Darcy Pederson retires from the Forest Service

JUNE 10, 2010

Darcy's 32 year career with the Forest Service began in 1974 on Wallow Mountain Lookout on the Canyon Ranger District, Clearwater National Forest, headquartered in Orofino. Altogether, Darcy spent six summers as a seasonal employee, and jokes that her seasonal experience came in two's....two years as a lookout, two years as a firefighter, and two years as aerial observer and dispatcher.

In 1980, Darcy was hired as a Forester Trainee, in what was then called the Student Co-op program, and she studied and worked in fire and fuels management until she graduated with a degree in Forest Resource Management from the University of Idaho in 1983. During her student training, she worked on all districts of the Clearwater National Forest.

Upon graduation from the University of Idaho, Darcy was converted to a career conditional appointment on the Canyon Ranger District and worked out of Canyon Work Center on the North Fork Clearwater River. Her assignment as Assistant Fire Management Officer on the North Fork Ranger District preceded a move to the district's National Environmental Policy Act Coordinator/Team Leader position in 1986.

Darcy transferred to the Kootenai NF in 1989, where she served for a short time as the Forest National Environmental Policy Act and Appeals Coordinator. In 1990, Darcy entered the line officer ranks as District Ranger for the Libby Ranger District. 1994 found her transferring to the Clearwater Ranger District, Nez Perce National Forest, where she has served as District Ranger ever since.

For the past two and a half years, an additional Acting District Ranger assignment on the Salmon River Ranger District has kept her very busy. From 2003 through 2009, she also served as the Forest Timber Staff Officer.

Darcy has continued to stay active in her community, with past service on local economic development committees, the Grangeville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the Grangeville Boosters, and local 4H groups and activities. She is emotionally attached to north central Idaho, her home “stomping grounds” and she embraced the privilege of both managing and recreating in such a sportsman’s paradise.

She and her husband Ray plan to remain in the Grangeville area.