Voices

Chris Maisch appointed president of National Association of State Foresters

(Anchorage, AK) – Alaska State Forester and Director of the Division of Forestry Chris Maisch has been appointed to serve as president of the National Association of State Foresters (NASF).

Maisch has served on the NASF board of directors since 2010 and was most recently the organization's vice president. He was elected to his new post, which has a one-year term, at the NASF annual meeting held the last week of September in Virginia.

During the annual meeting, the NASF membership discussed and passed a resolution concerning forest management on federal lands. Many of the concepts and principles in the resolution lend support to recommendations included in a report issued last year by Governor Parnell's Alaska Timber Jobs Task Force.

In his address to the NASF membership, Maisch stated, "Active forest management on our federal lands is not meeting the scale, scope or pace necessary to make a significant difference in economic activity, forest health and wildland fire conditions across the country. This resolution will provide the opportunity to have meaningful dialog with Congress on ways to improve this situation and help our key partner, the U.S. Forest Service, develop new approaches to address this issue, including demonstration or pilot projects that will allow states to manage a subset of federal forest lands."

Established in 1920, NASF is a non-profit organization comprised of the directors of forestry agencies in the U.S. states, territories and the District of Columbia. It is recognized as a leading authority on forest policy and advocates legislation and policies that promote the role of trees, forests, and the professionals that manage them.

NASF resolution

DNR press release

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