The Ottawa National Forest has a new forest supervisor.
Linda Jackson has been on the job since late August.
She comes most recently from Arizona, where she worked as a District Ranger on the Prescott National Forest. She has also worked on national forests in Utah and Nevada.
Jackson says management challenges in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are different than on western forests. She says managers have to take into account how natural features and forest compositions interact with multiple uses like timber harvesting and recreation.
“So that combination – trying to deal with the impacts of those uses on the land when you’ve got so much sensitive soil, all the water – it’s kind of a balancing act.”
She says another major difference is dealing with ecosystems that are less susceptible to large wildfires than in the west.
Jackson says she believes strongly in collaboration and partnerships to achieve common goals.
“And trying to figure out ways we can do things together. Because with budgets the way they are, we can’t always do everything that we want to be able to do, that the public wants us to. We’ve got to with partnerships. So that’s something that I’m pretty passionate about.”
The former Forest Supervisor was Anthony Scardina, who left to take a position at Ohio’s Wayne National Forest.
