Randy Moore

Randy Moore, 20th Chief of the U.S. Forest Service

20th Chief of the Forest Service, 2021–present

Randy Moore was appointed as the 20th Chief of the Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service in 2021. He is the first African American to hold the position.

Before his appointment as chief, Moore served as Regional Forester in the Pacific Southwest Region in California from 2007 to 2021, where he had responsibility for 18 national forests, covering one-fifth of the state on 20 million acres of land. This also included overseeing State and Private Forestry programs in Hawaii and the U.S. affiliated Pacific Islands.

From 2002 to 2007, Moore served as the Regional Forester for the Eastern Region headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisc. He led the region’s efforts to successfully complete Forest Plan Revisions within a two-year timeframe, in what the Forest Service called “an unprecedented accomplishment.”

Moore started his career in conservation in 1978 with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in North Dakota. His Forest Service career began on the Pike and San Isabel National Forests in Colorado and the Comanche and Cimarron National Grasslands in Kansas. He served as Deputy Forest Supervisor on the National Forests of North Carolina and the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri before serving as Forest Supervisor of the Mark Twain National Forest. Moore also served as acting Associate Deputy Chief for the National Forest System and the National Deputy Soils Program Manager.

Moore earned a bachelor’s degree in plant and soil science from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.