When Winn Ranger District Ranger Frank Yerby hangs up his U.S. Forest Service khakis for the last time this month, he will walk away with the satisfaction of having overseen the completion of something over $1.5 million in capital improvements for recreation and administration at the Gum Springs area headquarters, and setting the stage for installation of the first biomass energy generation experiment in the U.S. Forest Service nationwide.

Yerby is one of four long-time hands retiring at the Winn District of the Kisatchie National Forest, all of whom combined represent almost 150 years of experience with the Service. Yerby has 35 years, including postings with nine different Forest Service stations in Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.

Also retiring from the Winn District are Robert Howell, timber sales administrator, over 40 years; Lindy Jordan, timber sales administrator, 35 years; and David Cotton, engineering technician, 35 years.

Yerby came to the Winn District in 1998, and began the plans for a renovation and expansion of the Gum Springs recreation area, on U.S. Highway 84 between Winnfield and Natchitoches.

During December, final touches were put on the construction of Gum Springs Lake, a 12-acre fishing, swimming, and recreational facility created with a new dam near the old Gum Springs swimming hole used by area residents during the 1940s and 1950s. The project contract was $750,000, and includes provisions for fish habitat as the water rises to fill. Recently, the slowly filling lake has been stocked with bream and catfish, and later will be stocked with Florida bass and crappie (white perch).

Another major project was construction of the new $800,000 administrative offices located on Kisatchie property near the old Gum Springs fire tower on Highway 84.

Among the innovative features of the new headquarters building is a geothermal heating-cooling system which operates year-round with no external air conditioning or heat pumps. A series of 18 wells, drilled to a depth of 250 feet, contain connected pipes which circulate air throughout the building from beneath the ground at a virtually constant 70 degrees.

The new building replaces the leased facility located on Highway 84 just outside Winnfield, which was used for many years.

The next "big thing" to happen at the Gum Springs property is installation of a BioMass energy generating unit, to be powered by wood chips. The concrete foundation has already been poured, and the unit will be installed during this fiscal year, Yerby said. It is programmed to produce biodiesel from wood chips, which will power a generator to supply all electric power for the Winn District facility. The unit will be the only one in use by the U.S. Forest Service, as an experiment in alternate energy production.

Yerby grew up in Texas, graduating from high school in 1968 at Bedford, between Dallas and Ft. Worth. After graduation he served with the 101st Airborne Division, including two years in Viet Nam, and two years in Berlin, Germany.

After leaving service, he went on the rodeo circuit for a time, riding bareback and saddle broncs, before deciding college was a better deal. He enrolled at Stephen F. Austin University at Nacogdoches, graduating with a degree in forestry in 1977. Not quite finished with rodeo, he "wasted another year" at it, he said, before going to work with the U.S. Forest Service in 1978.

During his Forest Service career, he met and married Lisa Wright of Many, Louisiana, and "promised one day to bring her back home if she stayed with me."

The Yerbys have three sons, all who have become outstanding high school and college athletes, in football and baseball. Middle son Jonathan was all-state linebacker in football, and catcher in baseball. Mathew was all-state utility player in baseball. Christopher played baseball at LSU-Shreveport. Jonathan and Mathew played junior college baseball at Hutchinson, Kansas, and University of Central Arkansas at Conway.

Frank says the boys have not expressed interest in rodeo.

Among the highlights of Frank's USFS career, he counts planning and development of Cedar Lake Equestrian Camp in Heavener, Oklahoma, and the upgrade of the Talimena Scenic Byway across Winding Star and Rich Mountains in Oklahoma. As District Ranger in Oklahoma, he assisted in the largest land exchange in the history of the Forest Service, in acquiring over 115,000 acres around Broken Bow Reservoir, at Broken Bow, Oklahoma.

He also rates the service at the Winn District in Kisatchie Forest as a plus. The usual term of service for a District Ranger in other areas is two to three years. Frank is retiring as only the fifth Ranger in the Winn District since it was created in the 1930s.

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