Dick Tatman retired after a Forest Service career of 34 years.  During that time he served on several California national forests (Region 5), working in all phases of engineering, from reconnaissance to construction, as Assistant Forest Engineer.   Dick finished his career as Forest Engineer on the Lassen NF, the position he held when he retired in 1991.  In this position he received the Regional Engineer of the Year award in 1989.  He also had two tours in the Regional Office.  During the first tour, as Regional Planning Engineer, he was a member of the Washington Office Transportation Analysis Group.  He prepared and implemented Region 5 Traffic Surveillance Guidance and was the engineering representative on the regional RARE 2 team.

On the second tour as Regional Transportation Analyst Staff Engineer, Dick was a member of the National team drafting the Transportation Planning Handbook.  He developed and implemented the Route Analyst Certification Program, conducted transportation plan training in five regions and was a core team member for the Regional Land Management Planning Guide preparation.

Dick has a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Chico State University and is a California Registered Traffic Engineer.  He has been an active volunteer in roads, trails, wildlife management, and winter and summer recreation programs for several years and is on the Board of Directors for the Recreation Outdoors Coalition.  Following retirement from the Forest Service he spent the next 10 years as a volunteer for the California Department of Fish and Game at Honey Lake Wildlife Area, averaging 700 hours per year doing farming, bird censuses, manning hunter check stations, and all engineering aspects of flood damage repair work, including constructing levees and goose nesting islands.  In 2000 and 2005, Dick received Forest Service recognition as the National Retiree Volunteer of the year for his work on the Lassen and Plumas NF’s Backcountry Discovery Trails.

dick.tatman@roc4u.org