Edward Mann

 I grew up on a farm in central Montana. Planting the fields and tending the crops instilled in me a positive land ethic and appreciation for all natures' rhythms and processes. Working the land also developed in me a strong work ethic. I graduated from Great falls High School in 1972 and immediately went to work for a small, family-owned sawmill near the Continental Divide close to Lincoln and Wolf Creek, Montana. I worked there five years. Working the forest and tending the trees also created in me a desire to learn. I enrolled in the University of Montana School of Forestry in 1976 and graduated in 1981.  I interned with Weyerhaeuser Timber Company and Burlington Northern Timberlands in the summers during my college years.

After graduation, I accepted a full-time position with Burlington Northern Timberlands in Newport, Washington. After two full years, I started my own business managing private forest lands under long-term Stewardship Plans and Contracts. I worked in this position for seventeen years.

I accepted a position with the Spokane Tribe of Indians as the Small Sales and Salvage Program Supervisor in 2000 and then as a forest silviculturist in 2001. I worked in this position until 2011 at which time a accepted a position with the United Bands of the Yakama Indian Nation along the east slopes of the Cascade Range in central Washington. My position was an Inventory and Planning forester. In this position, I modelled, planned and scheduled timber harvests and wrote Environmental Assessments. I stayed in this position until 2016.

In 2017, I accepted a position with the Yurok Tribe in northern California- redwood country as their Forestry Director. In this position, I managed their forests, the forest carbon sequestration and sales program and their Fire Management program. I managed the carbon sales verification process, negotiated prices and quantities with national and international buyers and coordinated contracts with Tribal leadership. I built the Fire Management Program into a viable, staffed and funded program.