Sourdough News Winter 2020
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United States Department of Agriculture Winter 2020 SourDough News Heather Thamm Heather increasing avalanche awareness page 10 Forest Service Alaska Region Winter 2020 First ever Stress First Aid Train the Trainer SourDough News Session offered in Juneau ...................................1 Meet Heath Schaaf, the new Alaska Regional Stories capturing the spirit of your Alaska public lands as Aviation Officer .................................................1 told by Forest Service staff and partners who work and live Employee Recognitions .....................................2 in the Alaska Region. Meet the Acting Deputy Regional Forester .......2 Employee Recognitions, continued ...................3 Forest Service, Ketchikan Indian Community to cooperate on South Revilla Project ...............4 Alaska Region Information Management Cartography Program .........................................5 Yellow-cedar salvage logging in Southeast Alaska: Case studies reveal large variation in producer efficiency and profitability ..................6 Innovation in the Interior: How state-of-the-art remote sensing is helping to inventory Alaska’s last frontier .........................................................7 Yakutat winter surfers and Robert Miller: The Fine Art of Balancing a snow-laden Mt Saint Elias. Subsistence Lifestyle, with a Passion for Fish Biology and Entrepreneurship ...........................8 Our Forests Are Alaska ......................................9 Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center .............................................10 Meet the Ranger .................................................10 National Fairy Tale Day .....................................11 Kootznoowoo Wilderness Area-Newly Acquired Lands ..................................................12 NICKY Educator. Mom. Bear. ...........................12 Quarterly Retirements ........................................13 Where Are They Now? ......................................13 Bear Photo Spotlight ..........................................14 SourDough News is written by employees of the Alaska Region. Your suggestions, articles, and photographs are welcome. Please contact: Carol Teitzel Regional Public Affairs Office (406) 498-8372 or [email protected] or visit the Article Submission site at https://bit.ly/2MkPS2U Managing editor Jacqueline Chandler, (907) 586-8803 The editorial staff reserves [email protected] the right to edit all articles for journalistic standards and space consideration. Contributing writers USDA is an equal opportunity provider, Katie Benning, Laurie Craig, Teresa Haugh, Jacob Hofman, Alicia employer, and lender. King, Paul Robbins, Jr., Frank Sherman, Molly Tankersley, Pacific Northwest Research Station, and Dave Zimmerman. Cover page: Chugach National Forest Avalanche Forecaster Aleph Johnston Bloom tests the snow on Design/Illustration the forest for weak layers in Turnagain Pass. Russel Wicka Carol Teitzel, Charles Lindemuth First ever Stress It’s All About the People First Aid Train the Trainer Session “It is our core belief that every individual is entitled THIS IS to physical, psychological and social safety. Our values WHO WE ARE offered in Juneau demonstrate how we want to show up and support one Do you know what you would do if you another –so that every person is respected, included, and thrives in delivering our mission.” were ever faced with the unimaginable; an incident in your work environment Tony Dixon, Chief Financial Officer, Washington Office, USDA Forest Service. that caused a serious injury or death Inside the Forest Service, Oct 11, 2019 of someone? It is not a situation that anyone of us could ever predict and one the Navy, then re-designed by the Forest session, participants will be provided the we hope that will never happen; but it Service to support wildland firefighters; opportunity to teach back the material does happen and has happened, and it but has never been taught outside of to their peers and become more familiar might be closer than you thought. Thanks Tucson. Through the good work of Doug with learning and presenting the key to the work of some very compassionate Hoffmaster, Chugach National Forest points of the Stress First Aid model. people and with the support of the Safety Officer, and others, this first Regional Leadership Team, we have an training will take place in Juneau March The Region is covering the tuition cost opportunity to help prepare ourselves 31 – April 2. In coordination with the for the training, but the travel and per and our fellow employees for this Forest Service National Advanced Fire diem, and employee time will be funded significantly stressful situation should it and Resource Institute (NAFRI), the from the respective units. Because ever occur. Helping each other cope with training will be delivered by Dr. Patricia of that, and with respect for the travel extreme stress is paramount. Watson, a senior education specialist and time commitment of the trainers, a for the National Center for Post Trauma firm commitment from employees with The Casualty Assistance Program is a Stress Disorder and Kimberly Lightley a supervisor’s approval is a must to ensure program that was created nationally to Forest Service employee and a survivor a spot in the training. nurture coordinators across the country of the South Canyon Fire incident to manage extreme incidents and help involving the Prineville Hot Shot Crew. To learn more or to sign up for this people walk through processes that train-the-trainer course, contact Doug ensue from those events. As part of that The three-day training of trainers will Hoffmaster at douglas.hoffmaster@usda. program, Region 10 is in the forefront offer interactive group discussion and gov. of offering train-the-trainer sessions in role-play involving case examples and a Stress First Aid. Stress First Aid is a safe- focus on how the program’s intervention By Katie Benning, acting regional public care and peer support program designed components can be adapted and applied affairs specialist. to reduce stress reactions during critical to work with personnel in many settings. incidents. It was initially developed by Because this is a train-the-trainer Meet Heath Schaaf, the new Alaska Regional Aviation Officer (RAO)- working from the Regional Office beginning late March. The Regional Leadership Team (RLT) made the decision in 2019 to reinstitute the Regional Aviation Officer (RAO) position back in Alaska after more than a decade of partnering with R6 for management and support. The Alaska Region celebrates over 20 years of accident-free aviation safety and the program is a high priority for the RLT in our uniquely Alaskan operational environment. Heath Schaff, the new Alaska RAO, currently lives with his family in Fairbanks where he is a FAA Air Traffic Control Training Instructor and Remote Pilot Operator. Schaaf is a native of Texas and is retired from the United States Marine Corps after 25 years of service, including four combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has more than 27 years of experience in air traffic control, air traffic management, and range operation within the United States and foreign countries. He holds an Associate and Bachelor of Science degree in Professional Aeronautics, and a Master of Science degree in Leadership from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. Welcome to the Forest Service, Heath! Katie Benning, acting regional public affairs specialist. Top photo: Heath, his wife, Connie, and son, Austin. Bottom photo: Heath with his daughters Samantha, Hannah, and Jessica. SourDough News Winter Edition 2020 1 Employee Chief’s Award for Sustaining our Alaska Region Forest Management Nation’s Forests and Grasslands THIS IS Employee of the Year WHAT WE Prince of Wales Landscape Assessment Nicholas Reynolds, Supervisory DO Team (POW LAT) for the development Forester, Thorne Bay Ranger District, has and site specific analysis of a project which managed one of the largest workloads and includes 15 years-worth of work across programs for years on the Tongass. He 1.8 million acres on the Tongass National 2019 National Wilderness has dealt with ever changing timeline and Forest. Supported by diverse communities Partnership Champion Award priorities extremely well, and managed and interests across Prince of Wales Island to meet the demands placed upon him. in southeast Alaska, it was accomplished Barbara Lydon is the Voices of the Reynolds acted as a champion by efficiently, thanks in large part to the efforts Wilderness Artist-In-Residence Program becoming the hub for all facets necessary of a local, independent, broadly based Coordinator and Wilderness Program to implement a large landscape-analysis collaborative group named the Prince of Specialist for the Nellie Juan - College Fiord timber sale in a short amount of time. Wales Landscape Assessment Team (POW Wilderness Study Area on the Chugach LAT). The Prince of Wales Landscape National Forest Glacier Ranger District. He excels in the management and Level Analysis (POW LLA) Project coordination of seasonal and off For 10 years, Lydon has built and managed interdisciplinary team, in conjunction with district personnel over a large and the Voice of the Wilderness Artist Residency efforts of the POW LAT collaborative group, complex timber sale area. achieved this remarkable accomplishment Program in the Alaska Region. Her unique in a period just over two years. The project vision to pair artists with wilderness Reynolds encouraged