Kentuckians who primarily think of the Daniel Boone National Forest as a great place to go hiking or camping are benefiting, whether they know it or not, from the work of Jeffrey F. Lewis. As the Morehead Ranger District’s silviculture, recreation, and planning forester, Jeff is responsible for ensuring that the forest stays healthy and that it remains safe and accessible to recreational users.

Jeff, who has been with the USDA Forest Service since 1986, regularly inventories stands of trees within the forest and prescribes treatments when they are diseased or otherwise disturbed, decides when and where pesticides should be used to suppress invasive plants, oversees and manages recreation programs and the district safety program, and helps suppress fires when needed. He is also coordinating the development of detailed maps of the forest using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he received a bachelor’s degree in forestry, Jeff got his first Forest Service experience during college as a cooperative education student, working in the Diamond Lake Ranger District of the Umpqua National Forest in Oregon. He stayed on there for several years as that district’s timber stand improvement forester before moving to Kentucky in the summer of 1992.