Pittman will report to her new position in December and will be based out of the supervisor's office in Coeur d’ Alene.
Prior to coming to the Missoula Ranger District Pittman held a variety of forester and public affairs positions in the agency’s Northern Region.
She pointed to the Upper Lolo Watershed Restoration project - where Trout Unlimited was a critical partner - as one of the most important examples of successful collaboration. The project also was supported by Wild West Institute and Wildlands CPR.
Pittman also noted important fuel reduction work in Grant Creek and Pattee Canyon as rewarding accomplishments over her last four years.
The success of those kinds of projects, Pittman said, eventually led to the Society of American Foresters and the Sierra Club approaching her with the Sawmill Gulch fuels reduction project, aimed at protecting the Rattlesnake community from high-intensity fire.That project was completed with local support this summer.
“I think we now have a track record in Missoula that we can continue to move forward with,” she said.
Pittman noted that when she first arrived on the district she came with the philosophy that resource management is “90 percent about people.” Her experience over the last four years, she said, has reinforced that.
“People have been willing to slide up to the table to discuss public land issues,” Pittman said. “It’s always been about sharing the same piece of country with a wide array of interests.”
Reflecting on the last four years will mostly mean thinking about the people she has worked with and the community she has lived in.
“I will miss Montana for a lot of reasons," Pittman said. "I moved here in 1978, I raised my family here, it’s been my home. It will be a bittersweet thing, leaving Missoula.”
For more information: Lolo National Forest Public Affairs Office, 406-329-1024.
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