[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 107 (Thursday, July 16, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1814-E1815]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       IN HONOR OF JOHN BRADFORD

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 16, 2009

  Mr. FARR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the public service 
career of Mr. John Bradford on the occasion of his retirement from the 
United States Forest Service. After over thirty years, John is giving 
up the every day pressures and demands of Forest Service management for 
the every day pressures and demands of a gentleman farmer. I have had

[[Page E1815]]

the great pleasure of working with John for the last eight years during 
his tenure as the district ranger of the Los Padres National Forest's 
Monterey Ranger District, known to the rest of the world as Big Sur. 
Having represented the Big Sur coast at the local, state, and now 
federal level, for more than thirty years, I can attest to the 
combination of vibrant community and stunning beauty that define the 
Big Sur region. John excelled in navigating the Big Sur communities 
various cross currents while protecting the incredible resources under 
his charge.
  Growing up, John spent a lot of time with wood and in the woods. He 
is a forth generation member of a family-owned San Joaquin Valley 
commercial lumber company, the Modesto and Stanislaus Lumber Co. As an 
adolescent and young man, he was active in the Boy Scouts, attaining 
the rank of Eagle Scout and managing several Boy Scout camps in the 
Sierras and Southern California. During this time he became familiar 
with the Forest Service and decided he wanted to be a forester rather 
than a lumberman.
  John began his Forest Service career in 1978 as a forestry technician 
on the Shasta Trinity National Forest. The next dozen years saw John in 
a variety of timber management jobs on national forests throughout 
California and Arizona. On the Modoc National Forest, John led the 
reforestation of hundreds of acres, an accomplishment of which he is 
particularly proud. In the mid-1990s, John shifted his focus to 
planning, becoming the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 
coordinator for the Tahoe National Forest. From 1999 to 2001, John 
worked with the Forest Service Region V office on several regional 
planning efforts. In 2001, he achieved his career goal of becoming a 
district ranger. It was the good fortune of my district that John 
achieved that goal as the district ranger of the Monterey District.
  During his tenure in the Monterey District, I worked with John on 
many different projects, both big and small. In 2002, I authored 
legislation that expanded the Monterey District's designated wilderness 
by over 55,000 acres. John worked closely with my office in helping 
shape the final bill and in implementing it once passed. John took the 
lead in incorporating the Bixby ranch into Forest Service ownership 
following a controversial purchase. John regularly participated in the 
quarterly Big Sur Multi Agency community meeting that I co-chair where 
the Big Sur community engages in a free and open dialogue with the 
various public agencies that have a role in managing Big Sur resources. 
Most recently, John was at the center of the multi agency response to 
the 2008 combined Basin Complex and Indians fires that covered over 
240,000 acres combined--one of the largest wildfires in California 
history.
  Madam Speaker, I know I speak for the whole House in expressing 
gratitude to John and his wife Julie, also a career Forest Service 
employee, for devoting his life to public service. We thank him for a 
job well done and wish him every success in his future life in 
retirement.

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