Smithsonian - Perishable Pundit

FOREST SERVICE, CULTURE,AND COMMUNITYTERESA HAUGH AND JAMES I.DEUTSCHMurray was in the fifth grade,WhenLezlieshe took a class outing to the nearby[3iGifíbrd Pinchot National Forest insouthwestern Washington State. "My bestfriend's father was a ranger, and he tookour class out into the forest and talked to us about the treesand everything that was a part of that environment. It reallystuck with me." Now an interpretive naturalist and director otthe Begich, Boggs Visitor Center at Portage Glacier m Alaska'sChugach National Forest, Murray has always cherished thatearly turning point in her life. "Every day I pinch nvyselt whenI get up," she explains. "I'm in the most beautiful place in theworld. I'vedone a lot of traveling, soIcan say that and really mean it."In many ways, Murray's story isnot unusual for those who live andwork in the forests, whether publicor private, m the United States.Growing up near a forest, or havingarelative who has worked outdoorswith natural resources, seems toinfluence one's choice of career path.Take, for example, Kirby Matthew,a fourth-generation Montanan whogrew up near the Trout Creek RangerStation in Montana's KootenaiNational Forest. His father workedas a logger and then with the ForestService, so it was natural tor Kirbyhimself to enter the Forest Service,where he has "a history." He nowworks for the Forest Service'sHistoric Building PreservationTeam in Missoula, Montana.Lezlie Murray leads a group ofvisitors on a trail to Rainbow Falls inAlaska's Tongass National Forest.