Warnack leaving Ruidoso for new forestry post

• Family is excited to move to rainy climate

Winding up a successful five years as the ranger for the Smokey Bear District of the Lincoln National Forest around Ruidoso, Dave Warnack is moving to Oregon the first week in November.

He will serve as deputy forest supervisor on the Umpgua National Forest,  in southern Oregon's Cascade Range, covering 983,129 acres in Douglas, Lane, and Jackson counties, and bordering Crater Lake National Park. He and his family will be living in Roseburg, Oreg.

"It's the nature of the job," Warnack said about the move. "I have children who are 14, 12 and 10," and the timing is right for the move now before they are entrenched in their high school years. He added that his wife is from Scotland, "and she's been living in the desert Southwest for a long time and would like to get back to some place where it rains a lot."

Roseburg is on the west side of Oregon, south of Eugene, Warnack said, noting,. "It has big rivers, big trees, big country."

Preston Stone, chairman of the Lincoln County Commission and a rancher, said he has the deepest respect for Warnack and appreciates his perspective, which is to come to the table with solutions and to work toward resolutions between parties to make those solutions work.

"We've been very fortunate in the Smokey Bear Ranger District," Stone said. "We've had several outstanding rangers. Dave fell right in. There have been so many issues in other forest service districts in the state. People need to understand that he was very much a part of the community. He considered the needs not just of the ranchers and permittees, but also the urban users. I don't think we ever had a ranger work as closely with the urban areas to prevent catastrophic wildfires."

Stone said he knows that Warnack, although he followed protocol during the Little Bear Fire of 2012 that burned much of the Eagle Creek watershed, destroyed campgrounds and charred  44,330 acres, carries the loss of more than 250 structures very personally.

"He's that type of individual," Stone said.

Originally from Silver City, Warnack joined the U.S. Forest Service 19 years ago. He was attracted to the agency initially, because of the work on ground, he said. He enjoyed being in the forest and being assigned to building grazing fences or trails or to fight fires, whatever the need. A significant portion of his earlier years was spent building the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, he said.

But as he stayed in the forest service, he saw that much of the on-ground work couldn't occur without the background and administrative effort that enables projects.

"I decided it was time to take responsibility and not just have the fun time in the woods," he said. "I still feel that responsibility to ensure the (forest and forestry jobs) will be there for new people and communities, to demonstrate the value of national forests and the forest service to the people who pay our salaries."

As for his years in Lincoln County, Warnack said, "This place changed me for the better. It's quite a proving ground. You either sink or swim. It's a complex place to work, but very rewarding too."