Sean C. Morgan
Lena Tucker of Sweet Home has been named the state’s deputy forester.
Tucker follows Nancy Hirsch, who retired from the position in December. Tucker was named to the position by State Forester Peter Daugherty on Jan. 14 and will take over full responsibility for the position on July 1.
“I am very excited to work with Lena in her new role. She has a proven record of leadership within the department and at the local and national levels,” Daugherty said.
Tucker said she was excited about the new opportunity.
“I am committed to the mission of ODF, serving Oregonians by protecting, managing and promoting stewardship of Oregon’s forests to enhance environmental, economic, and community sustainability,” she said. “It’s just really a unique opportunity to serve the organization across all three of our programs.”
Under the department’s current organizational structure, the deputy state forester serves as the deputy director for operations.
“I’ll be in charge of operations for our three main programs, fire, state forest management and all the programs that serve private landowners,” Tucker said. In a broader sense, she’ll be serving the public and stakeholders overall, where she has previously been focused on individual programs involving private lands.
“I’m really excited about the energy we have converging in all three of our programs,” she said, adding that ODF staff members are working across division boundaries and across programs, sharing their work and improving efficiencies.
For example, during fire season, everyone is working in the fire protection program, she said. “It’s going to be exciting to build off that.
“What’s really driving us is the longer more complex fire seasons we’ve been having. It makes it hard to complete the core business we have to do. For us, if we’re expending so much energy during fire season – the other work, it slows down. We take a pause. It’s becoming more challenging.
“We’re looking at efficiencies, how we’re organized. If we have to remain at the same staffing levels, we’re just going to have to get smarter, if that’s possible.”
Tucker joined the department in 1994 as an entry-level forester in state forest management in Astoria.
She brings a range of experience from geographic areas throughout Oregon and has worked in all of the department’s program areas, including fire protection.
Most recently, she served as the agency’s private forests division chief, where she focused on implementation of the Oregon Forest Practices Act, forest health, technical assistance programs to help private forest landowners and the Urban and Community Forestry Program.
Tucker earned her bachelor’s degree in forest management from Northern Arizona University. Tucker is a member of Sweet Home’s Tree and Park Commission and has been involved nationally with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative for more than a decade. She is also a certified forester through the Society of American Foresters.
She became district forester in the South Cascades District in 2004, moving to Sweet Home from Prineville. She took a position working exclusively in private forest programs in Salem in 2012. She intends to remain in Sweet Home.
“I’ve been doing it for quite awhile,” Tucker said. “I like Sweet Home.”
She plans to continue serving on the city Park and Tree Commission, she said. Her new job will keep her busy, but “I’m going to hang in there the best I can. It’s always fun to work in the local community.”