A retirement announcement from the Forest Service Director of FAM for California.
January 25, 2022
Dear BOD,
I wanted to pass on that I’ve made the decision to retire from the USFS and Federal Service.
I’ve been honored to serve in the position as Region 5, Fire and Aviation Director since 2017, through some exceptionally severe fire years. We have responded to seven of the largest California wildfires in history, 13 of the 20 most destructive wildfires in history, as well as the 2020 and 2021 wildfires during the COVID-19 pandemic. I’ve held this leadership position through all these demands as well as a detailed assignment as the COVID Emergency Response Team Incident Commander for our 5,000 regional employees.
This January marks my 36th year in Federal Service, wearing two different uniforms. First, for the US Marine Corps (1986-2012) and now with the US Forest Service (from 2012 to present). My family has endured multiple combat deployments and more than 5 years or deployed time outside of the United States while in the Marines. In the Forest Service Washington Office, Los Padres National Forest and now as the R5 Director of FAM, I’ve been honored to lead and support you all through some of the Agencies most challenging fire years.
In Forest Service Fire and Aviation, the demands of our responses to wildfires take a toll on your personal time, missing family times and events. Those times can’t just be made up or rescheduled—they are foundational to our family relationships. It is time that I returned my focus to my family, so I’ve decided to retire from the US Forest Service in the coming months. While I’m still determining an exact date, I wanted to announce this as early as possible to ensure there is a thoughtful transition of leadership.
Some may remember that the last large-scale improvements in capacity for FAM occurred after the National Fire plan of 2000. Most of my years with the Forest Service in R5 have been spent advocating for improvements to capability, innovations in technology, and the greatly needed increases in funding to help us adapt to the Fire Year. I had the honor of attending Vice President Harris’ visit on the San Bernardino NF last Friday and I’ve never heard of better advocacy and alignment between the White House, Secretary Vilsack, Chief Moore, Congressional Leadership in attendance, Regional Forester Eberlien, all the way to the Forest level. We have multiple commitments of increased funding that will allow you all to make the needed improvements to uphold our protection responsibilities, maintain our infrastructure, restore healthy ecosystems, and above all—take care of our people—my highest priority. I’m glad the USFS, and you all on the “front lines”, will be getting the resources you need. We are now in a new place, and I feel better about leaving now. I hope you will understand it is the right time to transition to focus on my family.
I will absolutely miss all of you, who I’ve served with over the last decade, and thank you so very much for continuing to serve this great Nation.
Take care of each other,
Bob Baird
Director, Fire and Aviation
Pacific Southwest Region
(California and Pacific Islands)
United States Forest Service