Dan Goerlich Receives Award

The Young Forester Leadership Award recognizes outstanding leadership by a forestry professional younger than 40 years of age in the development and promotion of an individual program or project or for a sustained leadership role benefiting the practice of forestry and the Society of American Foresters.

According to his forestry colleagues, Goerlich, a district forestry and natural resources agent with Virginia Cooperative Extension, is a leader in every aspect of the forestry community. Since becoming an extension agent in 1999, he has developed several outstanding programs for forest owners, loggers, and youth audiences and has worked tirelessly to promote the cause of forestry throughout the state of Virginia. In fact, Goerlich has been so successful in his work that the Virginia Cooperative Extension honored him with its early career achievement award in 2003. Beyond his extension service, Goerlich, an SAF member since 1991, has been very active in the Robert E. Lee chapter of the Virginia SAF; he was elected chapter chair in 2003. He also is a leader in the National Association of County Agricultural Agents, which honored him with its achievement award in 2003. His commitment to the natural resources profession has also earned him the Southern Extension Forest Resource Specialists Award for Excellence in Program Impact in 2001 and the Appalachian SAF's Young Forester Leadership Award for 2004.