Gila National Forest supervisor retires

After a 32-year Forest Service career, Forest Supervisor Dick Markley of the Gila National Forest has retired. Markley served for a little over three years as head of the 3.3 million acre Forest that includes three wilderness areas including the nation’s first designated wilderness, the Gila Wilderness. His retirement took effect Friday. During Markley’s tenure as supervisor he set as priorities developing a travel management plan for the forest, accomplishing the annual fuels treatment goal to protect local communities from wildfire, completing the backlog of environmental analyses for grazing permits and accomplishing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) projects funded on the forest. Craig Cowie, currently the fire staff officer overseeing the Gila fire organization, is serving as acting forest supervisor through the end of December...more