Professor To Head Forest Service’s Northern Region

A university professor who spent 14 years in the U.S. Forest Service looking out for wildlife and fish will head the agency’s northern region, based in Missoula.

The announcement late Wednesday also included news from Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas that three North Idaho forests will report to Ogden, Utah, instead of Missoula.

Hal Salwasser, currently the Boone and Crockett Professor of Wildlife Conservation at the University of Montana, will assume the regional forester’s job in about a month. He replaces Dave Jolly, who retired this spring.

Salwasser will manage 10 national forests in Montana and grasslands in North Dakota.

The Idaho Panhandle, Clearwater and Nez Perce national forests will be managed out of Utah as part of an agency reorganization.

Bowing to political pressure, the Forest Service abandoned plans to close regional offices in Missoula and Juneau, Alaska.

Salwasser could not be reached for comment.

He started with the Forest Service in 1978 as the regional wildlife ecologist in the Pacific Southwest Region, based in San Francisco.

In 1982, Salwasser became national wildlife ecologist for the agency, and later deputy national director of wildlife and fisheries.

He was hired at the University of Montana in 1992.

“His extensive work in ecosystem management has acutely prepared him for this position,.” Thomas said.

There was no immediate reaction by environmentalists and industry officials to news of Salwasser’s appointment.

, DataTimes MEMO: IDAHO HEADLINE: Forest Service picks leader for northern region