The Sawtooth National Forest will have a new supervisor in December.
Current Tongass National Forest Deputy Forest Supervisor Rebecca Nourse has been hired for the position. As supervisor of the Sawtooth National Forest, Nourse will have the responsibility for managing 2.1 million acres of National Forest land.
"[Nourse's] broad experience and the caliber of her work make her the perfect fit," said Harv Forsgren, spokesman for the Intermountain Region of the U.S. Forest Service.
This will not be Nourse's first experience with the Sawtooth National Forest, however. Nourse was a deputy district ranger at the Sawtooth National Recreation Area for three years, from 1999-2002.
"I am very excited to have the opportunity to return to the Sawtooth," Nourse said. "I've often looked back fondly on the memories of my previous assignment."
Nourse has worked for the Alaska region of the Forest Service for eight years, serving first as the Cordova District ranger in the Chugach National Forest before being chosen as the Forest Service's congressional liaison. She became deputy forest supervisor in 2008.
Her background includes firefighting on public land in Washington, serving as a fisheries biologist in Oregon and as a fish and wildlife program manager at the Misty Fiords National Monument in Alaska.
Nourse is filling the spot vacated in April by retiring Supervisor Jane Kollmeyer. Kollmeyer worked for the Forest Service for three decades and is perhaps best known for her role in fighting the 2007 Castle Rock Fire near Ketchum and for denying construction of a private cell phone tower on Galena Summit.
Nourse is scheduled to begin work on Dec. 16. Forest Service spokeswoman Julie Thomas said she anticipates holding a meet-and-greet with the new supervisor in mid-January.
Katherine Wutz: kwutz@mtexpress.com
