Jim Furnish

Jim Furnish is currently a consulting forester in the Washington D.C. area following a 34-year career with the USDA Forest Service. He served as Deputy Chief of the 192 million acre National Forest System under Chief Mike Dombeck for 2.5 years. He served as Siuslaw National Forest Supervisor in Corvallis, Oregon, from 1992-1999. Most of his career was spent in the Rocky Mountain Region following graduation from Iowa State University in 1968. As Deputy Chief, Jim was instrumental in creation of the Roadless Area Conservation and Forest Planning regulations, two of the most significant and controversial in recent agency history. He also sought to elevate the priority of recreation, especially the establishment of a "fee for use" concept. As Siuslaw Forest Supervisor, Jim directed a total reformation from a timber-dominated mission to one of conservation biology under the Northwest Forest Plan. Dramatic reductions in timber harvest and forest road networks were followed by a focus on young-stand management to enhance late-successional habitat for wildlife, fish, and other old-growth dependent species. Jim was generally regarded as one of the most pro-environment senior officials in the Forest Service. His unprecedented appointment as Deputy Chief from Forest Supervisor by Chief Dombeck dramatically symbolized the ongoing transition of the Forest Service in the turbulent 1990s.