Forest office hires range specialist

Forester retires after 30 years

The Dolores District of the San Juan National Forest has lost one and gained one.

Supervisory Forester Mark Krabath retired in August after working for the San Juan National Forest for 16 years. He also worked on the District as a pre-sale and fuels forester.

Krabath started his federal career 30 years ago as a seasonal employee in timber and silviculture on the Uinta National Forest and then the Uncompahgre National Forest. In 1987 he received a permanent position on the Deschutes National Forest.

In 1990 he moved to the Idaho Panhandle National Forest in small sales, then the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. In 1997, Krabath went to the Deschutes National Forest in pre-sales and silviculture, landing on the San Juan National Forest in 1999.

Krabath is a qualified, advanced Check Cruiser and certified silviculturist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Resource and Forest Management. Retirement plans include skiing, rafting, mountain biking, sailing, fishing and travel. He and wife, Sue, have moved to Durango to be closer to her family.

Corey Ertl is the new Rangeland Management Specialist for the Dolores Ranger District.

Ertl is a native of Arizona who started his forest service career under the student career experience program on the Tonto NF Globe and Cave Creek ranger districts in 2010 and 2011. Upon graduating from Arizona State University in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife and Restoration Ecology, he moved to Douglas, Wyo., as Rangeland Management Specialist on the Medicine Bow-Routt NFs/Thunder Basin NG.

Hobbies include hunting, fishing, camping and mountain biking. Corey will be joined next spring by his wife, Hannah, upon completion of her graduate studies at Texas A&M. Their family includes Teneya, the dog, and Spud, the cat.