BIO
Leanne Marten is the Regional Forester for the Northern Region of the U.S. Forest Service. She began this appointment in June, 2015. She has worked for the Forest Service for over 30 years. The Northern Region encompasses northern Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and the northwest portion of South Dakota. Prior to the Regional Forester appointment, she was National Director for Ecosystem Management Coordination for the U.S. Forest Service in their national headquarters based in Washington, D.C.
Leanne started her career as a seasonal employee on the Palouse Ranger District, Clearwater National Forest in Northern Idaho while obtaining her Bachelors of Science in Environmental Science from Washington State University. She went on to graduate school at the University of Idaho where she received her Masters of Science in Forest Resources.
After finishing up her schooling she started working fulltime for the Agency on the Canoe Gulch Ranger District on the Kootenai National Forest in Montana. She later worked as a planner and environmental coordinator for the Kootenai prior to moving east to be a District Ranger on the Ottawa National Forest in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Deputy Forest Supervisor and Forest Supervisor on the Huron-Manistee National Forest in the lower peninsula of Michigan, and Forest Supervisor on the Allegheny National Forest in Northwest Pennsylvania. Most recently Leanne served as the National Director for Wilderness and Wild & Scenic Rivers in Washington DC. She has also had the pleasure of doing many details throughout her career, including a detail as Deputy Regional Forester of the Southwestern Region, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Associate Deputy Chief for National Forest Systems, Washington DC and most recently the Acting Director for the National Partnership Office, Washington DC.
Leanne grew up in the Forest Service (second generation), so has had the honor of living and working in some of the most beautiful places in the country and with great people (both within and outside the agency) that care about our natural resources.
Leanne is married and has two sons.