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Burnell C. Fischer
When Burnell C. Fisher, better know to friends and family as “Burney,” was offered the job as Indiana’s state forester in 1990, accepting the post was a tough decision. After all, he was then in his 13th year as a professor in Purdue’s Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. And he’d earned three forestry degrees at Purdue—a Bachelor’s in 1969, Master’s in 1971, and Ph.D. in 1974. Purdue had been his life, you might say, except for three years of teaching at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in the mid 1970s.
Rather than resign from Purdue, he took a long leave of absence, until he was sure he’d made the right decision. And today he continues to serve Purdue as an adjunct professor.
To his state post, Fischer took a long list of accomplishments that are perhaps best summarized by his more than 50 research publications and some 70 Extension publications.
In the decade-plus that he’s overseen Indiana’s 150,000 acres of woodlands and the State Forestry Division, he’s:
• Led in developing strategic plans for the division’s 10 program areas;
• Overseen more than 500 urban forestry grants to cities, towns, and nonprofit organizations;
• Completed an inventory and analysis of Indiana forests; and
• Been part of increasing Indiana’s forests by 3,000 acres.
He’s also developed important and cooperative relationships with the Divisions of Fish and Wildlife, Nature Preserves, and Outdoor Recreation to expand public benefits in the Hoosier state. This year, he is implementing a state forest management decision process that will solicit public input.
Fischer has been designated a certified forester by the Society of American Forester’s, which also elected him a fellow in 1999.
He’s an avowed lover of trees, so it seems fitting that we are
honoring Burney on Arbor Day 2003. For his outstanding contribution to
the food, agriculture, and natural resources system, the Purdue School
of Agriculture is proud to present the Distinguished Agricultural Alumnus
Award to Burnell Fischer.
| Fishing for Quiet
After a workweek that covers the state and involves a $10 million annual budget, 13 state forests, and as many as a few hundred employees seasonally, Burney Fischer heads to his private retreat. It’s a one-acre site with a one-bedroom cottage on the Tippecanoe River in Carroll County that he bought in 1981. “The lot is totally treed, with wonderful, huge trees. It’s a great place,” he says. “And I can walk right into the river.” There, he dons shorts, T-shirt, baseball cap, and a plain tan fishing vest; wades in thigh-high; and casts his pole for small-mouth bass. His goal isn’t filling a bucket—he returns the fish to the water. Instead, the lure for Indiana’s State Forester is the quiet, the time alone each morning and evening when there are no people or canoes on the water. “This is the best part of the river,” he says of his spot below Lake Freeman. Once a year, he heads for Lake of the Woods in Nestor Falls, Ontario, a place his father took him to every year from the time Burney was 11. There, his repertoire expands to northern pike, walleyes, and muskies. And he’ll keep some for his supper. “I’ve been going there for more than 40 years. It’s a great week,” he says. “I don’t think of fishing as a competitive sport,” Fischer says. “From June to September, this is the most pleasant way to spend a summer day.” He doesn’t commune with the fish, but he admits he sometimes talk to the trees. “Trees are the only natural part of the landscape you see when you’re driving the road,” says Fischer, whose favorite is the giant Burr Oak in the White Oak family. “I like trees. They’re the best part of the landscape.” |
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