Stansberry takes Forest Supervisor position in Minnesota

Lincoln District Ranger Michael Stansberry will be leaving Lincoln next month to take over as the Forest Supervisor for the Chippewa National Forest in northern Minnesota.

Stansberry, who will end his tenure here Jan. 15, said the move is both a promotion and an opportunity to be closer to his family, including his twin daughters who have scholarship offers in Wisconsin and his son, who may be moving to Michigan.

"There are lot of unknowns here but this is about being close to my family and my kids," Stansberry said, adding the new job brings with it new challenges.

"It's a really unique forest. A lot of it is on tribal lands, on a reservation," Stansberry said.

The Chippewa National Forest, headquartered in Cass Lake, east of Bemidji, is the first national forest established east of the Mississippi in 1908. It's home to the headwaters of the Mississippi and Hudson Bay, has more than 400,000 acres of wetlands and shares a border with both Canada and the Leech Lake Ojibwe Reservation.

Torey Kendrick, who has served as the Missoula Smokejumper Base manager since 2017, will take over as the interim Lincoln District Ranger for about four months.

Stansberry hopes to have at least a week of overlap with Kendrick to bring him up to speed on the district.

Stansberry was officially announced as the new Forest supervisor there by Eastern Regional Forester Gina Owens in a Dec. 11 press release but he gave the county a heads up on his pending departure during the Dec. 4 Government day meeting.

"You will be much missed.," said County Commission Chair Susan Good Giese, who bid farewell to her commissioner role in January. "I think you have done great things in the community of Lincoln, which was pretty riled up when you got there. I think your first call was about the cemetery and boy, you hit the ground running and made yourself an integral part of the community."

Stansberry faced a steep learning curve himself when he took over the position in April 2015.

"I think the transition from National Park Service over to Forest Service, was a bigger challenge than I expected," he said. "The mission for the Forest Service is so all-inclusive, as opposed to protect and preserve (with) the National Park Service."

He said the patience of both the community and the members of the staff allowed him time to really understand the Forest Service mission and how to implement it.

"Then it was understanding what the community wanted, how we could help and that strong sense of 'hey, we need to get some projects completed,'" he said. "That was the other biggest challenge, working through litigation and other pieces. There was a sense from our community of, if you're going to put the time and effort into trying to shape these projects that they're gonna be implemented."

Interestingly, Stansberry said the arrival of the Oathkeeprs and III%ers to support the White Hope Mine in July of 2015, which drew national attention to the area, actually gave him deeper insight into the community

"The understanding from the community was outstanding and really left a good impression on me in those first few months as I arrived. Especially that the best way to work with the community is being straightforward, honest, telling it like it is, but also listening...to what the community wants," he said.

Stansberry said his advice for the incoming ranger is to focus on finding the balance of protecting the resources, fire protection and helping the community thrive.

"The creatures here are indicative of such a special valley. You have Grizzly bear and Canada lynx and bull trout, white bark pine...you don't have those things unless you have those really special circumstances," he said. "But finding that balance of protecting them, with the economic balance of the community."

Stansberry also credited his work as a volunteer firefighter and as a member of the community players for helping create a tighter bond with the community giving them a chance to see the person behind the Forest Service job.

"Lincoln has changed me in such a good way, I think. Not only the love I felt coming from the community, but how to give back to a community," he said. " For that I'll be always grateful, for the connections and the learning and understanding that has been brought about with this time here. Lincoln will always be the special place."