Federal Lands Forester for DNR: Anjel Tomayko - Episode 27

Talking Forests

Anjel Tomayko is a bad@$$ firefighter, worth a listen!

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/anjel-tomayko-4643983b/

I completed my BS in Forest Resource Management in 2016 and am working to complete my MS in Natural Resource Management this year.

While in the USAF, worked as a bioenvironmental technician ensuring occupational safety and health standards were met for all base personnel as well as ensuring environmental laws and regulations were met, to include the drinking water used by personnel and dependents.

As an environmental technician for a consulting firm, worked on remediation projects for federal, state and private companies to include one Superfund Site in the Silver Valley of North Idaho.

For the last 5 summers, have worked primarily as a wildland firefighter for both Washington State and the USFS with one season on a timber crew in pre-sales forestry.

In January I accepted a new position as a federal lands forester with WA DNR. This new program is was authorized under the Good Neighbor Authority as part of the Farm Bill. Currently I’m working on an Interdisciplinary Team comprised of DNR, FS, and Tribal leaders as well as environmental groups and private landowners to develop a cross-jurisdictional landscape management approach for approximately 90,000 acres in Northeastern Washington. The initial focus is 40,000 acres on the Colville National Forest.

I love taking photos of the landscape in a variety of settings. While I consider myself an amateur as I usually use my camera phone instead of my fancy camera, I enjoy the results quite often as do others. I also started hunting this last year and enjoy cutting, splitting and stacking firewood.

My goal in the world of social media is to educate people on what forestry is. Most people have no idea what a forester does and how important our role is in land management. I know there are many people who are just like I used to be, completely oblivious to the idea that our public lands are not just left to their own devices.

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