The Mark Twain National Forest — Missouri’s largest forest at 1.5 million acres — welcomed a new forest supervisor in July. Vince Keeler comes by way of the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire and Maine, where he spent two years. He told St. Louis on the Air that he and his wife think they can make Rolla home.
“It's a beautiful place. The people here are great. Our employees, my goodness, hardworking and down-to-earth,” Keeler said. “There's a lot of things going on that I think will keep me busy for a long time.”
With Mark Twain National Forest’s massive footprint, Keeler oversees projects involving maintaining the natural environment, working with nearby residents and promoting the forest’s recreation to Missourians of all backgrounds.
More than a half-million people visit the forest every year.
“If you have someone coming from St. Louis and they're used to the noise of the city, they may get scared being in the woods or hiking on a trail,” he said. “Whereas you have someone else from a rural area and want to continue to have serenity and peace and quiet, they’re hiking or recreating for a different reason, and so [it’s about] just helping people try to understand and respect each other's differences when it comes to being out on trails.”
Mark Twain National Forest is made up of seven wilderness areas across central and southern Missouri, yet they are all maintained together. That’s important because a key role of the U.S. Forest Service is its use of prescribed burns — intentional fires designed to thin the forest and clear dead leaves to help keep the habitat healthy.
“There’s a little bit of a different dynamic in each direction. But we make sure to manage it as a whole,” he said. “It takes about two hours to go from one end of the forest to the next. We tend to do a good job of communicating and working with our partners to make sure we achieve goals and objectives.”
For more with Mark Twain National Forest’s supervisor Vince Keeler, including how getting lost in the woods led him to what’s already a more than 20-year career in forestry, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Ulaa Kuziez, Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
