Local forestry society presents awards

The owner of a North Fork land management consulting service is the 2015 Field Forester award winner presented by The Flathead Chapter of the Montana Society of American Foresters. Allen Chrisman of Kalispell received the award at the group’s Christmas Banquet.

Chrisman, a SAF member since 1980, owns A.B. Chrisman Forest Management Services, a consulting service that manages family-owned property in the North Fork of the Flathead. He lives in cabins on family property up Trail Creek when working on a land management project.

He retired from the Forest Service in 2008 with over 30 years of service.

Chrisman still works as needed as Deputy Incident Commander on a Northern Rockies Incident Management Team. He helps make decisions on large, complex fires that frequent the forests in the West, such as in Craigmont and Kooskia, Idaho last summer.

Chrisman grew up in Illinois, but spent summers in Flathead Valley. He was used to seeing corn and soybean fields, but highly enjoyed the mountains and forests in Montana.

“I was immediately attracted when we visited in the summers,” Chrisman said.

As a teenager, he had to decide between going to college in Illinois or Montana. He said choosing Montana was a “life-changing experience.”

Chrisman graduated from the University of Montana with a master’s degree in forestry and spent most of his career in vegetation management as a Timber Sale Preparation Forester, Timber Planner, Certified Silviculturist and Timber and Resource Assistant to the District Ranger on Forests in both Idaho and Montana.

“Natural resource management is a passion for me,” Chrisman said. He was also active in fire management, starting in 1973, working on the St. Joe Hotshot Crew in Idaho. From 2004 to 2008 he was the Fire Management Officer for the Flathead National Forest.

Chrisman currently serves as the vice chair of the Montana Tree Farm Program of the American Tree Farm System, co-chair of the North Fork Fire Mitigation Committee and teaches a Fire Management Class at Flathead Valley Community College.

SAF also awarded Heidi Trechsel as the Flathead SAF Chapter Citizen Forester. It recognizes SAF members that have shown noteworthy effort in advancement of the profession of forestry, public education, service to SAF, public outreach or other accomplishments. Trechsel works as a silviculturist for the Flathead National Forest and recently as a vegetation specialist on the Forest Plan Revision Team.

She is the 2016 Flathead SAF Secretary-Treasurer, and she has held past positions as Chair-elect and Chair. She has a forest management degree from Utah State University and has spent most of her more than 35-year career in the Flathead.

Heidi was selected for her extensive contributions to the chapter with programs, speakers, informative discussions and career achievements.

SAF holds an annual auction to fund a forestry-oriented scholarship for a student at FVCC and the Salish Kootenai colleges. This year over $1,800 was raised. The fund has been going for 20 years and the scholarship is awarded in the spring.

The Flathead SAF chapter meets once a month and welcomes all interested people to attend. The chapter participates in community forestry projects and events, such as the annual Family Forestry Expo in Columbia Falls. The chapter also constructed interpretive trail signs in Herron Park and have donated firewood. The chapter has more than 50 members from private, state and federal forestry backgrounds. For more information contact the chapter chair, Brad French, at bfrench@mt.gov.