Although employed by Dartmouth College, College Forester Kevin Evans lives over two and a half hours away from Hanover, near the Second College Grant in Milan, N.H.
Evans' job consists mainly of supervising the day-to-day activities that take place at the Second College Grant, work which includes managing all of the timbering that takes place on College properties.
The coming and going of the seasons has a marked influence on Evans' work.
In the summer, Evans tends to spend more time preparing for forthcoming timber harvests by arranging timber sales or tagging trees.
In winter, though, he will often spend his days outside managing the cutting operation itself, watching the loggers and overseeing the harvest.
Making sure that Dartmouth's logging practices are ecologically sound is a major part of Evans' job, he said. He spends a great deal of time "thinking about ecological harvesting and enhancing the wildlife habitat."
Similarly, Evans recognized that many students and others use the Second College Grant for recreational pursuits such as hiking and canoeing. He strives to make sure that the need to gather timber does not interfere with recreational use of the forest.
Evans' favorite part of his work is simply the opportunity to spend time in the beauty of the forest, he said. The opportunity to spend so much time working outside in the wilderness remains one of the things he enjoys most about his work.
He graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1986 with a bachelor's of science in forest management.
Shortly afterwards, he took a job working with Diamond International as their Vermont District Forester, where he remained until Diamond sold their Vermont properties in 1988.
He did private consulting until July 1993, when Dartmouth hired him. He has remained at the Second College Grant ever since.
Dartmouth acquired the Second College Grant, a township of nearly 27,000 acres, through an act of the New Hampshire legislature in 1807, according to the Dartmouth Outing Club's Dartmouth Outing Guide. This land has been widely used ever since for recreational purposes; Dartmouth Outing Club trips frequently make excursions there.
