Texas A&M Forest Service Associate Director Bill Oates retires

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 6, 2024

Texas A&M Forest Service Associate Director Bill Oates retires

COLLEGE STATION, Texas- After 43 years of leadership and dedication to Texas A&M Forest Service, Bill Oates, Associate Director and private landowner rights champion, retires.

Oates-known in the agency and around the state as an outspoken personality-might surprise you. His ceiling-high collection of 1970s soft and acid rock vinyl records ring through the halls from the stereo speakers almost every day of the week. The era and artist selection of the day is entirely unpredictable-Elton John today, maybe Lynyrd Skynyrd tomorrow.

Holding a conversation with Oates has one simple challenge: you must hold the conversation over his music. If you can cut through the sound, Oates may start by exclaiming "I don't have a good memory," before recollecting a four-decade-old story like it happened yesterday.

His eclecticism and deep tie to historical knowledge of forestry led him to become an energetic driving force throughout the agency and the Southeastern U.S. in diverse ways.

Oates began his career with the agency in Jacksonville, Texas, as a forester in 1981 following his graduation from Stephen F. Austin University. From his first day on the job, he was in love with forestry and the many adventures that came with it, including fighting wildfires.

Following his first stationing in Jacksonville and the start of his family, Oates was relocated nearly seven times throughout East Texas during which he was named a District Forester in 1984 and a Regional Forester in 1996. Throughout his time in East Texas, Oates displayed his strong connection to the forests and people around him, leading to his promotion to Chief Regional Forester in 2003, where he oversaw all forestry operations in East Texas.

The relocations and duties of a forester came naturally to Oates as he is the son of a USDA Forest Service forester-a career that relocated his family to several states across the Southeast U.S. throughout his childhood. His exposure to the world of forestry through the lens of his dad is what he credits as his earliest and continuous driving passion for forestry.

"My dad once brought home a radio the size of a microwave," Oates reflects. "This radio is what connected us [the family] to my dad when he was away fighting wildfires. He would radio my mom at night to let her know he was safe."

Soon, Oates didn't wait for his dad to call his mom on the radio. Instead, he would endlessly sit by the radio listening to the firefighters and dispatch communication, adding fuel to his ambition of the impact he would later have as a forester.

Oates carried that ambition and knowledge in forestry back to his alma mater, where he taught several forest policy classes in his spare time, which he refers to as one of the most fulfilling experiences of his career.

Before the agency's mission restructuring in the early 2000s, he shared that the agency's scope was more limited to East Texas, and very seldom would they leave the region to combat wildfires in Central and West Texas.

However, when he was dispatched to locations outside of East Texas, the thrill of fighting wildfires in a new environment kept him going back for more.

Oates' career shifted away from on-the-ground forestry and firefighting and more into executive leadership in College Station in 2008 when he was named the Associate Director of Forest Resource Development. In this leadership role, Oates oversaw programs including Forest Stewardship, Urban Forestry, Forest Health, Forest Inventory and Analysis, Water Quality and Economic Development.

During his tenure in College Station, Oates picked up a new hobby that satisfied his lifelong interest in history. Among the vinyl covers and loose papers in his office sit dust-free artifacts and photographs dating back to the agency's founding in 1915. He began the motley collection by assisting the curators of the agency's centennial celebration in 2015 to source historical memorabilia like film and video negatives. Doing so led him to a deeper understanding of the values of the agency.

"I learned so much about the agency that I didn't know before by taking on this project," said Oates. "By seeing and reading what the early agency founders did, they were humanized in a certain way."

Oates was also a forestry leader beyond the agency. He has been a member of the Texas Forestry Association since 1981 and was the organization's first accredited forester. Throughout his time with the Texas Forestry Association, Oates served as a board member and later as the president in 2015.

With 43 years in the industry, Oates said that a lot has changed but the mission and strategies of a forester have remained constant.

"The biggest change I've seen in Texas forestry has been within the integrated forest products industry," Oates said. "Nearly 35% of East Texas land was once owned or managed by forest product companies, but they experienced a large divestiture which added a new complexity for forestry and how we connected with landowners in the area."

In West Texas, Oates was an instrumental catalyst for Operation Ponderosa, a long-term restoration project that has replanted more than 2,000 Ponderosa pine trees in the Davis Mountains since 2014.

Wes Moorehead, Texas A&M Forest Service Deputy Director, shared that Oates' impact in forestry exceeds his colorful personality and that his leadership was a catalyst for change within forestry and the state.

"Bill was a champion of private landowner rights," said Moorehead. "He made sure that Texas landowners were able to practice sustainable forestry, which includes practices such as prescribed fire, to ensure the forests of tomorrow are strong and healthy."

Oates is the recipient of many awards including the Texas Forestry Association Lifetime Leadership Award in 2022, the Society of American Foresters Leadership Award in 1992, the Texas A&M University System's Regent Fellow Service Award in 2015 and the Laurence C. Walker Distinguished Service Forestry Award in 2020.

Upon reflecting on his idea of Oates' legacy, Moorehead shared, "Bill will be remembered for the work he did to make sure Texas forests were sustained and properly managed for all to benefit for generations to come."

As his legacy is marked on the state and he looks forward to retirement, Oates has no definitive plans, but he imagines his days will be filled with playing golf and spending more time with his family.

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Contacts:

Texas A&M Forest Service Communications, 979-458-6606, [email protected]

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