Mark Hammel
On July, Mark Hummel joined the leadership team on the Superior National Forest. As the Deputy Forest Supervisor, Hummel will assist with overall management of programs across the three-million acre Forest.
During his career, Hummel has worked on various national forests. He began on the Toiyabe National Forest in Sparks, Nevada where his duties required travel across the Forest shooting video and talking with employees, ranchers, and miners. He said working there, he learned about fire safety in the wildland/urban interface, dry land mine reclamation, how overgrazing turns wet meadows into desert scrub, and about landlocked Kokanee Salmon in Lake Tahoe.
Several of Hummel’s previous positions involved facilitating communications between diverse interests. As a planner in Petersburg, Alaska, Hummel helped create a forum in public interaction narrowed the agency’s focus from 26 vague study topics to eight highlyfocused and directly relevent issues. Stakeholders transitioned from mutual critics to mutual learners at the table, working together to solving problems.
As District Ranger in Wrangell, Alaska, Hummel worked with staff to arrange for a vegetation inventory with Ducks Unlimited as a partner. The project was controversial because it involved using a helicopter in the Stikine-LeConte Wilderness Area. However, six hours of helicopter time produced far less impact than the alternative of an entire season running jet boats up the river to reach only onethird of the sites.
Hummel said, “I am very excited about working on the Superior with all the people who care about the incredible country in Northeast Minnesota. I’m impressed with the collaborative work on the Forest Plan in past years, and with the Minnesota Forest Resource Council. I look forward to working with communities in and around the Forest. My kids are excited about canoeing the Boundary Waters, playing hockey, and meeting new friends. So we’re trading in our rain gear for goose down, our rubber boots for pacs, and looking forward to dusting off our skis, ice-skates, snow shoes, ice auger, and tipups. That and our canoe can hardly wait to visit the BWCAW.”
Hummel also has worked in the Forest Service Region 8 at the Headquarters of the Ozark-St. Francis and Ouachita National Forests in Arkansas and Oklahoma and in the Region 9 Office in Milwaukee.
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