Hessel promoted to district forester

Published 4:56 am Sunday, December 4, 2016

A new leader is in charge of the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Northeast Oregon District.

Joe Hessel, who has worked in the district for more than 30 years, was promoted to district forester Dec. 1 following the retirement of John Buckman.

Most recently, Hessel had served as the unit forester for the La Grande and Baker units. Now he will oversee management of the entire district, which spans approximately 2 million acres of private forest lands in Umatilla, Union, Baker and Wallowa counties, as well as small portions of Morrow, Grant and Malheur counties.

“I am very excited about my new role,” Hessel said. “I am honored to have the opportunity to work with a great group of professional and very dedicated employees.”

Hessel also acts as operations chief for one of ODF’s incident management teams, responding to wildfires and other emergencies in the woods. Part of his new position, he said, will be continuing to address the challenges in fire and forestry across northeast Oregon.

“Continuing the strong tradition of providing a high level of service to private landowners and the Oregon public is at the top of my list,” Hessel said.