Tony Tooke
Tony Tooke, 18th Chief of the U.S. Forest Service
18th Chief of the Forest Service, 2017-2018
When Tony Tooke was named Forest Service chief on September 3, 2017, he was serving as the Regional Forester for the Southern Region. Having worked exclusively in Region 8 (Southern Region) and the Washington Office (WO), he was the first chief since Henry Graves (1910–1920) not to have served west of the Mississippi River while with the Forest Service.
Following the disclosure of sexual misconduct allegations made against him earlier in his career, he stepped down on March 7, 2018. He served the shortest tenure of any chief to date. His resignation came at a time of allegations of a broader culture of harassment within the agency. Ironically, this was one of the issues he attempted to address during his brief tenure. PBS NewsHour reported that since September 2016, the Forest Service had received 1,013 reports of harassment, and completed inquiries or investigations in 632 cases. Of those, the agency said it found misconduct in 150 cases.
Tooke was raised on a 200-acre farm in Detroit, Alabama. He began working for the Forest Service at 18 years old and earned a bachelor’s degree in forestry from Mississippi State University in 1983. Early field assignments included serving as timber management assistant, resource assistant, silviculturist, and forester on six ranger districts in Mississippi and Kentucky. By 2006, Tooke had served district ranger assignments on the Talladega National Forest in Alabama, the Oconee in Georgia, and the DeSoto in Mississippi, and then Deputy Forest Supervisor for the National Forests in Florida.
From Florida, Tooke had his first tour of duty in Washington. He served as Assistant Director for Forest Management, Deputy Director for Economic Recovery, and Director for Ecosystem Management Coordination over the next eight years.
Tooke held two other positions in Washington before being appointed regional forester in Region 8. The position of Associate Deputy Chief for the National Forest System included oversight of Lands and Realty, Minerals and Geology, Ecosystem Management Coordination, Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers, the National Partnership Office, and Business Administration and Support Services. In this position, Tooke was the Forest Service Executive Lead for Environmental Justice; 2014 Farm Bill implementation; and implementation of the Inventory, Monitoring, and Assessment Improvement Strategy. Another priority included implementation of a new planning rule for the National Forest System. He served as acting chief of staff in the Chief’s office before becoming Region 8 Forester in January 2015.
He was in the Forest Service’s inaugural class of the Senior Leadership Program, and he completed the Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program.
