian minister. He died June 5, 2004, at age 91.
In 1935, Hanson became the forest supervisor of the Lassen National Forest in 

California, focusing on fire prevention plans. He worked his way up through 

the ranks, and was promoted to assistant regional forester in charge of timber 

management. In 1944, he became regional forester of the Northern Region in 

Missoula, Montana.

He was well suited for the job. “An outdoorsman, Hanson fished, hunted, and 

explored the mountains, often combining such recreation with an inspection trip. 

He placed his priorities for the postwar decade on tree planting, fire protection, 

and the building of access roads into remote parts of the region so that mature and 

damaged timber could be harvested.” 16

Hanson was the Northern regional forester during the 1949 Mann Gulch fire in 

Montana, where 13 firefighters died. He created the smoke-jumper training center 

near Missoula, joined with partners to create a firefighting reserve force, and 

recruited Native firefighters.

In 1956, Hanson succeeded Arthur Greeley as regional forester in Alaska. Hanson 

was aware that the lack of roads in communities situated around Alaska’s national 

forests limited the opportunities for sports and recreation. He was interested in 

game-management planning, and “there was a large development of hunting during 

Hanson’s term of office, especially of elk on Afognak and moose in the Yakutat 

area.”17 Cabins and trails were built for the convenience of hunters, and Hanson 

looked for means to connect timber roads in Southeast Alaska with existing state 

highways and ferry routes. 

Hanson’s careful consideration of road placement helped to minimize sediment 

getting into salmon spawning streams. He developed a gravel-cleaning machine 

machine to clear streambeds, which was designed to improve spawning grounds. A 

fisheries biologist was added to the Forest Service research staff. He continued the 

process of moving from forest protection to forest management.18 Timber sales

12

P ercy “Pete” Hanson was born September 18, 1901, 

 in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada. He received 

a degree in forestry at the University of California, Berkeley 

in 1924, and joined the Forest Service in 1926.

PERCY D. HANSON

Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, the first Forest Service visitor center in the nation, opened in 1962. 

Mobile visitor center in Portage Alaska with interpreter and tourists on the Chugach National Forest (1963).
1956 - 1963

13

continued to grow as well as create controversy. “Strong language 

was bandied about”19 between the Ketchikan Spruce Mills and the 

Forest Service over timber grading and scaling and standards set by 

the Forest Service for road building, which resulted in a cancelled 

timber sale. This led to the Forest Service’s preparing of volume 

tables for scaling logs and a school for scalers.

Although the Georgia-Pacific Corporation made a bid in 1955 for 7.5 

billion board feet for pulp manufacture, the sale was not completed, 

and the project was eventually dropped. In 1957, investors from 

Japan formed the Alaska Lumber and Pulp Company and set up 

a site at Silver Bay near Sitka, acquiring land under the Tongass 

Timber Act of 1947.

Hanson improved infrastructure, building ranger stations, 

warehouses, cabins and trails. The Mendenhall Glacier Visitor 

Center, the first Forest Service visitor center in the nation, opened in 

1962. 

The popularity of the Mendenhall’s trails and interpretive programs 

influenced the desire to have a similar center at Portage Glacier on 

the Chugach National Forest. A forest highway was built to Portage 

Glacier, as well as the Mitkof Highway in Petersburg and roads in 

Yakutat. New campgrounds were built on the Kenai Peninsula and 

old ones were refurbished.

When Alaska achieved statehood in 1959, Hanson’s ability to work 

with the state government became increasingly important. The Forest 

Service signed cooperative agreements with the state and the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service concerning timber harvests, recreation, and 

game management of wildfowl, elk and moose.

Hanson was concerned about multiple-use management of the 

forests. During his administration, a series of natural areas were 

either created or considered, and within a decade, a large number 

were reserved. Hanson was known as a planner, though many of his 

plans would be carried out by his successors.

Hanson died in May 1988. 
Johnson, who was perceived as being well suited for the job, was often compared 

to George Drake, a professional forester who began his Forest Service career in 

the Pacific Northwest in 1912. Lawrence Rakestraw said of Johnson, “A practical 

forester of the George Drake type, a wilderness lover, concerned with civic affairs, 

and with a strong sense of justice, he was a worthy successor to the previous 

regional foresters.”20

During Johnson’s tenure, many of the old-timers in Alaska retired and were 

replaced by new employees. Some thought change was too rapid, resulting in 

a small group of highly experienced men being replaced by a larger but less 

experienced workforce.

Johnson benefitted from the dedicated planning and work done by his 

predecessors. Timber sales increased from 219 million board feet in 1955 to 405 

million in 1965. By this time, research data indicated that timber could be cut on 

a more continuous basis due to the natural regeneration properties of hemlock and 

spruce. New cutting and milling techniques were developed. Logging previously 

done by hand was now completed with tractors and cables. 

In 1968, Johnson spent eight days in the South Tongass, traveling by boat and 

plane, to review experimental balloon logging techniques. Balloon logging allowed 

for cutting in areas that were previously inaccessible, and reduced the impact of 

logging on the soil.

14

H oward Johnson began his Forest Service career in  1925 on the Olympic National Forest. He later studied 

forestry at the University of Washington before beginning 

his permanent appointment in 1935. He also worked on the 

Columbia, Snoqualmie, and Tongass national forests. He 

later spent two years in Washington, D.C., and several years 

in Missoula, Montana. Johnson returned to Juneau in 1964 

to become regional forester, following the retirement of P.D. 

Hanson.

W. HOWARD JOHNSON 

Alaska Marine Highway interpreter Fred Harivish talking with travelers on one of the ferries of the Marine 

Highway (1969).

Kitai research station located at Afognak Island on the Chugach National Forest (circa 1970).
1964 - 1971

15

The large Ketchikan Pulp Company mill, the smaller Ketchikan Spruce Mills, and 

a new mill at Wrangell were making the dream of a “pulp-producing empire”21 a 

reality. 

Johnson’s administration, like Weigle’s, was characterized by both accomplishments 

and controversy.22 Recreation management was very successful. By the 1960s, 

however, just as Americans were finding time for recreational activities, society was 

becoming more urbanized. Sensing that the public was becoming less connected 

to the outdoors, the Forest Service began to recognize a greater need for solid 

interpretive programs. 

In 1968, Forest Service naturalist D. Robert Hakala created a partnership with 

the Alaska State Ferry System to place Forest Service information desks, staffed 

by seasonal interpreters, on state ferries. This highly successful program would 

introduce thousands of ferry patrons to the Tongass National Forest in its more 

than 40 years of operation. Travelers to Alaska were treated to slide shows and 

lectures from knowledgeable Forest Service employees who interpreted the natural 

landscapes and wildlife seen along the ferry routes in Southeast and Southcentral 

Alaska. 

Many of the controversies that arose for the Johnson administration came from state 

politics. Competing interests on Admiralty Island, a lawsuit from the Sierra Club 

over a timber sale, and the approval of the transfer of 400,000 acres of National 

Forest System lands to the state were controversial.

Since 1960, natural resources had been managed for timber, recreation, water 

and wildlife under the Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act. With the passage of the 

Wilderness Act of 1964, Johnson also began to look for appropriate areas to set aside 

as wilderness study areas. He held a public wilderness workshop in Juneau in 1969 

with the Alaska Conservation Society, the Sierra Club, and the Wilderness Society.23

Johnson explained his plans to prepare complete studies of major wilderness areas 

by 1970, including the Nellie Juan area on the Chugach. On the Tongass, study 

areas were proposed for Tracy Arm-Fords Terror, Walker Cove, Russell Fiord, and 

Chichagof-Yakobi Islands. Johnson also developed a plan to protect the Sitka blacktailed deer and the 800-1,000 brown bears on Admiralty Island.24

Johnson retired in February 1971 and moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington, the 

following year. He died March 10, 1988, at the age of 80. 
Yates spent most of the first two decades of his Forest Service career working 

in California as a fire control assistant, a district ranger and a forest supervisor. 

In 1962, he moved to the Rocky Mountain Region to serve as assistant regional 

forester. He returned to California in 1966 as deputy regional forester of the Pacific 

Southwest Region. In 1971, he succeeded W. Howard Johnson as regional forester 

in Alaska.

Like those of his predecessors, Yates’ administration was one of change and 

controversy.26 Continuing with plans made by previous regional forester Howard 

Johnson, Yates moved the headquarters of the North Tongass from Juneau to Sitka, 

and added a headquarters in Petersburg. In 1973, he did away with ranger districts. 

The early 1970s were tumultuous for the Forest Service in Alaska. Yates dealt 

with bad press and environmental lawsuits. He halted logging operations by the 

Alaska Lumber and Pulp Company until additional studies of the West ChichagofYakobi area could be completed.27 Groups such as the Alaska Loggers Association 

wanted to limit the amount of designated wilderness and manage the forests for 

multiple use and resource extraction. Conservation groups such as the Southeast 

Alaska Conservation Council, which was formed in 1970, desired to see increased 

wilderness and no further development.28

Yates spent much of his time and attention on land-use planning. He created 

the Alaska Planning Team and conducted many other planning activities. The 

Wilderness Act of 1964 required that roadless areas of more than 5,000 acres be 

reviewed for possible wilderness status as determined by Congress. The National

16

harles Yates, a native of California, began his career 

with the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934. After 

attending junior college, he worked for the Forest Service on 

the Shasta National Forest. During World War II, he served 

as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. After the war, 

he continued his education and graduated from Oregon State 

University in 1948.25

CHARLES A. YATES

C

In 1971, members of a stream clearing crew stand by as a section of log is winched from the stream tributary in the Craig area as a result of the 1968 windstorm.

Log and gravel bridge in Basket Bay, Tenakee, over a gorge in 1974. The number of trails, shelters, and 

campgrounds expanded as landscape architects were hired beginning in 1973.
1971 - 1975

17

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 required the Forest Service to 

consider how their actions might affect the natural environment. In 

1974, the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 

directed land managers to set up interdisciplinary teams to develop 

land management plans and to involve the public in decision making 

processes.

With the amendment of the Sikes Act in 1974, the Forest Service began 

to work more closely with the state in regulating fish and wildlife 

programs and off-road vehicle use.29 More than 200 fisheries habitat 

improvement projects took place on the Chugach and Tongass national 

forests from 1962 through 1975, with the costs split between the Forest 

Service and the Alaska Department of Fish & Game.30

One of the most significant laws passed during Yates’ term as regional 

forester was the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 

1971. The act gave Alaska Natives $962 million and approximately 44 

million acres of land to settle their land claims. Regional and village 

corporations were set up to manage the allotments. To protect the 

public interest, ANSCA put a limit on the number of acres that could 

be withdrawn from Forest Service, National Park Service, and Fish 

and Wildlife Sevice. However, some leaders in the Forest Service were 

alarmed by amendments that increased the number of acres of Forest 

Service lands that could be characterized as “traditional use,” and 

thereby available for selection.31

Recreation management also changed during Yates’ tenure. The 

environmental movement and the desire by visitors to see the land in its 

natural state led to Yates’ efforts to mitigate the visual impact of clearcutting. In 1973, the Forest Service began hiring landscape architects to 

set guidelines for and to improve the visual quality of the forests.32 The 

number of trails, shelters, and campgrounds expanded. 

Yates retired in March 1975. He lives in Novato, California, where he 

moved with his wife in 1976. 
Sandor worked as a research forester in 1951 at the Pacific Northwest Forest & 

Range Experimental Station in Olympia, Washington. In 1953, he traveled to 

Alaska to work on forest surveys of the Tongass National Forest. Later, he served 

as assistant regional forester for personnel management in the Southern Region, 

Atlanta, Georgia; assistant to the chief, Washington, D.C.; and as deputy regional 

forester, Eastern Region, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He returned to Alaska as regional 

forester March 13, 1976. 

By 1976, the Forest Service workforce was becoming more diverse. In a 1979 

letter to historian Lawrence Rakestraw, Sandor said the biggest organizational 

change that happened during his assignment was the “emphasis on bringing 

fisheries, wildlife, and other specialists into the organization.”33 Feeling that such 

organizational change had broad public support, Sandor added 30 fishery and 

wildlife biologists to his staff, as well as recreation specialists. 

Sandor reestablished the ranger districts that had been abolished by Charles Yates 

in 1973. He set up three supervisor districts for the Tongass: the Ketchikan area 

in Ketchikan; the Stikine area in Petersburg; and the Chatham area in Sitka. The 

Forest Service leased nearly an acre of land to the City and Borough of Juneau to 

build Centennial Hall, which housed a Forest Service Visitor Information Center.

The National Forest Management Act (NFMA) was passed in 1976 and required 

that each forest create a forest plan using an interdisciplinary approach and 

allowing for public involvement. One of Sandor’s highest accomplishments was 

the completion of the 1979 Tongass Land Management Plan, the first plan in the 

nation completed under NFMA.34

18

J ohn A. Sandor was born December 22, 1926, in 

 Buckley, Washington. He was an Army medic in World 

War II, graduated in 1950 from Washington State University 

with a bachelor’s degree in forestry, and earned a master’s 

degree in public administration from Harvard University in 

1959.

JOHN A. SANDOR

Sunny Creek fish ladder located at Sunny Creek on Prince Of Wales Island, (August 1984).

Forest Service cabins at Andrews Slough, July 25, 1978

John Sandor accepts the Gifford Pinchot Medal from the Society of American Foresters in 2007.
19

1976 - 1984

Like his predecessor, Yates, Sandor was involved with controversy and legal issues. 

Much of this was attributed to the scope of legislation that was passed during his 

administration. Groups such as the Sierra Club and Sitka Conservation Society 

took issue with complex legislation such as the Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act, 

the National Environmental Policy Act, which took effect in January 1970, and the 

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. Enacted in 1980, the Alaska National 

Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), codified the subsistence hunting and 

fishing rights of Alaskans.

Sandor is active in the Society of American Foresters and helped to form the 

Alaskan chapter. He served on the Board of Directors for the Natural Resources 

and Environmental Administration Section of the American Society for Public 

Administration.

Sandor was a participant in the 1978 World Forestry Trade Mission to Japan and 

the People’s Republic of China. In 1979, Sandor received the State Conservationist 

Award in Alaska presented by the Alaska Wildlife Federation and Sportsman’s 

Council. In 1981, he received an Outstanding Alumni Award in Forestry from 

Washington State University. He also received the Department of Agriculture’s 

Superior Service Award in 1983.

Sandor retired from the Forest Service in 1984. His contributions to the State of 

Alaska did not end, however. He was the Commissioner of the Alaska Department 

of Environmental Conservation from 1990 to 1994 and served as a member of the 

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council.

In 2007, Sandor received the Gifford Pinchot Medal from the Society of American 

Foresters (SAF). This award recognizes an SAF member who has made outstanding 

contributions in the administration, practice, and professional development of North 

American Forestry.

In announcing Sandor’s retirement, Chief of the Forest Service R. Max Peterson 

said, “John has made a major contribution to the Forest Service and especially to the 

national forests in Alaska. During the delicate negotiations involved in writing the 

Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, he was known as a man of honesty, 

and professional integrity by members of Congress and the various interest groups.”35

John, and his wife, Lenore, live in Douglas, Alaska.
Barton worked three years as a watershed scientist on the Superior National Forest 

and was promoted to chief of water quality section in the Eastern Region. From 

1971-1974, he was the deputy forest supervisor of the Ottawa National Forest in 

Minnesota. In 1974, Barton moved to Washington, D.C. He held the positions 

of water rights and water quality specialist; program evaluation and system 

development specialist; and director of Watershed Management. During his Forest 

Service career, Barton received many awards for natural resource management. He 

was on the National Fisheries Task Force which developed and marketed a national 

system to revitalize and strengthen the Forest Service fisheries program. 

In 1979, Barton moved to Juneau to serve as deputy regional forester for the 

Alaska Region. In 1984, he was appointed regional forester. Like other regional 

foresters who came before him, Barton would be called on to deal with issues 

that were both problematic and controversial. One of the most difficult and 

unprecedented was the worst environmental disaster in American history at that 

time. 

On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez supertanker hit a reef in Prince William 

Sound, spilling almost 11 million gallons of North Slope crude oil. The spill 

would eventually cover 11,000 square miles of ocean, killing untold numbers of 

birds, seals, otters, and whales, and decimating the sound’s fishing industry. As 

part of a criminal plea agreement, Exxon paid a $150 million fine and cooperated 

with cleanup efforts. Barton became a founding member of the Oil Spill Trustee 

Council, representing the Secretary of Agriculture in an interagency group 

that included the U.S. Department of the Interior, the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. 

20

M ike Barton was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. He  began his Forest Service career in 1959 as a research 

technician while attending the University of Michigan. He 

received a bachelor of science in forestry degree in 1961. 

After serving in the U.S. Army, he obtained his master’s 

degree in forest hydrology in 1965 from the University of 

Michigan.

MICHAEL A. BARTON

Forest Service employee standing on the oil-coated beach of Eleanor Island (April 6, 1989).

Opened to the public in 1986, and rededicated with new exhibits in 2001, the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center is 

built upon the terminal moraine left behind by Portage Glacier in 1914. Photo courtesy of Ron Neibrugge.
21

1984 - 1994

Restoration work in the previously pristine Sound would continue many 

years after Barton’s retirement.

Native subsistence hunting and fishing rights were debated and litigated 

in Alaska for 60 years before Barton was appointed regional forester. 

In 1990, the Federal Subsistence Board was established to set up a 

program for subsistence management on federal public lands in Alaska. 

Barton served on the board as the representative for the Secretary of 

Agriculture. The workload was heavy. Regional advisory councils were 

set up, public meetings were held, various subsistence hunting proposals 

were evaluated, and determinations were made concerning customary 

and traditional use of subsistence areas by rural residents.

The Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990 modified long-term timber 

sale contracts in Alaska to “enhance the balanced use of resources on 

the forests and promote fair competition within the Southeast Alaska 

timber industry.”36 Pulp mill owners, who were supported by the 

Alaska congressional delegation, tried unsuccessfully to have the law 

overturned. Ketchikan Pulp Company and the Alaska Pulp Company 

were losing a great deal of money and faced huge expenses to update 

their mills to comply with new pollution standards. In 1993, APC closed 

their mill, blaming the price of timber. In 1994, Barton, under direction 

from the Washington Office, terminated APC’s 50-year contracts. A 

series of lawsuits between the Forest Service and both pulp mills ensued.

Barton was active in the Society of American Foresters, the Soil 

and Water Conservation Society of America, the American Forestry 

Association, the American Fisheries Society, the National Woodland 

Owners Association, Ducks Unlimited, the Rotary Club, and the Little 

League Baseball Program.

In 1994, Barton retired from the Forest Service and became the 

Commissioner of the Alaska State Department of Transportation and 

Public Facilities. In 2010, Gov. Sean Parnell appointed Barton to the 

Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority Board of Trustees.

Barton lives in Douglas, Alaska with his wife, Sharon.
Janik joined the Forest Service in 1974 as a forest biologist on the Siuslaw 

National Forest in Oregon. He assisted with the design of timber sale projects and 

worked with forest leadership on issues relating to fish and wildlife management. 

He worked in Oregon during the spotted owl debate. From 1979 to 1983, he 

worked in the Intermountain Region in Ogden, Utah. He moved to Alaska in 1983 

as the regional director of Wildlife, Fisheries and Subsistence.

Janik was considered to be personable, a good leader and decision maker, and 

dedicated to the principles of sound land management. These traits gained him 

increasing levels of responsibility. From 1989 to 1994, Janik served as assistant 

director of Wildlife and Fisheries in the Washington Office. On May 4, 1994, Janik 

moved to Juneau to become the eleventh regional forester for the Alaska Region. 

In 1994, the Tongass National Forest used a new approach to traditional forest 

planning. Research scientists from the Pacific Northwest Research Station 

joined the forest planning team “to bring objective, independent thinking into 

the planning process and to maximize development and application of the 

most up-to-date science in the plan.”37 It was hoped that the formulation of the 

interdisciplinary Tongass Land Management Planning (TLMP) team would 

produce a “scientifically credible, legally defensible, and resource sustainable 

Forest plan”38 that could be quickly developed. 

Janik believed that stewardship of the land was non-negotiable and should be the 

baseline to ensure sustainability of all forest resources over time. He thought it

22

P hil Janik was born on February 8, 1945, in 

 Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He received a bachelor’s degree 

in forestry from the University of Montana, Missoula, in 

1967. He moved to Virginia in 1967 to join the Navy. He 

served as a naval officer at sea during the Vietnam conflict 

and was a naval ROTC instructor at Oregon State University. 

After his military service, he received a master’s degree in 

wildlife science from Oregon State University.

PHILLIP J. JANIK

The Russian River Trail on the Chugach National Forest descends from the campground to the river.

Mill near Craig, Alaska. Photo courtesy of Tom Iraci.
23

1994 - 1997

was vital to base the size of timber sales in Alaska on valid scientific data, 

including the effects of logging on wildlife habitat. He thought the failure to do 

so would open the door for the courts to become involved in the agency’s land 

management decisions.

“His most notable achievement as Alaska regional forester was the completion of 

the revision of the Tongass Land Management Plan in 1997. He involved scientists 

throughout the revision process, pioneering a science-based forest management 

strategy focusing on conservation of this unique, old-growth rainforest.”39

After leaving Alaska, Janik returned to the Washington Office. From 1998 to 2004 

he served as chief operating officer and deputy chief for State and Private Forestry. 

In the latter part of his career, Janik focused on sustainability and the 

responsibilities of public land managers to be good stewards. He was a member 

of the Chief’s Sustainability Roundtable and served on the Sustainable Forestry 

Initiative External Review Panel. He was active in the Society of American 

Foresters and the American Fisheries Society, served on the board of the 

Institute for Culture and Ecology, and was involved with numerous conservation 

organizations. 

Janik was described as having a, “...cheerful, energetic, and positive attitude 

that engaged every person around him and he valued ideas from any source. His 

dedication to forest conservation and sustainable forestry was both obvious and 

infectious, and his constant search for better and more effective ways to promote 

good forest management was an inspiration to all who worked with him.”40

Janik was an active member of the Pacific Northwest Forest Service Retirees’

organization called Old Smokeys. He played a large role in the success of the 2005 

Forest Service Centennial Reunion in Portland, Oregon, serving as the key liaison 

with the Chief’s staff. 

Janik died unexpectedly at age 61 of pneumonia in Vancouver, Washington, April 

28, 2006. He is survived by his wife Pat, two sons, and one daughter.
From 1972 through 1975, Cables worked as a wildland firefighter for the National 

Park Service. In 1976, he became a forestry technician on the Kaibab National 

Forest in Arizona. He was a second-generation Forest Service employee—his 

mother Jackie worked for the Forest Service in Colorado. Cables was a forester 

on the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico; a silviculturist and district ranger 

on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona; a natural resources staff 

specialist in Washington, D.C.; forest supervisor for the White Mountain National 

Forest in New Hampshire and Maine; and forest supervisor for the Pike and 

San Isabel national forests and Comanche and Cimarron national grasslands in 

Colorado and Kansas.

In May 1999, Cables moved to Alaska to become the regional forester during a 

period of great change. He spent his initial weeks on the job traveling to all the 

ranger districts to meet with employees and visit local communities. From those 

visits, he developed a paper called “A View from Here” to lay out his vision for 

the future of the Alaska Region. He developed a five-year strategic plan based 

on Communities; Alaska Natives; Recreation and Tourism; and Organizational 

Effectiveness. 

By 2000, local economies were suffering from the reduction of the timber 

program, which had been winding down for over a decade. The mill in Sitka was 

closed, and the mill in Ketchikan was struggling. At the time, the Forest Service 

workforce was designed to sustain a large timber program and a large engineering 

program related to road building. Without them, the need for staff in small 

communities diminished. Forest Service employees were generally well educated, 

came with stable salaries and families, and were civic minded. The loss of even 

a few employees could affect the tax bases to support schools and other services. 

Cables wanted to address the consequences of downsizing, saying the federal

24

R ick Cables was born in Pueblo, Colorado, January 5,  1954. He graduated summa cum laude from Northern 

Arizona University in 1976 with a bachelor of science degree 

in forestry. In 1990, he graduated from the U.S. Army War 

College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

RICK D. CABLES

Subsistence lifestyles play a major role in Alaska. Here, locals seine for sockeye in Sitkoh Lake. Photo courtesy of Ben VanAlen.

Balls Lake Trail. Under Cables’ tenure, recreation infrastructure, including cabins and trails, was improved, 

and the road system was developed on Prince of Wales Island. 
25

1999 - 2000

government built whole communities around the timber industry and 

“...then, in a blink of an eye, they took it away.”41

Cables thought future opportunities to provide jobs and sustainable 

economies would be associated with recreation and tourism, programs 

that had been historically overshadowed in Alaska. Under his tenure, 

recreation infrastructure, including cabins and trails, was improved, and 

the road system was extended on Prince of Wales Island. 

The sustainability of economic growth could not be separated from 

the economic growth of Alaska Natives. Like his two immediate 

predecessors, Cables was the Secretary of Agriculture’s representative 

to the Federal Subsistence Board. He thought it incumbent on the 

Forest Service to recognize the commitment of Alaska Natives to the 

subsistence lifestyle, and to dovetail the interests of the Forest Service 

to theirs. When Forest Service staff were cut in the Native community 

of Hoonah, Cables allowed the locals to make use of the Forest Service 

office, bunkhouse and other outbuildings. Furthermore, Cables directed 

State & Private Forestry, headquartered in Anchorage, to redirect many 

of their grants to Southeast Alaska. The decision was controversial 

with some S&PF employees whose previous interests were centered on 

forests in Southcentral and Interior Alaska. 

While the Alaska Region contained the two largest national forests in 

the system, it was still a region with just two forests. Cables examined 

traditional roles and responsibilities of the ranger districts, forest 

supervisors offices, and the regional office to determine how to make 

necessary internal shifts to maximize the organizational efficiency of a 

21st Century workforce. 

Cables moved to Colorado in late 2000 with his wife Cindy and three 

children to become regional forester for the Rocky Mountain Region. 

In 2011, the Governor of Colorado appointed Cables to head the newlycombined Colorado Division of Wildlife and Colorado State Parks. He 

maintains close ties with the Forest Service.
In 1985, Bschor became the assistant director in planning and the Office of 

Information for the Rocky Mountain Region and was promoted to director of 

Public Affairs in 1986. In 1993, he was acting director of Recreation and Public 

Services. In 1994, he was forest supervisor of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie 

National Forest. In 1998, he became the Director of Recreation, Heritage and 

Wilderness Resources in Washington, D.C. 

Bschor was intrigued by the wildness and uniqueness of Alaska and the 

commendable reputation of the Forest Service employees in the region. He became 

Alaska’s thirteenth regional forester in January 2002. His strong background 

in recreation, wilderness and cultural heritage would serve him well in his new 

position.

During a 2005 Forest Service Centennial event, names of employees who died in 

the line of duty were read. Spurred by the ceremony as well as recent employee 

fatalities in the Alaska Region, Bschor increased his commitment to the employee 

safety program. In 2006, the region celebrated an important milestone of 10 years 

of aviation safety.

By 2005, it was clear that the demand for visitor services and facilities could 

impact the wildland character of the very forests visitors came to see. Bschor 

emphasized the need for strategic planning related to recreation. In 2008, almost 

50,000 people visited the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center in Ketchikan and 

436,000—mostly cruise ship passengers—visited Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. 

The Alaska Railroad and the Forest Service developed whistle stop stations 

26

D enny Bschor was born in Peoria, Illinois, July  17, 1947. He earned a bachelor’s in forest management 

from Iowa State University in 1969. He served two years 

with the U.S. Army in Italy and returned to Colorado in 

1971. His Forest Service career started on the Rio Grande 

National Forest. He also held positions on the Grand Mesa, 

Uncompahgre, Gunnison, and Pike and San Isabel, Bighorn, 

and White River national forests.

DENNIS E. BSCHOR 

2008 Central Council President William Martin and Denny Bschor meet at the 73rd General Assembly of the 

Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes.

Lynn Young and Denny Bschor are two of the founding members of the Fiddlin’ Foresters, a group of employees who use old-time music to spread the agency’s message of natural resource conservation.
27

2002 - 2009

between Anchorage and Seward to allow for people of all abilities to 

access the roadless backcountry. In 2009, the Chugach was designated a 

Children’s Forest to promote stewardship, education, and volunteerism in 

area youth.

Bschor was aware of the ongoing economic hardships facing communities 

due to the decline of the timber industry. On January 25, 2008, he released 

the Record of Decision for Tongass Land Management Plan Amendment 

which was developed through a collaborative effort with the State of 

Alaska and the public. Changes included the addition of old growth 

reserves and protection for goshawk nests, karst lands, and Native sacred 

sites. The amount of timber that could be sold was generally unchanged. 

The Nature Conservancy established the Tongass Futures Roundtable 

to open a dialogue among a diverse group of stakeholders, with Forest 

Service support.

On April 16, 2008, Bschor participated in an historic and unprecedented 

ceremony to acknowledge the Forest Service’s removal of Alaska Native 

traditional smoke houses, cabins and fish camps in Southeast Alaska 

from the 1930s to the 1960s. This greatly improved relations between the 

Forest Service and Alaska Natives. When a new experimental forest was 

established in 2009 by the Pacific Northwest Research Station, the region 

facilitated the naming of the new forest to Héen Latinee, which means 

“River Watcher” in the Tlingit language.

In 2008 through 2009, the region faced budget cuts and an imperative from 

the Washington Office to make the organization leaner and more efficient. 

Along with other regional foresters across the nation, Bschor worked with 

his leadership and the union to reorganize and downsize the workforce. 

Bschor desired to be known for creating “...an organizational climate 

where diversity of viewpoint is accepted, where bad news can be safely 

delivered, where honesty is consistently rewarded, and where we can all 

pull together to carry out management decisions that are openly made.”42

Bschor was a founding member of the Fiddlin’ Foresters, a group of 

employees who used their music to share a message of conservation in 

America. He retired in 2009. He and his wife, Cheryl, live in Carefree, 

Arizona. 
Pendleton worked as managing editor for the National Wildlife Federation’s 

Institute for Wildlife Research in Washington, D.C. After joining the Forest 

Service, she held several key positions in the Alaska Region, including team 

leader for the 1997 Tongass Forest Plan Revision; director for Recreation, Lands 

and Minerals, and deputy regional Forester for Operations. She also worked 

as program manager for Wildlife and Fisheries in Washington, D.C., and held 

short-term assignments as Rocky Mountain Region deputy regional forester and 

as Pacific Southwest Research Station director. In 2006, she became the deputy 

regional forester for Natural Resources for the Pacific Southwest Region. 

It had taken many years for women to be admitted to the professional ranks of the 

agency. In 1992, Elizabeth Estill became the first female regional forester. In 2007, 

Abigail Kimbell became the first female chief in the 102-year history of the Forest 

Service.43 In March 2010, Pendleton was selected as regional forester for Alaska. 

She had the respect of her colleagues and was perceived as well qualified and even 

tempered. When asked how significant it was for a woman to be appointed to the 

top job, she replied, “The time had come.” 44

One of Pendleton’s first challenges was addressing the needs of local communities 

that depended on the national forests for their livelihoods. The nation was in a 

drawn-out economic recession. In Alaska, timber jobs were at their lowest levels 

in 50 years. Outmigration from rural towns to the urban areas of Anchorage 

and Juneau threatened the economic stability of small communities and made it 

difficult to keep schools open. 

28

B eth Pendleton was born April 15, 1958, at the  Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia. She received a 

bachelor’s in wildlife biology from the University of Vermont, 

a master’s in wildlife and fisheries from South Dakota State 

University, and a master’s in journalism from the University 

of Wyoming. She was a graduate of Harvard’s Senior 

Executive Fellows Program and American University’s Key 

Leadership program. 

BETH G. PENDLETON

Beth Pendleton with Richard and Janice Jackson, presidents of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood Grand Camp, wears the button blanket commissioned by the Tongass National Forest in 2002 in 

recognition of the Forest’s Centennial. 

Kayakers enjoy the pristine beauty and solitude of Misty Fiords National Monument.
29

2010 - PRESENT

The Tongass Transition Framework was instituted in May 2010. The Forest Service joined two 

other USDA agencies (Farm Services Agency and Rural Development), along with the U.S. 

Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration and the State of Alaska, 

to work with stakeholders to focus on job creation in Southeast Alaska. The group is making 

investments in four sectors: forest products, ocean products, visitor services, and renewable 

energy.

By 2010, more than 400,000 acres of second growth timber have been inventoried in 

Southeast Alaska, much of which is in the 30- to 60-year age bracket. Emphasis is being 

placed on pre-commercial thinning, growing a more integrated forest products industry, and 

offering second growth timber sales. Broad authorities encourage the agency to develop 

integrated timber projects and allow for stewardship contracting. The Forest Service is using 

receipts from the harvest of commercial products to invest in the restoration of salmon habitat 

and trails or the replacement of old culverts (red pipes) on the forest.

The region is improving visitor services for one million annual visitors to the Tongass and 

Chugach and working to ensure the relevancy of recreation services. There is a surge in new 

proposals for renewable energy, including hydroelectric and biomass, which could aid remote 

communities that still depend on diesel as a heat source. Both the Chugach and the Tongass 

are designated as Children’s Forests, actively engaging thousands of youth annually.

In 2012, Alaska is at the forefront of climate change, with visibly receding glaciers, yellow 

cedar decline, and changes in species composition. Significant investments are being made for 

climate science research and education. 

Pendleton’s personal and professional passion is to develop stronger relationships with Alaska 

Natives and grow a workforce that better mirrors the population served by the Forest Service. 

Her service on the Federal Subsistence Board reinforces her understanding of the economic 

necessity of subsistence to rural residents, recognizing that the subsistence lifestyle means, 

“...putting food on the table, creating handicrafts, and maintaining the spiritual and cultural 

connections Alaskans have to the land.”45 

Pendleton embraces the transformational change in the agency around employee and public 

safety. She actively engages employees in risk assessment and focuses on getting the job done 

safely, continuous learning, and returning home safely each day.

Pendleton lives in Juneau with her husband, Grey. They have one son.
End Notes

1

Rakestraw, Lawrence. A History of the United States Forest Service in Alaska,

 USDA Forest Service, 2002 reprint, p. 17.

2

Rakestraw, p.18.

3

Biographical record of the graduates and former students of the Yale Forest

School, New Haven, 1913.

4

http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/forest_facts/resources/heritage/rangerboats.

 html.

5

Rakestraw, p. 65.

6

Rakestraw, p. 81.

7

Biographical record, Yale Forest School.

8

Rakestraw, p. 84.

9

Rakestraw, p. 86.

10http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/exforests/maybeso/index.shtml.

11Henry Clepper, Leaders of American Conservation, Natural Resources Council of America, 1971. 

12www.foresthistory.org/ead/Greeley_Family.html.

13Rakestraw, p. 141.

14Rakestraw, p. 135.

15Rakestraw, p. 141.

16The National Forests of the Northern Region, Living Legacy, http://www. 

 forest history.org/ASPNET/Publications/region/1/history/chap9.htm.

17Rakestraw, p. 141.

18Rakestraw, p. 141.

19Rakestraw, p. 142.

20Rakestraw, p. 141.

21Rakestraw, p. 141.

22Rakestraw, p. 141.

23Rakestraw, p. 152. 

24Rakestraw, p. 153.

25Rakestraw, p. 156.

26Rakestraw, p. 157.

27Rakestraw, p. 157.

28Rakestraw, p. 158.

29Rakestraw, p. 158.

30Rakestraw, p. 171.

31Rakestraw, p. 159.

32Rakestraw, p. 168.

33Rakestraw, p. 155

34http://tongass-fpadjust.net/Documents/Final_EIS_Volume_I_Part_1.pdf.

35SourDough Notes, Issue 401, June 1984.

36Tongass Timber, James Mackovjak, 2010, The Forest History Society, pg. 263.

37http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/keyfind.pdf.

38http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/keyfind.pdf.

39http://www.foresthistory.org/ead/Janik_Phillip_J.html.

40http://www.foresthistory.org/ead/Janik_Phillip_J.html.

41Interview with Teresa Haugh, 2011.

42Interview with Sandy Frost, 2002.

43Women in the Forest Service: Early History, Gerald W. Williams, Ph.D., http://www.fs.fed.us/aboutus/history/women.shtml.

44Interview with Teresa Haugh, April 2012.

45Haugh, 2012.

Appreciation is extended to the following for their correspondence

or interviews:

 John Sandor and Mike Barton (to Marie Kanan)

 Phil Janik (to Pamela Finney and Marie Kanan)

 Dennis Bschor (to Sandra Frost and Marie Kanan)

 Rick Cables and Beth Pendleton (to Teresa Haugh)

30
31

Publisher: Forest Service, Alaska Region

Content: Marie Kanan, Teresa Haugh

Design/Illustration: Carol Teitzel

Contributors: Ray Massey, Kevin McIver, 

Wendy Zirngibl

Regional Foresters of the Alaska Region 1905 - 2012 may contain copyrighted 

material that is used with permission of the copyright owner. Publication in 

a government document does not authorize any use or appropriation of this 

copyright material without consent of the owner and they are not in the public 

domain. Any text and photos without attributed copyright may be reproduced 

in whole or in part as they are in the public domain. Please credit USDA 

Forest Service. You may learn more about the Forest Service-Alaska Region at 

http://www.fs.usda.gov/r10 or call (907) 586-8806. Twitter: @AKForestService

Front cover: Taylor Creek by Karen 

Dillman.

Back cover: Sow and Cub on Cordova 

Ranger District by Milo Burcham.

Table of Contents: Chugach Mountain 

Range by Charles Lovely.
© MILO BURCHAM