Chiefs
Though the U.S. Forest Service was established in 1905, in 1876 the Department of Agriculture hired Franklin Hough to investigate and report on forest conditions in the United States. In 1881, Congress created the U.S. Division of Forestry. Twenty years later, it became the Bureau of Forestry, and four years after that, following the transfer of the federal forest reserves from the Department of the Interior to Agriculture, it was reconstituted as the U.S. Forest Service. The head administrator was called “Chief” until 1898, when Gifford Pinchot changed the title to “Forester.” In 1935, it was changed back to "Chief."

Franklin B. Hough
1881 - 1883

Nathaniel H. Egleston
1883 - 1886

Bernhard E. Fernow
1886 - 1898

Gifford Pinchot
1898 - 1910

Henry S. Graves
1910 - 1920

William B. Greeley
1920 - 1928

Robert Y. Stuart
1928 - 1933

Ferdinand A. Silcox
1933 - 1939

Earle H. Clapp (Acting)
1939 - 1943

Lyle F. Watts
1943 - 1952

Richard E. McArdle
1952 - 1962

Edward P. Cliff
1962 - 1972

John R. McGuire
1972 - 1979

R. Max Peterson
1979 - 1987

F. Dale Robertson
1987 - 1993

Jack Ward Thomas
1993 - 1996

Mike Dombeck
1996 - 2001

Dale N. Bosworth
2001 - 2007

Abigail Kimbell
2007 - 2009




Thomas Tidwell
2009 - 2017
Tony Tooke
2017 - 2018
Vicki Christiansen
2018 - 2021
Randy Moore
2021 - Present