Below is a message posted by new U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz. His announced plans align with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation priorities of active forest management to benefit wildlife, sportsmen and women, and conservation.
I’m grateful to serve as your next Chief of the Forest Service. First, thank you to Chief Moore for his leadership. He spent his life in service, dedicating a 45-year career to the benefit of the American people. I recognize that I am the first Chief who did not come from or previously work within the agency, but I hope you will see that as I do—as a strength. I have over 25 years of land management experience and I’m a lifelong user of public lands. I grew up roaming the woods of Virginia, not coming home until the streetlights flickered on. My grandfather, an avid birder and Scout leader, influenced my appreciation of the outdoors, as did my father-in-law, who was an avid sportsman, hunting and fishing in Gallatin County, Montana.
Working for state agencies in Montana and Idaho has given me a perspective on the role of the states in managing public trust lands and how that differs from goals and objectives in managing federal lands. My tenure at Idaho Forest Group gave me a deep understanding of markets and the role that raw material availability, quality and price play in being able to support a profitable forest products industry. The logging contractors and truck drivers are critical infrastructure and without them our ability to manage the forest and suppress wildfires can be impaired to a point that management is not feasible. All this gives me a balanced perspective as Chief.
Studying forestry at the University of Montana gave me an academic’s view of the forest management, including wildlife management, watershed management and silviculture. A class in environmental politics at the University of Wyoming, co-taught by Dr. Gregg Cawley and former U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary James Watt helped shape the way I think about public lands today. Cawley, ever the one to look the part of a lost soul from the 60s, looked exactly as you’d picture an environmentalist. He and Watt had different views about public lands and conservation and their respectful dialogue and classroom engagement taught me to think critically about land management issues and the role that values, science and politics plays in what we do.
Leadership Philosophy
I believe humans have two ears and one mouth for a reason, meaning we’re supposed to listen more than we talk and that we should learn from one another. I will come into a meeting with a direction but not all the answers. I want healthy, respectful dissent, but once a decision is made, I believe we must follow through together and hold ourselves accountable. That’s how I’ll present myself as your Chief.
The Forest Service is a decentralized agency, and I want to manage it as such. You are part of this agency’s strengths, which I see as a tripod of people, culture and tradition. I support decisions made locally when aligned with our overall strategies and goals. As Herbert Kaufman noted in his seminal work, “The Forest Ranger,” “It is the man or woman on the ground that is ultimately doing the work and making decisions.” I am committed to this agency, the American people and to supporting all of you, and I ask you to share that commitment. It’s not about me; it’s about us and the American public.
I want to refocus our efforts on safety, active forest management, fire management and recreation. As a field-based organization, safety must always be at the forefront of our minds. Years of fire suppression and declining timber harvest have left us with significant fuel buildup. I want us to do more to create resilient forests through active forest management, including timber sales, fuels reduction through mechanical thinning and prescribed fires, as well as fighting fires safely and protecting resource values.
Our public lands offer some of the best recreational opportunities in the world, and many are on Forest Service lands. I want to increase those opportunities to benefit urban and rural communities, yet we must balance public access with the potential for impacts on adjacent landowners.
The Forest Service carries a fiduciary responsibility to the American public. We must steward tax dollars wisely, so I’ll examine how to best optimize our workforce and our expenditures. We’ll focus on fundamentals—blocking and tackling. In the Forest Service, our motto gets at the core of our mission: “Caring for the land and serving people.” This requires us to be stewards of the public’s land and resources.
There was a time when preservation versus management was the source of significant debate. I believe that time has passed. Land managers, sportsmen and conservationists are allied now. Our largest partners are conservation and sportsmen organizations. Communities across the country depend on national forests and grasslands, and I will work tirelessly to support and protect those communities by partnering to actively manage public lands for multiple uses.
I believe strongly that we are in service to the public. Service is part of who I am, and it runs in my family. I have volunteered with several organizations, including the National Forest Foundation, Boy Scouts of America, Knights of Columbus, and several university advisory boards. My wife co-founded the nonprofit Laryngeal Cleft Network and was a dyslexia tutor. We’ve been married 30 years and have three kids, one in the Peace Corps and two in college. I believe we have to give back and that opportunities to serve are all around us. I know you believe in service, too, or you would not have chosen your career.
You’ve heard of the golden rule. I believe in what is known as the platinum rule: Treat others as they want to be treated. To do that, you have to get to know people and build trust. One way to do that is by soliciting feedback from those who use our public lands, from tribes, states, recreationists, industry, sportsmen, ranchers and the mining community.
I want to hear from you. I want to hear your motivations and ideas. Why did you want to work for the Forest Service? What brings you to work every day? I want you to identify problems and I want you to bring me solutions. We can’t be defined by what we’ve done in the past—we must chart a new path forward to ensure the productivity and health of our National Forest System. I pledge to work with you to protect people and communities and ensure our national forests and grasslands are healthy and productive.
(Photo credit: U.S. Forest Service)