SNF’S Elliott transfers to Los Padres
He has been here since 2011
U.S. Forest Service officials announced Kevin Elliott will be the new forest supervisor for the Los Padres National Forest effective Jan. 21.
Elliott currently serves as the forest supervisor for the Sequoia National Forest in Porterville, a position he has held since 2011, said Alicia Embrey, the public affairs officer for the Sequoia National Forest and the Giant Sequoia National Monument.
“It is certainly not for lack of excitement, but I’ve simply been here for six years, accomplished what was asked of me, and I’m ready for a change,” Elliott stated.
A lot was asked of Elliott during his six years, but he said the most important task he was charged with was to finish the monument plan.
“The Giant Sequoia National Monument, that was created back in 2000, and so for 12 years the forest had been working on trying to get a management plan for the monument and so that was one of the things that I was charged with completing and I got here in September of 2011,” Elliott said, adding, “That following summer, the August of 2012, we were able to finish the monument plan and then we jumped into basically revising the rest of the forest.”
“Over the last six years there was this drought and so certainly that presented a whole new challenge for us to address, but we were able to renew an emphasis on increasing the pace of scale of ecological restoration,” Elliott said.
Given the poor health condition the forest is in, Elliott said what he needed to do was, as best he could, was to try and make the hillsides much more resilient to the effects of large-scale fires, insect and disease, and changes in weather.
“We needed to make it a priority to step up our treatments, be that prescribed burning, be that using managed wildfire or be that using logging,” Elliott said. “All three of those tools are applicable to both inside and outside the monument and we were able to do that, we were able to place an emphasis.”
Randy Moore, regional forester for the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region, said Elliott will do just fine for the Los Padres National Forest.
“Kevin’s tenure as a forest supervisor, his breadth of experience, and emphasis on relationship building makes him ideally suited for the Los Padres and the surrounding community, especially on the heels of the Thomas Fire,” Moore said.
As Elliott reflected on his six years on the Sequoia National Forest, Embrey said he expressed great appreciation for the Sequoia National Forest employees and interactions with the local communities.
“When I moved here in September of 2011, the communities were most welcoming and encouraging,” Elliott said. “I have enjoyed their support, encouragement, and active engagement with a shared commitment to making a difference restoring and sustaining our landscapes, and providing benefits and ecological services in a changing environment.”