National Forest Leadership Council

Paul brings 26 years of USDA Forest Service research experience to his position providing strategic science leadership and administration for the research programs of the PNW Station. He operates from agency core values, and partnering with a variety of agency, state, university, and other organizations, he is responsible for guiding the station’s delivery of knowledge and tools to inform natural resources management and policy issues of relevance to the full spectrum of stakeholders and the publics the agency serves.

Prior assignments in the Forest Service include research plant physiologist with the North Central Research Station, and supervisory research forester and then research program manager at the PNW Research Station’s Corvallis Forestry Sciences Laboratory in Oregon. Other post-graduate positions included research associate positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories in California, and with the University of Minnesota’s Aspen and Larch Genetics Cooperative.

A native of Minnesota, Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree in forest ecosystems and silviculture from the University of Minnesota in St. Paul. He also holds a master’s degree in forestry and natural resources from Purdue University and a doctorate in wildland resource sciences from the University of California, Berkeley.

As Regional Forester he has responsibility for the management of 13 million acres of forestland on 14 National Forests, Land between the Lakes National Recreation Area in Tennessee and Kentucky, and the Savannah River Department of Energy forestland in South Carolina. He also has responsibility for a State and Private Forestry program that works with all 13 State Forestry Agencies in the programs of Fire, Forest Health, and Cooperative Forestry.

Ken has been a champion of large-scale protection and restoration efforts like America’s Longleaf Pine Restoration Initiative and Shortleaf Pine Restoration Initiative.

Ken served as State Forester for Tennessee from 1994 to 2001. Ken is a member of the Society of American Foresters, Past Chairman of the Southern Group of State Foresters, and Past President of Brentwood/Nashville Rotary Club.

Ken is a native of Tennessee and grew up on a family farm that his family still manages. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry from the University of Tennessee.

During his time at NASA, he led the development of early-stage technologies and physics-based tools to support the design of new aircraft. He brings 15 years of experience leading large research projects and programs across a range of technical disciplines and building partnerships to maintain relevance and deliver research capabilities.

In previous positions, Barhydt served as the deputy chief for the Entry Systems and Technology Division at NASA Ames Research Center. His research and development experience in that role supported of a wide range of NASA missions. He provided strategic planning, workforce guidance, personnel planning, and operations support for division staff and laboratory facilities.

Barhydt's educational background includes a Master of Science Degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Bachelor of Science Degree in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado.

Previously, Beum served four years as the Southern Region’s Deputy Regional Forester for Natural Resources in Atlanta, Georgia. He was responsible for developing and delivering natural resource policy for national forests in 13 southern states and Puerto Rico. During this time, he also served in several acting leadership assignments, including a recently completed tour as Acting Regional Forester in the Intermountain Region.

He has worked on seven national forests and five ranger districts in the Rocky Mountain and Southern Regions, as well as in the Southern Regional Office and the Washington Office. He previously served as Acting Associate Deputy Chief of the National Forest System, Director of Forest Management for the Southern Region, and acting national Director of Forest Management. Beum also served as legislative specialist in the Washington Office, Forest Supervisor on the Daniel Boone National Forest, and District Ranger on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.

Beum began his Forest Service career in 1981 as a seasonal forestry technician in the Rocky Mountain Region, spending six summers on the Rio Grande, San Juan, and Shoshone National Forests thinning lodgepole pine, conducting forest inventory, and serving as a wilderness ranger. He landed his first permanent Forest Service job on the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests, serving for eight years in both Colorado and Wyoming. While completing a master’s degree in recreation resource management from Colorado State University, he served a fellowship with the Wilderness Society. After completing a bachelor’s degree in forestry at Ohio State University, he worked for three years as a Service Forester for the Ohio Division of Forestry.

Beum and his wife, Jan, have two grown sons (who were born in Wyoming), a daughter-in-law, and one grandson.

He subsequently served in positions on the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, the Wasatch-Cache National Forest in Utah, the Intermountain Regional office, the Manti-La Sal National Forest in Utah; Washington Office, and the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland in Colorado. Casamassa earned his bachelor’s degree in Forest Ecology at Utah State University and completed post-graduate work in logging system engineering at the Oregon State University College of Forestry.

Jennifer started her career with the Forest Service in 1992 on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in Park Falls, Wisconsin. She has since served as Deputy Forest Supervisor for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in southwest Oregon, Forest Supervisor of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Everett, Washington, Deputy Regional Forester for the Pacific Southwest Region in Vallejo, California, acting Regional Forester for the Rocky Mountain Region headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and as the Associate Deputy Chief for National Forest Systems in Washington, D.C.

Jennifer is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in anthropology. She also holds a master's degree in anthropology from Northern Arizona University.

Mary joined the Intermountain Region as Deputy Regional Forester, after serving as the Forest Supervisor of the Idaho Panhandle National Forest.

In her current role as the Regional Forester, she oversees management of approximately 32 million acres of national forests and grasslands, across six states with over 3,500 permanent and seasonal employees.

Mary grew up in San Diego, California, and received a degree in Forest Management from Humboldt State University.

Prior to joining the USDA Forest Service in June 2014, she was the Deputy Associate Director of the Urban Forestry Administration and District of Columbia State Forester at the District of Columbia Department of Transportation in Washington, DC. At the Forest Service, she was the Director of Forest Health Protection in State and Private Forestry, Associate Deputy Chief in Research and Development and currently Station Director at the Rocky Mountain Research Station. She has served on national advisory councils and taskforces in Urban and Community Forestry and held leadership positions in regional and national state forester associations.

She has earned Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Plant Health and a B.S. in Horticulture from Louisiana State University.

She understands the importance of being a change agent working across Forest Service organizational boundaries and with other organizations. Based on experiences gained in FS Research & Development, she believes that it is important to integrate science in all aspects of the FS, particularly in policy development at regional and national levels. Shared paradigms developed between stations, regions and the national office will improve the way our work is delivered to achieve the impact we desire on landscapes and to communities.

Leanne started her career as a seasonal employee on the Palouse Ranger District, Clearwater National Forest in Northern Idaho while obtaining her Bachelors of Science in Environmental Science from Washington State University. She went on to graduate school at the University of Idaho where she received her Masters of Science in Forest Resources.

After finishing up her schooling she started working fulltime for the Agency on the Canoe Gulch Ranger District on the Kootenai National Forest in Montana. She later worked as a planner and environmental coordinator for the Kootenai prior to moving east to be a District Ranger on the Ottawa National Forest in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Deputy Forest Supervisor and Forest Supervisor on the Huron-Manistee National Forest in the lower peninsula of Michigan, and Forest Supervisor on the Allegheny National Forest in Northwest Pennsylvania. Most recently Leanne served as the National Director for Wilderness and Wild & Scenic Rivers in Washington DC. She has also had the pleasure of doing many details throughout her career, including a detail as Deputy Regional Forester of the Southwestern Region, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Associate Deputy Chief for National Forest Systems, Washington DC and most recently the Acting Director for the National Partnership Office, Washington DC.

Leanne grew up in the Forest Service (second generation), so has had the honor of living and working in some of the most beautiful places in the country and with great people (both within and outside the agency) that care about our natural resources.

Leanne is married and has two sons.

She leads more than 2,000 employees and oversees 20.6 million acres of national forests and grasslands in Arizona and New Mexico.

Michiko brings over 34 years of federal government career experience to her position. She joined the Forest Service in 2014 as a national director and from 2014-2021 has served as the Director of Conservation Education; Director of Recreation, Heritage and Volunteer Resources; and as the Acting Director of Engineering, Technology and Geospatial Services.

Prior to joining the Forest Service, Michiko worked for 12 years as the Chief of Education, Outreach and New Media for the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the Department of Commerce. Michiko also served as a commissioned naval officer for 12 years, working as a meteorologist and oceanographer.

A native of the Ryukyuan Islands, Michiko earned a Bachelor of Science in physical oceanography at the United States Naval Academy. She later earned post-graduate degrees, including a Master of Science degree in oceanographic engineering jointly conferred by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute; and a Master’s degree in educational leadership at Troy State University.

Toral has extensive experience in national leadership roles with the Forest Service and the US Department of State. In these positions, she built strong science-management partnerships to address complex resource challenges in the US and internationally. Toral spent her formative years in Bombay (Mumbai), India. Toral started her career in the Forest Service as the National Program Lead for Bioclimatology and Climate Change working on climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience building efforts on forests and rangelands nationally and internationally.

Prior to joining the Forest Service, Toral served as a Climate Science Advisor at the Office of Global Change at the Department of State and has represented the United States on UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) issues including Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry, Research and Systematic Observations and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. At the U.S. Geological Survey, she has served as the agency Advisor for Data Integration and headed up International Bioinformatics. Toral received her doctorate and master’s degrees from Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies with a focus on forest management, carbon modeling, and biogeochemical cycling. Toral has published over 100 publications, technical reports and 9 books on forest resources and management. She has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Washington, School of Forest Resources.

Beth holds a bachelor’s in wildlife biology from the University of Vermont, a master’s in wildlife and fisheries from South Dakota State University and a master’s in communications from the University of Wyoming. She is a graduate of Harvard’s Senior Executive Fellows Program and American University’s Key Leadership program. She brings natural resources management and communications expertise to the NFF NFLC, as well as, a passion for ensuring the health and vitality of the Nation’s forests and grasslands for present and future generations.

Dave started his career with the Forest Service nearly 40 years ago in the Alaska Region. After graduating from college in 1983, he spent 23 of his almost four decades with the agency serving as a Fisheries and Watershed Program Leader on the Chugach National Forest in Southcentral Alaska, and as a District Ranger, Prince of Wales Island, on the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska.

Dave has served in many leadership positions with the Forest Service, including as a District Ranger on the Custer National Forest in Montana, the National Fisheries Program Leader in Washington, D.C., Director of Biological and Physical Resources, Region 8, in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Deputy Regional Forester, Region 1, in Missoula, Montana.

Dave returned to Alaska in 2018 as the Regional Forester. He has led the Region for the last four years, guiding the Region through some of the most significant events in recent times. His focus on relationships inside and outside the agency is reflected in the Regions’ dedication to caring for the land, communities, and the people we serve.

Bernie also held numerous other positions over his 37-year career with the Forest Service in Washington State and Colorado. In his retirement, he has continued his position with the National Forest Foundation as co-chair of the National Forest Leadership Council.

Dr. West has served in various leadership roles in USFS’ Research and Development (R&D) mission area, including as the Associate Deputy Chief for R&D, with responsibility for administering a $300 million annual research program to inform policy and land management decisions. Before coming into the Washington Office as Director for Resource Use Sciences, Dr. West served as Deputy Station Director for USFS’ Pacific Northwest Research Station in Portland, OR for 9 years. She also held positions in academia at Virginia Tech and Mississippi State University. She started her career, working in forest management, with Weyerhaeuser in North Carolina in timber procurement and landowner assistance.

A native of Staunton, Virginia, Dr. West holds a BS degree in Forestry Management, a MBA in Marketing and Management, and a PhD in Wood Science and Forest Products from Virginia Tech. As a research scientist, she published more than 60 papers and presented at more than 80 conferences on forest sector trade and industry development.