Mark Morgans, left, and Kevin Brown outside the Lewis & Clark Timberlands Gearhart office.

For Kevin Brown, forestry in the Pacific Northwest is about legacy.

Stepping into a new position at GreenWood Resources’ Lewis & Clark Timberlands, he hopes to carry on the work of past mentors while pursuing a sustainable future.

Brown is the new Pacific Northwest area manager. He replaces Mark Morgans, who held the position for over a decade and was recently promoted to director of North American operations.

They spoke at the Gearhart office’s conference room, separated by toy logging trucks on the table and backed by windows with sweeping views of the private forest Brown now oversees.

The management position is responsible for over 185,000 acres in Oregon and Washington state and a local staff of 13.

The private timberlands are used for wood harvesting and wood products. Though privately owned, it is open to the public through free recreational permits for hunting, fishing, biking and other activities. The forest also provides drinking water to municipal watersheds.

“I’m confident in my ability to lead,” Brown said. “I have the best staff anybody could ever ask for. We are just loaded with talent across the board.”

Morgans said the property — and Brown’s decisions — will impact everyone in the community, even if they never step foot on the land.

“It’s a working forest, but it’s also providing all of these other benefits that they probably don’t even really think about, but they’re all there for them,” Morgans said. “So as foresters we think about that a lot, just the connectivity. How the forest is connected to the streams, connected to the ocean, and it’s the same thing with the people in there, too.”

Morgans said he chose Brown because of his passion for forestry and his interest in stewardship and sustainability.

For Brown, that interest started in his family’s forest. He grew up in Ilwaco, Washington, and often visited his family’s 480 acres in Hamlet that grew from his great, great grandfather’s homestead. Growing up, he said his grandfather was his greatest mentor.

“I got to see him show up in his caulk boots and his hard hat, and I got to help set chokers and watch him skip logs and just work hard,” Brown said. “Once you’re kind of immersed and understand the benefits of the forests, it’s just kind of in your blood.”

Brown graduated with a degree in forest management from Oregon State University, and worked at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, then spent six years at Campbell Global out of Cathlamet.

Morgans hopes Brown will bring a fresh perspective to management. He said he admires Brown’s ability to connect with the staff and the community, and to keep up with evolving technology in the field.

“I thought that timing was good, and he will bring a lot to it,” Morgans said.

As manager, Brown intends to focus on sustainability and community outreach.

“Mark has led all of us, and as a mentor to me to teach me those things,” Brown said.

Brown previously worked with the Chinook Indian Nation to increase access to the land which occupies their ancestral territory, and is especially interested in building upon that relationship.

“We’re fostering every relationship we have. I think, as a forester, we’re the biggest environmentalists there are,” Brown said. “I want my daughters’ kids’ kids to be able to recreate, manage and reap the benefits that we get right now, from these managed forests.”