Richard Periman, who has been named as Deputy Director of the Superior National Forest, has lengthy qualifications in understanding the relationship between humans and the environment. That includes a PhD in Environmental Science and Technology from the University of New Mexico, and a grandfather who worked as a seasonal Forest Service firefighter.
Periman’s family ranch in western Montana where he grew up was adjacent to National Forest lands, which they depended on for grazing, timber, hunting, and fishing.
The new deputy received degrees in anthropology at the University of Montana. Periman began working on the Kootenai National Forest’s Rexford Ranger District in 1988, followed by the Deerlodge National Forest, as Forest Archaeologist and Tribal Relations Manager. In 1995, he became a Research Archaeologist with Rocky Mountain Research Station’s Cultural Heritage Research Work Unit, in Albuquerque, NM. For his PhD, Periman focused on long-term human-environmental interaction in North America and the United Kingdom and was a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge’s McDonald Institute.
Periman will assist Forest Supervisor, Brenda Halter, in managing the three million-acre Superior National Forest. The Deputy position was vacated with the retirement of Tim Dabney.