Strong and silent. Flannel shirts and work boots. That’s probably the image most of us have of a forester. Doesn’t say much and hangs around trees all the time. DCNR, however, has a position called “service forester” and the duties are much more public than you might think. In their roles as service foresters, Dave and his colleagues are a very real connection between DCNR and the forest lands owned by the state (by all of us) with private landowners, municipal governments, schools and universities. Anywhere there’s a tree (or the wildlife that depends on it), a service forester is available to provide expertise. Just Google Dave. He turns up with presentations on pruning, coyotes and other predators, dirt and gravel road maintenance, tree farm inspection, birds, deer management, and trail construction, and in local parks and county parks, at Audubon meetings, with landowner associations and senior centers – just to name a few! It’s hard to calculate the influence one person has, yet we can safely say that Dave’s dedication has not only bettered Pennsylvania, it has touched the lives of many.