Interview: Kenneth R. Johnson by David Hunt

Cradle Forest Service Retiree Reunion
Kenneth Johnson briefly discusses his nearly forty-year career in the Forest Service. He begins with a quick overview of his whole career, then delves into his time on the St. Helens Ranger District during and after the volcanic eruption. He touches on themes such as recreation and visitor use, the shifting importance of forestry in the agency as a whole, and finishes with the observation that forests and forestry seem more remote to today’s increasingly urban population.
DH: Alright, this is David Hunt. It is September 25th, 2018. We are in Asheville, North Carolina. And I am speaking with Mr. Kenneth R. Johnson. Mr. Johnson, I’m just going to ask you a couple of these questions. The first one, how did you come to the agency, or kind of what drew you to your interest in working for the agency? KJ: In April of my senior year in high school, I was awarded a full forestry scholarship for college. And through the summers, while I was in college, I worked for the Forest Service, enjoying and getting a lot out of that, I decided to go on permanent after I graduated from college. DH: And since you’re from Washington, was that up in Washington? KJ: Louisiana. DH: Louisiana! Alright. Wow. Yeah. That’s a little different. Okay. So when was that, what years did you work for the agency? KJ: I started in 1960, temporary summer employment as a lookout, and a forestry aid in the summer of ’61, again in ’62, and in ’63, and in ’64 I was a forestry technician with the Ukiah Ranger District, Umatilla National Forest. And I got a permanent appointment in December of ’64 as a forester at the Ukiah Ranger District, Umatilla National Forest, for two and a half years. Then after. That I was a recreation forester there at Ukiah. And in 1969 I became the land exchange specialist for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Went on from there to the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest as assistant lands staff. Then from there to the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area planning team leader. And then from there I went as the acquisition team leader for the Alpine Lakes area on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. And then from there, I went to the St. Helens Ranger District on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest as the district ranger. And after the monument was created, the Mount St. Helens National Monument, I became the monument manager. The point being there that while I was the district ranger, Mount St. Helens erupted on m