Recently, the North Carolina Forest Service’s District 2 office in Lenoir, NC hired Matty Richards as a new service forester. He will serve in 4 of the district’s 8 counties. As service forester, his job duties will include writing forest management plans for local landowners, participating in wildfire suppression, and conducting forestry and wildfire educational events.
Matty grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. After visiting the Gettysburg battlefield and becoming familiar with witness trees, trees that were present during the event and are still alive today, Matty acquired a fascination for them. A little while later he met a forester with the Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources who seemed to have an intuition for making predictions about trees and forests. Amazingly, those predictions often came true. Matty was truly inspired and devoted his life to forestry.
Upon completing high school, Matty visited several forestry schools. When he visited NC State University, however, he knew he was home. While there he joined the NC National Guard. Throughout his experience at NC State, Matty developed a real interest in wildfire suppression. He considered working for the US Forest Service, but ultimately decided to join the NC Forest Service, another agency prominently active in wildfire suppression.
During his time at NC State, Matty participated in many activities to begin honing his skills in the profession. He interned with Canfor Southern Pine where he assisted with timber procurement. He also participated in the NC State Forestry work crew that performed forestation projects on the school’s forests. Additionally, he was a member of the NC State Forestry Club that competed in timber sports events. He also participated in the Student Association of Fire Ecology and served as co-president.
Matty’s favorite tree is the American Chestnut. This once prominent tree throughout the Appalachian Mountain range was relegated to a shrub after an invasive exotic disease killed most of the trees in the 20s and 30s. Historically, it provided an abundant crop of nuts for wildlife and human consumption. Its wood, widely used in construction, is durable and rot resistant and can still be found in many homes and barns today.
Matty finds the D2 area very similar to his home in Pennsylvania and is excited to explore and familiarize himself with the local forests. The counties he will be working are Alexander, Ashe, Avery, and Wilkes.
If you would like Matty to assist you with the management of your forest please contact your local county ranger by visiting ncforestservice.gov. On that webpage, look for ‘Contacts Us’ and choose your county from the dropdown box.
