State Forester Rick Oates is pleased to announce that the Commissioners have approved the appointment of Bruce Springer as Assistant State Forester. Additionally, Brigetta Giles has been selected as Southeast Regional Forester to fill the vacancy left by Springer’s promotion. Both officially assumed their new
responsibilities February 1.
Springer has over 26 years of service with the Alabama Forestry Commission in various forestry and leadership positions. He began his career with the AFC as a staff forester in 1991. For the next ten years, he served as County Manager in Chilton County. He then transferred to state headquarters in Montgomery as Forest Management Division Director, a role in which he served for four years, overseeing all forest management assistance programs to forest landowners statewide. Assuming the duties of Regional Forester in 2005, he has held that position up to the present, supervising up to 60 regional- and county-level staff in 18 counties with an annual budget up to $5 million. A registered forester in the state of Alabama, Springer holds a bachelor’s degree in forest management from Oklahoma State University and a master’s degree in forest management and business from Purdue University. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, he moved to Alabama in 1983 to work for Sizemore & Sizemore, an international forestry consulting firm. Mapping over a million acres of forestland while employed there, he says he gained invaluable experience in timber inventory and appraisals, as well as an understanding of forest industry and forest markets throughout the Southeast. Springer and his wife, Virginia, live in Thorsby. They have two adult children, and three grandchildren.
Also a registered forester in the state of Alabama, Brigetta Giles has 24 years of service with the Alabama Forestry Commission. She has held a variety of positions, garnering forestry and leadership
experience both in the field and at the state forestry headquarters. While earning a Bachelor of Science in Forest Resources from Auburn University, she completed a co-op with the US Forest Service. Upon graduation in 1993, she began her career as a staff forester with the AFC in 1994. Following a five-year stint conducting timber surveys as an FIA Forester, she ultimately served as FIA Coordinator for the agency. She then assumed the duties of Stewardship Coordinator for the next three years. Having a desire to get back in the field with more landowner contact, she became Autauga County Forester in 2006. She then transferred to the Dallas/Perry/Bibb Forester spot for a few years, eventually coming back as Autauga County Forester in 2014. For the last two years she has held the responsibility of Work Unit Manager for Autauga, Chilton, Montgomery, and Lowndes counties. Giles and her husband, Jeff, live in Plantersville. They have two daughters.
The mission of the Alabama Forestry Commission is to protect and sustain Alabama’s forest resources using professionally applied stewardship principals and education, ensuring that the state’s forests contribute to abundant timber and wildlife, clean air and water, and a healthy economy. To learn more about the AFC, visit www.forestry.alabama.gov.