- Gail Kimbell
Abigail R. Kimbell is a forest administrator in the United States. She currently serves as the 16th Chief and first female Chief of the US Forest Service.
Biography
Kimbell was raised New England, where she spent her formative years hiking, fishing, and camping on the
White Mountain National Forest . She received a bachelor's degree in forest management from theUniversity of Vermont in 1974 and later a master's degree in forest engineering fromOregon State University .She worked as a seasonal employee before beginning her Federal forestry career in 1974 with the
Bureau of Land Management inMedford, Oregon . She then joined the Forest Service as a pre-sale forester inKodiak, Alaska , in 1977. She next worked in Oregon as a logging engineer and then a district planner. She served as a district ranger inKettle Falls, Washington on theColville National Forest from 1985-88, and on theWallowa-Whitman National Forest inLa Grande, Oregon , from 1988-91, and as forest supervisor of theTongass National Forest in Alaska (1992-97) and theBighorn National Forest in Wyoming (1997-99).From 1999-2002, Kimbell was the forest supervisor for the Pike and San Isabel National Forests and the
Comanche National Grassland —all in Colorado—as well as theCimarron National Grassland in Kansas. In May 2002, Kimbell began work as the associate deputy chief for the National Forest System lands in the Forest Service Washington, DC headquarters. During her tenure as associate deputy chief, Gail's leadership was instrumental in helping to carry out the Healthy Forests Initiative and she provided support in the development of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003.In December 2003, Kimbell was named as the Regional Forester for the Northern Region located in Missoula, Montana. She assumed her current position as Chief of the
US Forest Service on February 5, 2007.Kimbell is a member of the Society of American Foresters.
ee also
*
United States Chief Foresters
*U.S. Forest Service References
* [http://www.fs.fed.us/aboutus/chief/#chief U.S. Forest Service Chief's Biography]
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