By Michael Howell
It was thirty-five years ago, in 1980, that Dan Ritter got his first job working for the U.S. Forest Service on a trail crew in the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming. After that he worked as a wilderness ranger on the forest for six summers before finally getting a permanent job in 1988.
During that time he met and married his wife Sherry and they started a family. Then from 1992 to 1997 he worked on the Nez Perce National Forest in Grangeville. While there he worked as the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness Coordinator. That position was eliminated in 1997.
Ritter started working on the Bitterroot National Forest in Darby in 1997 as a watershed and wildlife manager. While there he worked as activity ranger, on special projects and served for a stint as Acting Supervisor of the forest. In 2005, he became the Stevensville District Ranger.
Ritter said that he really enjoyed his job as coordinator of the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness where he got to work with four different Forest Supervisors since the wilderness included land from the four different forests.
As he moved up the ladder, Ritter’s work became more varied, more involved, and more contentious. Coming out of a wilderness and recreation background he suddenly had to handle some tough jobs, like restoring the Tin Cup dam.
“In retrospect,” said Ritter, “it was a great learning experience.” He handled his first timber job on the Stevensville District at a time when the timber industry was hurting and the local mill closing.
His biggest learning curve came with the advent of some incredible fire seasons and the new Forest Service fire policies based on recognition of the role fire plays naturally in forest ecology. He recalled the controversy surrounding the Kootenai Fire and the intense controversy that swirled around the management of that fire.
“Fires will continue to be a challenge here in the future,” he said. “The forest will burn. Smoke will fill the valley.”
Another tough issue that Ritter had to deal with was the controversy among competing interests in the forming of a forest-wide Travel Plan. He said that while the Forest Plan revision process was contracted out, the Travel Plan was not and he had to handle that entire process on top of all his other duties.
“That’s one reason it took so long,” he said. “It’s great to have that done.”
Ritter said that his job has involved making a lot of difficult decisions and that forest management turns out to be “90% people management.” He said that he has enjoyed that part of the job and has met some incredible people and gotten to know several organizations that he probably wouldn’t have gotten to know otherwise.
He and his wife Sherry plan on doing some traveling and visiting family members elsewhere but they will remain living in Stevensville. He will continue with his volunteer activities in the community. He currently serves as President of the Stevensville Main Street Association.
Fisheries biologist Rob Brassfield will serve as Acting Ranger on the district until a new appointment is made, possibly up to four months from now.