Michael Dombeck spent his first hour as the new chief
of the U.S. Forest Service greeting agency employees in Washington,
D.C., as they headed to work. For some who had never glimpsed
former Chief Jack Ward Thomas, it was a comforting
gesture.
But it also became clear that old guard
members of the agency should expect change. In a speech later that
day, Dombeck, former acting director of the Bureau of Land
Management and a fisheries biologist, told employees that timber
cutting is no longer the dominant use within the Forest Service.
“Every forest supervisor, on every forest,” said Dombeck, 48, “will
be held accountable for (improving) key areas such as streamside
condition and health, water quality, watershed health, noxious weed
management, and endangered species habitat management and
protection.”
Supporters say Dombeck might be
able to modernize the Forest Service. Larry Hamilton, BLM state
director for Montana, credits him with having brought new
leadership to the BLM – he spoke against giving federal lands to
states – and for encouraging agency managers to adopt a
collaborative style of management. Still, the Forest Service is not
the BLM, point out skeptics: It’s three times as large with a
fierce reputation for resisting change.
*Rick
Keister
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Dombeck takes on a new agency.
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