New Mt. Pinos Ranger Named

  • New Mt. Pinos  District Ranger Erik L. Van Walden

    New Mt. Pinos District Ranger Erik L. Van Walden

By Joe Pasinato, USFS

The selection of Erik L. Van Walden as Mt. Pinos District Ranger has been announced by Los Padres National Forest officials. Van Walden will oversee the building of a new Chuchupate Ranger Station. He will arrive December 6. Until then, Acting Ranger Odell Tucker will be serving as District Ranger.

Van Walden began his career with the Forest Service in 2003 on the Ketchikan-Misty Fjords Ranger District on the Tongass National Forest in Alaska as their Realty Specialist. He was the Lands Program Manager for the Dakota Prairie Grasslands in North Dakota and participated in the historic acquisition of the 5,200 acre Teddy Roosevelt Elkhorn Ranch, dubbed the “Cradle of Conservation.”

He participated in salmon restoration projects on the Siuslaw River when he was a college student and interned with the BLM in Oregon. He has worked in commercial fishing during the winter months on the Bering Sea and worn his working suit and tie in Dallas, Texas as a commercial real estate capital security analyst.

Van Walden holds a B.S. in Environmental Management from the University of Maryland and an M.S. in Finance/Real Estate from the University of Texas and a Professional Certificate in Urban Planning and Development from UCSD.

The new Los Pinos District Ranger comes to the Los Padres with his wife Jennifer and four children; Erika, Wyatt, Heather and Jasper.

This is part of the October 23, 2009 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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