{"id":927,"date":"2020-05-07T15:07:01","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T15:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/?p=927"},"modified":"2020-05-21T18:14:52","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T18:14:52","slug":"university-of-tennessee-extension-forester-named-2020-forester-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/university-of-tennessee-extension-forester-named-2020-forester-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Tennessee Extension Forester Named 2020 Forester of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

David Mercker Recognized by the Forest Landowners Association<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. \u2014 David Mercker, an Extension forestry specialist with the University of Tennessee Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, has been named 2020 Extension Forester of the Year by the Forest Landowners Association (FLA). FLA is a national organization that promotes and protects the interests of private forest landowners and bestows this award annually as determined by its board of directors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wayne\nClatterbuck, UT professor of silviculture and forest management, nominated\nMercker for the award, writing, \u201cDavid is a consummate, respected forestry\nprofessional and is looked upon as a colleague and friend by landowners and\nprofessionals alike.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clatterbuck\nnoted Mercker\u2019s many achievements, including his service on the Tennessee Tree\nFarm Committee; the creation of the Welcome to Your Woods Initiative, which introduces\nnew landowners to forest ownership; and the numerous Extension articles and\npresentations developed for the benefit of Tennessee\u2019s landowners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mercker\u2019s\n34-year career in forestry has seen many milestones and highlights, but most\nnotably Mercker was named a Fellow by the Society of American Foresters and\nreceived the National Family Forest Education Award for his Tennessee Healthy\nHardwoods Program, now in its 14th year. He coordinated the establishment of\nTennessee\u2019s County Forestry Associations (CFA), which act as local branches of\nthe Tennessee Forestry Association. These CFAs work directly with landowners and\nlocal county Extension agents to provide best management practices and\neducational resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nreceiving the award, Mercker noted, \u201cIt\u2019s an honor to be recognized for\ncontributing to forest landowner education. Only through decades, with the\ncaring counsel of mentors, was this award possible. I\u2019d like to thank everyone\ninvolved in the award process!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nhis decades-long career, Mercker was a consulting forester for 13 years and has\nserved with the University of Tennessee for 21 years. Mercker is working on a\nnew educational project that resourcefully complies with current social\ndistancing policies: Back Porch Forestry. The videos for this Extension project\nare being recorded from Mercker\u2019s own back porch and will be distributed to\nprivate forest landowners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of\nMercker, department head Don Hodges remarked, \u201cDavid is truly deserving of this\nrecognition. He has developed a reputation not only for the quality of his\nExtension efforts, but also for the contributions he has made to the forests of\nTennessee and to the forestry profession.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nUT Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries is part of the Herbert\nCollege of Agriculture, UT AgResearch and UT Extension at the UT Institute of\nAgriculture. The curricula focus on a mastery learning approach, emphasizing\npractical, hands-on experiences. FWF\u2019s faculty, staff and students conduct\nresearch and extension that advances the science and sustainable management of\nour natural resources. For more information, visit fwf.tennessee.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through\nits land-grant mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of\nTennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life.\nSolutions. utia-dev.tennessee.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Mercker Recognized by the Forest Landowners Association<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"articletype":[],"institute":[16],"topics":[183,129],"entities":[26],"class_list":["post-927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","institute-news-release","topics-awards","topics-forest-and-range-resources","entities-forestry-wildlife-fisheries"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 04:07:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":930,"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927\/revisions\/930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927"},{"taxonomy":"articletype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articletype?post=927"},{"taxonomy":"institute","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institute?post=927"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=927"},{"taxonomy":"entities","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utia-dev.tennessee.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entities?post=927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}