OGDEN, Utah, April 20, 2020 — The USDA Forest Service Intermountain Region has announced that Frank Beum will serve as acting regional forester, following the retirement of current regional forester Nora Rasure.

Beum currently serves as deputy regional forester for natural resources for the Forest Service Southern Region in Atlanta, Georgia. Beum is responsible for development and delivery of natural resource policy for national forests in 13 southern states and Puerto Rico.

Beum has worked across the Forest Service on seven national forests and five ranger districts in the Rocky Mountain and Southern Regions, as well as in the Southern Regional Office and the Washington Office. He recently served as acting associate deputy chief of the National Forest System, and previously served as the director of forest management for the Southern Region and acting national director of forest management. Beum served as legislative specialist in both the Washington Office and the Southern Region, as forest supervisor on the Daniel Boone National Forest, and as district ranger on the New Castle Ranger District of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.

Beum started his career with the agency as a seasonal forestry technician in 1981, spending three summers on the Rio Grande National Forest in Colorado. He worked in the Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region for ten years in several positions and received a master’s degree in recreation resource management from Colorado State University. After completing a bachelor’s degree in forestry at Ohio State University, he worked for three years as a service forester for the Ohio Division of Forestry.