Peggy Hernandez Selected New Forest Supervisor

Peggy Hernandez, currently an assistant director for the Natural Resources Management staff in the Forest Service’s (FS) Pacific Southwest Regional Office, has been named as the new Los Padres National Forest (NF) Supervisor in Goleta, Calif., FS officials announced today.

“Peggy’s combination of leadership ability, technical skills and vast breadth of experience will serve the Los Padres very well,” said Regional Forester Bernie Weingardt. “A team player with a strong work ethic, she has shown herself to be a successful line officer (decisionmaking authority) as a District Ranger on the Angeles NF for six years and a recent detail as Acting Cleveland NF Supervisor. Peggy’s work in the field as well as the regional and Washington DC levels has given her a strong background in fire, recreation and other ongoing Los Padres issues such as commercial special uses and land acquisition. She is very deserving of this promotion.”

Hernandez, 48, is a native Californian, born in Visalia. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resources Management from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 1982. She began her FS career as a co-op student on the Stanislaus NF in California. She has since held a variety of FS positions including assignments in California, Montana and the agency’s Washington DC national headquarters.

From 1992 to 1998, she was the Mt. Baldy District Ranger on the Angeles NF, leading a highly complex urban forest program that included a heavy fire and recreation workload. In 1998, Peggy moved to Washington DC, where she was FS’s national Developed Recreation Program Manager. She went to Capitol Hill in early 2000 to work for almost a year as a Congressional Fellow with US Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI) and his staff. She returned to California in 2001, where she held Regional Office positions as Pacific Crest Trail Manager, Regional Special Uses Program Leader, Settlement Agreements Liaison and her current job as Assistant Director of the Natural Resources Management (NRM) Staff. She also recently held temporary assignments as regional NRM Director and Cleveland NF Supervisor in San Diego, and completed the Senior Executive Fellow Leadership program at Harvard University.

“I’m very excited and honored to have been selected for the Los Padres Forest Supervisor position,” Hernandez said. “I look forward to working with the local communities and partners interested in the management and protection of this magnificent national forest. I want to know what the public wants and needs from the Los Padres, and find ways we can work together to meet those needs. I also look forward to working with the Los Padres employees, many of whom I have had the opportunity to work with in the past. I know them to be dedicated public servants, committed to meeting the diverse needs of the public and effectively managing the land and its natural resources.”

Hernandez is married to Greg Power, a recent federal government retiree. Her family has recently expanded to include Rocky, their mixed-breed puppy. Her interests outside work include attending sporting events, physical fitness activities, gardening and yardwork, and reading. Her reporting date to the Los Padres will be Sept. 30. She replaces Gloria Brown, who retired July 3.