Thomas G. Boggus
Interim State Forester & Director
Tom Boggus is the Associate Director for Forest Resource Development and Sustainable Forestry for the Texas Forest Service. He serves on the agency's Executive Team as well as the Chief Operating Officer.
Boggus received his forestry education at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, where he earned both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in forestry. He joined the Texas Forest Service in 1980 and worked in Linden and Lufkin prior to moving to College Station as the Assistant Department Head, Forest Resource Development Program in 1987, where he helped deliver both urban and rural forest management programs. Prior to accepting administrative duties in 1996, Boggus’ career focused on serving the non-industrial private forest landowners of Texas through technical assistance and information. In recognizing the goals and changing needs of the new individual and family forest owners, Boggus implemented several initiatives such as: a innovative statewide plan for conservation education; a southern pine beetle prevention program now being used as a national model; and the Texas Forest Legacy Program.
Currently, Boggus serves as chair of the Southern Group of State Foresters’ (SGSF) Management Committee consisting of forest management leaders from 13 southern states, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and federal partners.
He is the past president of the Texas Forestry Association, and a member of the Society of American Foresters, and the Southern Wildland Urban Interface Council where he assumed an active role in the creation of Changing Roles, the professional development program for natural resource managers across the South designed to prepare them and their agencies for the “new forestry.”
Boggus is the recipient of the 2007 Regents Fellow Service Award by The Texas A&M System, the 1994 Texas A&M System Vice Chancellor for Agriculture’s Award of Excellence, and the 1991 Young Forester Leadership Award by the Texas Society of American Foresters.