Leadership

Regional Forester

The Regional Forester is responsible for managing and providing oversight for 24.9 million acres across 16 National Forests, two National Scenic Areas, and one National Grassland in the Pacific Northwest. This includes coordinating activities between National Forests, monitoring activities on those lands to ensure quality operations, providing guidance for forest plans, and allocating budgets to each Forest.

Jacque Buchanan

Regional Forester, Pacific  Northwest Region

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Jacqueline “Jacque” Buchanan is the Regional Forester for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Region (Region 6), where she leads the management of national forests and grasslands in Oregon and Washington. She has served in this role since Jan. 14, 2024.

Jacque assumed additional interim leadership roles Nov. 2, 2025, and is the Acting Regional Forester of the Pacific Southwest Region (Region 5) where she manages national forests and grasslands in California, Hawaii and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands. She also supervises the Acting Regional Forester of the Alaska Region (Region 10). Additionally, Jacque is the Forest Service Executive who oversees the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)/Planning and Tribal Relations programs.

Jacque has served with the USDA and the Forest Service for more than 30 years. Prior to her current role as Regional Forester, she served as a Deputy Regional Forester for the Rocky Mountain Region for 8 years in Lakewood, CO.

Jacque’s career in the Forest Service has been diverse. She has worked extensively in resource management focusing on overall forest health, fire management, range, wildlife, wilderness and Wildfire Crisis Response. She has also worked in International Forestry and has traveled to Brazil, Guyana, and India teaching Fire Leadership courses and helping those countries to establish both Fire and Wilderness management programs.

She has also served as the Director for Renewable Resource in the Rocky Mountain Region, the Forest Supervisor on the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Jackson Hole, WY and was the Deputy and Forest Supervisor on the Lincoln National Forest in the Southern part of New Mexico.

Jacque holds a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources from Pennsylvania State University.

Deputy Regional Foresters

The Deputy Regional Foresters report to the Regional Forester and are responsible for oversight of specific regional program areas as assigned, ensuring consistency and support across functional areas. In addition, Deputy Regional Foresters supervise the Forest Supervisors in the region, providing guidance for implementing agency objectives on the national forests and grasslands under their management.

Melany Glossa

Acting Deputy Regional Forester, Pacific  Northwest Region

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Melany Glossa has been serving as Acting Deputy Regional Forester for the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region since Nov. 17, 2025.

Melany has been with the Forest Service for over two decades and brings in-depth leadership and land management experience to the position. She has served the agency mostly in the western states, including Colorado, Montana, Idaho, and Oregon.

Prior to her current role, Melany served as the Forest Supervisor on the Umpqua National Forest beginning in April 2025. Melany also served as the Forest Supervisor on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest from 2013 to 2018 and the Hoosier National Forest from 2011-2013.

Melany also brings leadership experience through various positions she held in the agency’s national office. She served as Deputy Chief Executive for Work Environment and Performance from 2023 to 2025 and previously detailed as Associate Deputy Chief for Fire and Aviation Management in 2022.

Prior to serving in the national office, Melany worked as the Deputy Regional Forester for the Northern Region from 2019 to 2023 and the Eastern Region from 2018 to 2019. In these Deputy Regional Forester positions, she provided executive leadership for programs spanning 25 million acres across four states.

Ann Niesen

Acting Deputy Regional Forester, Pacific  Northwest Region

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Ann Niesen has been serving as Acting Deputy Regional Forester for the Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region since Nov. 17, 2025.

Ann has built a strong career of national forest leadership across multiple regions and roles within the Forest Service. Ann came to the Regional Office from the Malheur National Forest where she has worked as the Forest Supervisor since February 2023. She first served in the role on an interim basis before moving into the position permanently in April 2023.

Prior to leading the Malheur National Forest as the Forest Supervisor, Ann also served as the Malheur Deputy Forest Supervisor beginning in 2022. Before that, she served in acting leadership assignments across several forests, including Acting Deputy Forest Supervisor on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in 2021, Acting Deputy Forest Supervisor on the Superior National Forest in 2020, and Acting Forest Supervisor on the Shawnee National Forest in 2019.

In addition to these forest-level leadership roles, Ann was a District Ranger on the Superior National Forest’s Laurentian Ranger District in 2018 and earlier served as the District Ranger on the Heppner Ranger District of the Umatilla National Forest beginning in 2013. She also has program management experience through her role as the Recreation, Lands and Resources Information Staff Officer on the Sawtooth National Forest in 2011.

Niesen also brings extensive fire experience serving as both a Type 1 Wildland Fire Agency Administer and Type 1 Prescribed Fire Agency Administrator.

Raised in northern Minnesota, Niesen discovered a love for the outdoors in high school. She worked in various positions for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for 14 years before coming west to work for the Forest Service on the Boise National Forest 2001.

Ann holds a Bachelor of Science in Recreation and Natural Resources Management from Mankato State University.

Melany holds a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from Purdue University and a Master of Science in Forestry from Oregon State University.