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Contact Information Date
For Immediate Release
Contact: John Campbell 434.220.9070 or 434.989.0665 		 June 27, 2008
VDOF-08020

Farmville Regional Forester to Retire

Gregory H. Winston will close out a nearly 40-year career of service to the Commonwealth and its citizens when he retires from the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) on July 1, 2008.  Winston has served as Regional Forester – overseeing the 12-county Farmville Region (Counties of Amelia, Appomattox, Buckingham, Campbell, Charlotte, Cumberland, Halifax, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Powhatan and Prince Edward) – since 1985.

For the past six months, Winston has been Regional Forester for the new Piedmont Region, which combines the former Farmville and Charlottesville regions and spans 35 counties from the North Carolina border to the Virginia-Maryland line.  Edward H. Zimmer, Waverly Regional Forester, has been selected to lead the Piedmont Region upon Winston’s retirement.

“With Greg’s retirement, the Commonwealth is losing a great mind, a top-notch forester and a true public servant,” said State Forester Carl Garrison.  “Whether it was protecting Virginians and their property from wildfires, planting millions of trees or mentoring his employees, Greg always did his best and always put the needs of others ahead of his own.  We’ll miss him tremendously but wish him all the best for a long and happy retirement.”

Winston joined the VDOF in 1968 as a forester trainee.  In 1971, he left for a two-year stint in the Peace Corps with service in Malaysia.  He returned to the VDOF in January of 1974 and has held a number of increasingly responsible positions throughout the Commonwealth.

As part of an Agency reorganization early this year, Winston was chosen to oversee the merger of two of VDOF’s six regions.  “Greg made it look easy,” Garrison said.  “And it’s no simple task to effectively bring together the people, resources and facilities without creating any problems.  Greg was the right person for this job.”

Winston said, “I’ve been very fortunate to have had such a great career.  The opportunity to help Virginians achieve their objectives on their forested lands was a real blessing.  I met so many wonderful people – each of whom made a positive and lasting impression on me.  I will miss everyone, but I’ll keep busy with several hobbies that I love yet haven’t had much time for while working.”

Winston lives with his wife and their family in the Prince Edward County community of Green Bay.  He can be reached at the VDOF Farmville office, 434.392.4159, through Monday, June 30th.

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The Virginia Department of Forestry protects and develops healthy, sustainable forest resources for Virginians. Headquartered in Charlottesville, there are Forestry staff members assigned to every county to provide service to citizens of the Commonwealth. VDOF is an equal opportunity provider.

With nearly 16 million acres of forest land and more than 184,000 Virginians employed in forestry, forest products and related industries, Virginia forests provide more than $29 Billion annually in benefits to the Commonwealth.

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