Forestry alum elected MSAF Chair
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EmailForestry alum elected MSAF chair
In October of this year, the Michigan Society of American Foresters (MSAF) welcomed its 2021-2022 Chair, MSU Forestry alum Ben Schram.
Ben received his BS in Forestry in 2013 and his MS in Forestry in 2019. Reflecting back on his time as an undergraduate, he appreciated how tight knit the students were, and fondly recalls walking around campus with fellow classmates. He enjoyed the lab components of classes and the extensive field work.
As an undergraduate student, Ben was introduced to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) by one of his professors, now retired Karen Potter Witter, in 2013. “It was an interesting start to the whole thing,” he said.
MDARD was looking for someone with an agriculture background for a student assistant position. As luck would have it, MDARD needed a lot more than a student assistant, and Ben quickly realized that what they needed was a forester. Beyond the basic duties of a student, he was soon helping with forest systems management and budgets.
“Forestry sets you up for a whole suite of opportunities in the natural resource field,” he said. Having never have been exposed to MDARD otherwise, it was not the career trajectory Ben had anticipated.
Ben remained with MDARD after graduation and has been working with them since. His current role is running the Forestry Assistance Program. The program’s essential function is to administer grants to local conservation districts and local county governments who then use the funds to hire a professional forester as a no cost resource to private land owners. The foresters conduct free site visits and walk the property with the owner, assessing their short and long term goals and providing referrals. “My job is to make sure they are pointed in the right direction,” said Ben.
Ben hopes in his role as MSAF chair he can develop ways to boost membership. Current membership is not growing at the rate he’d like to see, and he hopes to appeal to foresters at an earlier stage in their career, encouraging them to become involved in leadership roles. By establishing measurable goals and outcomes, Ben would also like to boost student membership, noting there seems to be a missing link between students and members more established in their careers.
As far as Ben’s long-term career goals, he would like to be in a position where he can affect the greatest amount of people and forestland. Specifically, he has an affinity for young forest conservation. “There are parts of the country where forests are aging and are not being replaced by younger more vigorous forests, which is a detriment to a variety of species,” he said.
He would also like to remain in public service in some capacity. “There is something about public service that I really connect with. Trying your best to provide unbiased advice and direction to folks that are just looking for help, without implications of financial benefit, I appreciate,” he said.
As far as advice to anyone considering forestry as a career path, Ben offers, “forestry is not what you think it is…You can really find something about forests that you care about, and skills within managing forests that you are really good at.”
