Photo submitted to Times Observer From left, Dave Trimpey with Steve Grado, vice president of the Penn State Forest Resources Alumni Group (Gene Miller Photography, Bellefonte).

David W. Trimpey of Pittsfield has been honored with an Outstanding Alumni Award from The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) Forest Resources Alumni Group. The award was presented at the Forest Resources Alumni Group annual banquet on April 27 in State College.

Dave graduated from Penn State with a B.S. in Forest Science in 1981. After a few years working as a seasonal forestry tech, he began his career as a forester in 1983 with Hammermill Paper Company’s Northern Timberlands division. Hammermill was bought out by International Paper in 1987. Dave stayed with the new company, eventually becoming forest manager of 20,000 acres in Warren County, PA. Later he moved into log procurement and sales, which foreshadowed his future career. In 1997, International Paper sold its forestlands, and Dave was hired in 2000 by Collins Pine Company’s Kane Hardwood Division as a Harvest Manager to supervise all logging operations, the log yard, and log sales.

Since 2008, Dave has been the Forest Resource Manager at Collins Pine in charge of the Forest Resources department at Kane. In addition to the harvesting, procurement, and log sales activities, management of the 118,000-acre, FSC-certified Collins Pennsylvania Forest was added to his duties. Dave employs a staff of nine salaried and five hourly workers. Some of his major accomplishments at Collins have included improvements and expansion of the log yard, expansion of log merchandising and log sales programs, and several strategic land sales and acquisitions to improve the economic return to the company. Dave never loses sight of sustainable forest management with economic return as critical to private forest ownership.

In addition to his employment accomplishments, Dave has served as a committed long-term volunteer and leader with numerous conservation and professional organizations during the past 30 years. These include (listed alphabetically):

¯ Allegheny Hardwood Utilization Group (AHUG) Board of Directors, 2009 to present (president 2016 to 2018);

¯ American Tree Farm System/Pennsylvania, Area 1 Chairman, 2014 to present;

¯ DCNR Conservation and Natural Resources Advisory Committee (CNRAC) – appointed by Senator Joe Scarnati, 2014 to present;

¯ Society of American Foresters (SAF), member since 1981; Chairman, Plateau Chapter of SAF, 2012 to 2016; current PA Division of SAF, sec/treasurer; Chair of Planning Committee for Allegheny SAF 2017 Summer Meeting – 50th Anniversary of SILVAH – which had 140 participants and made over $5,000 for the Plateau Chapter;

¯ State Conservation Commission (SCC), Public Commissioner, appointed by Governor Thomas Ridge for two four-year terms. (the SCC oversees funding for and operations of county conservation districts statewide; the state’s Nutrient Management Program, the Dirt & Gravel Road Program, the Chesapeake Bay Program, and numerous other programs), 1997 to 2005;

¯ Pennsylvania Forestry Association (PFA) Board of Directors, 2017 to present;

¯ Penn State Cooperative Extension, Warren County, volunteered as a forest resources instructor at numerous public educational meetings and events, 1988 to 2000;

¯ Penn State School of Forest Resources Advisory Board, 1993 to 1996;

¯ Penn State Warren County Cooperative Extension Board, 2011 to present;

¯ Quality Assurance Board of the Warren Co. Dirt & Gravel Road Program, 1999 to present;

¯ Warren County Conservation District Board of Directors, 1987 to 1997 (chairman 1989 to 1997) and 2012 to present;

¯ Western PA Conservancy Northern Area Advisory Committee, 2013 to present.

Dave served (and still serves) with the Warren County Conservation District and several associated state-level conservation committees as a forester. These agencies, traditionally working with farm conservation programs, have had insufficient professional forestry representation since they were formed more than 80 years ago. This made his leadership experience even more difficult at times, yet essential, as societal needs shifted to include land conservation for a multitude of ecosystem services and values. The Forest Resources Outstanding Alumni awards were first awarded in 2001 to recognize outstanding alumni and to foster closer relationships between the award recipient and students, faculty, staff, and other alumni. The selection criteria for the award include professional achievement, excellence, impact, and recognition; service to the profession, to the department, and to the community; and demonstration of high personal and professional standards.