Tera King pictured using forestry tools to estimate the size of a tree (while working as a Forester for the USFS)
Tera King, the Resource Analyst for Idaho Forest Group, works for the resource team monitoring log deliveries, analyzing prices, quality, and purchases, and communicating with landowners to make sure IFG has a short- and long-term timber supply. She also supports the management of our fee lands, approximately 70,000 acres that IFG owns and manages in our wood basket area. She also works on the annual wood basket analysis which requires evaluating the entire wood basket area and analyzing what species are growing and how many board feet of timber are available and the sustainability of harvest operations into the future. To complete the analysis, IFG uses various high tech remote sensing techniques, estimating growth and harvest levels, and talking with IFG foresters and all types of landowners in the region. She says it is quite the process.
Tera has been working for IFG since January of 2020 after working 17 years as a consulting forester for Northwest Management in Moscow. She grew up in Grangeville, so she was always surrounded by the industry. She received her degree in Forestry Resources from the University of Idaho and worked to achieve her MBA online in Business Administrations and Corporate Finance in 2013 from Norwich University in Vermont.
“Coming from a small family company, my concern was that I was going to be lost in the crowd. It has been neat to not be lost, IFG is really concerned with employee relationships. They truly do want to provide the best benefits, work environment, and work life balance.” She added, “On the grandeur scale, within our area they are a huge influence in the community. Between community involvement, land stewardship, and providing jobs to several thousand employees across the region, we do a good job taking care of what makes us successful.”
King says she likes the diversity of her job. There is something different to do every day. She also enjoys playing a support role to people in the company that make the big decisions. She likes the job because she gets to work with others in the forestry industry and they are all good people.
Some exciting technology is the remote sensing which is used for wood basket assessment. Satellites and aircraft are utilized along with traditional timber cruising to not only analyze the timber available in the wood basket, but also assess forest health, fire disturbance, growth, and changing land uses. This technology is fascinating and rapidly advancing.
Tera King horseback riding
Tera likes to spend some of her free time riding horses and fishing with her husband and two sons. She has always loved horses and has been riding since she was 3 years old. An interesting fact about Tera is that she represented Grangeville Border Days in 1999. She had a “once in a lifetime” horse and they enjoyed traveling and representing the sport of rodeo throughout their year.
