Herman Wendell—2018 Engineering Technician of the Year
Herman Wendell is a civil engineering technician and the westside road manager for the Plumas National Forest of the Pacific Southwest Region. He is located on the Feather River Ranger District.
As westside road manager, Herman interacts daily with all natural resources disciplines on the Feather River Ranger District and at the forest supervisor’s office in order to meet forest goals and to schedule the daily workload for the road crew. Over the past 22 years, he has coordinated and administered five major emergency relief for federally owned roads (ERFO) events on the westside of the Plumas, making $5,000,000 worth of repairs on level 2 to 5 roads. He communicates with five different counties on the westside that have Forest Service roads within their boundaries and works with two major private timber companies that are cost share cooperators on maintenance level 2 to 5 roads. Herman meets annually with the cooperators to determine maintenance work required on cost share roads that the cooperators use to haul private timber and agrees on their timeframe for scheduling repairs. He schedules the workload for a road crew on other cost share roads to match dollars spent by cooperators on agreed-upon haul roads. During 2018, the road crew traveled all over the Pacific Southwest Region to complete burned area emergency response (BAER) rehab projects. Herman coordinated with all natural resources disciplines to ensure the road crew met all requirements. He has maintained his level III contracting officer’s representative (COR) certification. As the only level III COR on the Plumas National Forest, he handled several contracts concurrently and also provided training to lower level I and level II CORs to prepare them to move up to the next COR level.
In his 41 years with the Forest Service, Herman has had the good fortune to be part of the Plumas National Forest Engineering Program. Between 1978 and 1988, the organization consisted of 15 permanent engineers, 30 permanent civil engineering technicians, and 80 temporary employees who completed four timber sale contracts per year, building 150 miles of level 2 to 5 roads for hauling timber. This work produced 150 million board feet of timber per sale. Herman worked in design, drawing plans by hand on 24- by 36-inch sheet paper and completing calculations using hand calculators. Between 1989 and 1997, he worked on the California Boating and Waterways Program as a civil engineering technician constructing eight boat ramps and facilities at five different dam locations on the Plumas and Lassen National Forests. He helped secure $4,000,000 from the Boating and Waterways Program to construct the boat ramps and administered all construction contracts as inspector and COR on these projects.
Through the years, Herman has administered a variety of contracts on forest roads, bridges, recreational sites, facility construction, and maintenance projects. He considers his last 15 years as westside road manager for the Plumas road maintenance crew his most enjoyable time with the Forest Service. He has had the pleasure of managing a road crew of 7 to 12 employees who care for Government lands and public needs. The primary objective of the road crew is to provide service to the public. The road crew responds quickly and effectively to all transportation needs across the Pacific Southwest Region by providing rapid ERFO repairs, fire suppression repairs, BAER repairs, and Timber Program support across multiple units. Herman has mentored many young engineers and civil engineering technicians across the Forest Service, teaching them sound engineering practices for both design and construction. No one can excel in a position without support from good employees, and he has been blessed to always be surrounded with good employees.
Over the past 15 years, Herman has had 25 college students working under summer programs. He helped 10 of these students find employment with the Forest Service after graduation, providing the Forest Service with good leadership and outstanding employees. He is very proud to know that these employees began their careers at the Feather River Ranger District.
Herman attended Las Plumas High School in Oroville, CA. He was drafted into the U.S. Army during 1968, spent April 1968 to April 1969 in Vietnam, and finished his tour of duty in New York City with the Armed Forces Police. He returned to Oroville, CA, during 1970 and attended Butte College before transferring to Chico State University. He graduated from Chico State University with a bachelor’s of science degree in Industrial Arts—Architecture Design. During 1976, he began his Government service for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation designing and constructing 18 miles of water distribution channels in Willow, CA. He transferred to the Oroville office of the Forest Service during December 1978 (known at that time as the Oroville Ranger District) and has remained at that location ever since. He was a member and president of the local soccer board between 1983 and 1993 and worked with the local school district to start a girls’ soccer program at both Oroville and Las Plumas High Schools. He arranged the first night game under lights so that parents could attend the game. His most important activities these days include bass fishing and camping with his wife Debbie. He and Debbie enjoy the annual bass tournament at the end of April each year; seeing good friends and just having time to enjoy life. Family is very important to Herman, as is being there when friends need a hand.
