The Oregon Department of Forestry has named Kyle Abraham to head the agency’s Private Forests Division. Abraham, who grew up in Salem and still lives there, has been the Division’s deputy chief since 2017. He’ll assume his new responsibilities officially when the current chief, Lena Tucker, moves into her new role as Deputy State Forester on July 1. Abraham will be leading several programs within the Private Forests Division to help protect and maintain Oregon’s forests and the services they provide. The Division is responsible for forest health, urban and community assistance forestry and helping Oregonians follow the Forest Practices Act governing timber harvesting and replanting. “I’m very excited and humbled to have this opportunity to serve as the Private Forests Division Chief,” Abraham said. After graduating from Oregon State University with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in fisheries science, Abraham in 1988 began working with ODF in the field in several capacities. Those experiences included doing electrofishing surveys, evaluating fish passage through culverts, and collecting water samples after aerial herbicide applications. He worked as a Stewardship Forester for several years in ODF’s Santiam, Molalla and the Dallas offices. He also worked in ODF’s Salem headquarters as a monitoring specialist, developing and leading scientific monitoring projects designed to test the effectiveness of Oregon’s Forest Practices Act. From 2010-2012, Abraham worked for the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board as their Effectiveness Monitoring Coordinator. He returned to ODF in late 2012 and began serving as the Water Quality Specialist for the Private Forests Division, leading the agency’s discussions on water quality and forestry interactions.
