Presque Isle: The Star City

Text by a student at Presque Isle Middle School
Images from Maine Memory Network

Del worked for the State of Maine in three different jobs; the Forest Service, Bureau of Parks and Plants for Baxter State Park, and the Department of Conservation. He also helped to manage the state’s 175,000 acres of public land. Del was a supervisor of tree forestry for thirty-seven years. He managed the timber and recreation resources and campsite wildlife for Baxter State Park. He also protected and maintained species supported from timberland. Del loved his job. He especially liked the outdoors part. Del enjoyed interacting with the animals and taking hiking trips.
The other part of his job was working in the office. He did lots of paperwork. In his last ten to fifteen years of his career, he had more administrative work and a lot of reports. A lot of time was spent doing computer work. One of the most important things was evaluations for the staff. Over the years, his job became more complex with paperwork and planning. Del would also go to schools to speak about his job. He did about thirty presentations a year to students at middle schools, and high school agriculture programs.
Del retired in March 2005. He was a skilled worker and loved his job. He stills likes forestry and has twelve acres of land that he cuts for firewood. He enjoys gardening and has his own Christmas tree farm where he grows 700 trees a year.