PEOPLE

New Faces with The Longleaf Alliance

The Longleaf Alliance welcomes Craig Blair to its Board of Directors. Craig is a forester, forest landowner and former President of Resource Management Service (RMS), a 71year-old forest investment firm. He joined RMS in April 1992, became President and CEO in October 2010, and retired in 2021 to assume his current role as Chairman of RMS’ Board of Managers. During his tenure as President, Craig had responsibility for the company’s investments and operating businesses in the United States, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. As President, he leads an experienced team of forestry and financial professionals that manage a global timberland portfolio of over $4 billion. In the course of his 39-year career, he has held a variety of positions at RMS and in the forest products industry, with experience in acquisitions, resource planning, forest management, and wood procurement.

Craig earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Management from the University of Arkansas at Monticello and a Master of Forestry degree in Forest Business from Mississippi State University (2018 Alumni Fellow). In addition to his role on RMS’ board, he serves as a board member of the World Forestry Center (Chair), and formerly served on the boards of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Inc. (Chair, 2017 President’s Award), the National Alliance of Forest Owners (Chair) and the Auburn University Research Advisory Board.

A strong proponent of public-private collaboration and partnerships, Craig has worked to advance innovative approaches to landscape-level species conservation, including the ongoing Coastal Headwaters longleaf restoration project.

He and his wife Rita live on their tree farm in Ralph, Alabama, attended by three dogs of questionable heritage. They have two sons, Braden and Paul, that live nearby.

Wendy Ledbetter recently joined The Longleaf Alliance staff as the Fort Stewart/Altamaha Partnership Coordinator. Wendy will support the FTSA Local Implementation Team in this role, advancing longleaf ecosystem restoration in the Coastal Georgia landscape.

Most recently, Wendy served as the Executive Director for the Big Thicket Association, a non-profit dedicated to preserving, protecting, and promoting the Big Thicket’s natural and cultural resources through advocacy, education, and research. Much of Wendy’s prior experience was with The Nature Conservancy: she began as the first preserve manager for the Colorado Chapter. She worked as an intern on groundcover restoration at Florida’s Apalachicola Bluffs & Ravines Preserve for the National Fire Management Program. Wendy started as a biologist with the Texas Chapter in 1993 and ultimately was the Chapter’s Forest Program Manager. Her work included developing partnerships, preserve management, overseeing certified organic citrus and agricultural leases, and advancing working forest conservation easements. Her focus included forest system restoration, rare species management, and education and outreach. Prior to her time with The Nature Conservancy, Wendy worked at Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy in Tallahassee, Florida as a plant ecology research technician. Wendy had an eight-year term as a park ranger with the Florida Park Service in central and north Florida. Serving at five sites, her lifelong interest in the longleaf pine ecosystem, fire management, and understory diversity began at Lake Kissimmee State Park and Payne’s Prairie State Preserve.

Wendy earned her A.A.S. in Fish & Wildlife Technology from the State University of New York in Cobleskill, New York, and a B.S in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. Wendy enjoys birdwatching and working on projects that merge her love of nature and the arts.