Nate Kegel, a Forest Service engineer with the Superior Ranger District on the Lolo National Forest, was recently selected for one of the agency’s national Engineer of the Year awards.

He and his wife, Corrie, traveled to Washington, D.C., on April 5 to receive the Managerial Engineer of the Year award. It was the second year in a row that Region 1 has had one of their nominees selected for a national engineer of the year award, said Harvey Hergett, with the Northern Regional Office in an email.

“Nate was very well organized and prepared the BAER [burned area emergency response] assessment for the 27,000 acre Sunrise fire with the cost estimates and program of work within a tight turnaround time. He has set up staffing to quickly get equipment under hire and most of the emergency response work on Sunrise has been completed with the exception of work that corrects winter and spring erosion, rolling rocks etc. His organization and leadership with his limited staff has been exceptional,” said Carole Johnson, Superior District Ranger for his nomination.

Kegel is a 1999 high school graduate from Thompson Falls and has been involved in the work planning and implementation on the Lolo National Forest, and played a huge role in the timber program, “assuring that road packages met the needs of Resource folks, as well as not being so costly that it cannot be implemented,” the nomination letter read.

Hergett said that his contributions to the Forest Service have been considerable but none more significant than in 2017 when the department responded to several emergencies including the Copper King Fire and subsequent Emergency Situation Determination from that fire in 2017, spring flooding on federally owned roads, suppression and repair efforts from 2017 wildfires, and burned area emergency response from six large complex fires throughout the Lolo National Forest last year.

Kegel has worked with the Forest Service for 15 years and works on joint projects with a lot of partners, especially in Mineral and Sanders counties. He said that the Forest Service has a strong presence in these counties and, “you’re trying to create good relationships” between local partners.

During the ceremony, Kegel received his award from Emilee Blount, the National Director of Engineering, and Lenise Lago, the Associate Chief of the National Forest Systems.