Susan Zahn, latest acting San Jacinto district ranger

Susan Zahn is the current acting district ranger for the San Jacinto Ranger District of the San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF). She began her tour about eight weeks ago and expects it to end by late June. Zahn is the latest in a series of “acting district rangers” since Julie Hall left for the Inyo National Forest last March.

Zahn is quite familiar with the San Jacinto Ranger District. She grew up and went to school in Yucaipa. “I’m a local girl,” she said. “I grew up in the San Bernardino forest.”

In her limited time as district ranger, Zahn said, “The weather has been one of my biggest surprises and how much snow I’ve shoveled. But I’m grateful for the moisture because it helped with the drought.”

Otherwise, she has not found the San Jacinto region very different from the northern districts of the SBNF.

Before and during her Forest Service career, she has earned degrees from Crafton Hills College and University of La Verne, where she received a bachelor’s degree in public administration to further her public service career.

Her love of the outdoors was the motivation for a career with the Forest Service. It also offered her an opportunity to travel to different states, especially working fires throughout the West.

Having worked in all four Southern California forests — Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres and San Bernardino — and the regional and Washington offices as well as the National Technology and Development Program, she has broad and extensive experience, especially in fire and fire-related matters. She has been with the Forest Service for more than 35 years.

She did wilderness management during her time on the Cleveland National Forest and was a battalion chief for fuels and prevention management while at the Angeles National Forest.

In 2008, Zahn returned to the SBNF to do vegetative management and became the Vegetative Management supervisor. Within four years, she shifted to Region 5 (California, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands) where she managed contracts for fire support and suppression as well as the Virtual Incident Procurement contracts.

She had to ensure that contracts for equipment, such as dozers and water tanks, were in place for the region’s forest to use in case of a wildfire.

She has conducted research on vegetative moisture and other topics while at the National Technology and Development Program, which is located in San Dimas. Many of her projects involved working with staff at the local forests.

For example, the vegetation manager at the Angeles National Forest had a major resource area burned. Zahn helped her design a new area so the moisture readings could still be used for fire preparation.

In various assignments, she has been involved or responsible for hazardous fuels reduction projects. When asked about the most difficult aspect of this work, she replied, “Probably the administration is. Getting the specialists together to plan and to complete the environmental assessment took time.”

“And of course, there is a limited operating period to conduct any burns, but the planning was way bigger,” Zahn said. Locally, there have been some pile burns in the Keenwild area, she added.

Her current assignment is with the National Incident Management Organization. She serves as the Logistics Section chief for Team 3. Also, Zahn helps the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Incident Logistics subcommittee.

Her logistics skills were demonstrated locally during the Cranston Fire in July 2018. She helped to organize the small village created and razed within days in Garner Valley. This was where the firefighters who fought the fire and controlled it would come to eat, sleep and rest while battling the fire.

In her role as acting district ranger, Zahn said she wants to stress her awareness of the balance between the community’s residents and its visitors.

“People like to come to the mountain for snow play,” she said. “But it’s a balance between economic opportunities for the businesses and the effects on the residents. Idyllwild is a good place to go to recreate but a balance to take care of the community.”

Maintaining this balance is a “dedicated and loyal staff,” Zahn emphasized.