Victoria ‘Vicki’ Christiansen will serve as Deputy Chief of State and Private Forestry with the USDA Forest Service. She replaces Jim Hubbard, former State Forester of Colorado, who retires at the end of this month after 10 years as Deputy Chief.
Christiansen has more than 36 years of wildland fire and natural resource leadership experience, including six years with the Forest Service and nearly 30 years of service in the states of Arizona and Washington.
Since 2012, Christiansen has served as Associate Deputy Chief in State and Private Forestry with the Forest Service. She previously worked as Deputy Director of Fire and Aviation Management.
Prior to her Forest Service career, Christiansen served as Arizona State Forester where she oversaw protection of 22 million acres of state and private lands in Arizona. In addition, she served as Washington State Forester as a part of her 26-year career with the state’s Department of Natural Resources. She launched her career as a wildland firefighter while in college and later accepted a permanent position in Washington as a forester. In that role she oversaw reforestation of state trust lands in the Mt. Saint Helens blast zone. She subsequently accepted other assignments where she focused on managing state trust lands and regulating forest practices on state and private lands.
In addition to credentials in wildland fire management and specialized expertise as a fire line-blasting advisor, Christiansen earned a bachelor’s degree in forest management at the University of Washington. She is also former chair of NASF's Wildland Fire Committee.
The National Association of State Foresters congratulates Ms. Christiansen and offers its support as she takes on this new assignment.