In the spring of 2020, I crossed paths with a white elk near Jacks Gulch on Colorado’s Front Range. Months later, I returned to that same landscape as a wildland firefighter during the Cameron Peak Fire.

I’ve often wondered whether that elk survived.

I don’t know the answer.

But I do know that the question changed the way I look at forests.

White Elk Forestry was built from that question—not to stop wildfire, because wildfire is part of these landscapes, but to help people and forests live together more safely, more thoughtfully, and more resiliently.

I grew up in Maine and spent most of a decade working as a commercial fisherman before eventually heading west to work in wildland firefighting. That journey brought me to Colorado, and somewhere along the way the mountains, forests, and public lands here started to feel more like home than anywhere else.

Over the years I’ve worked as a commercial fisherman, wildland firefighter, ironworker, and forestry professional. Each taught me the value of hard work, self-reliance, and taking pride in doing things the right way. White Elk Forestry is the result of those experiences and a desire to spend my days working outdoors, helping people care for their land, and contributing in a small way to the long-term health of Colorado’s forests and mountain communities.