Idaho has lost one of the true champions of trees and urban forestry. Mike Bowman passed away at home on January 23, 2017.

I expect some readers may not have known Mike. By way of introduction, Jim Fazio—editor for the Arbor Day Foundation and this newsletter and a good friend of Mike’s—describes him well. “Mike Bowman was one of the most unusual men I’ve ever met. During forestry school he began his career as a smokejumper. He then went through the ranks of management in the Forest Service and BLM from Alaska and Idaho to Washington, DC.  He had a new—and true—story to tell every time I was with him! After he ‘retired,’ he became Lewiston’s first urban forester and served on the Idaho Community Forestry Advisory Council for many years. After that, he served his church and the underprivileged in Moscow almost on a full time basis. He was a true Christian and humble hero.”

Most of us recall those key individuals that have made an impact in our lives and in our careers. Mike was one of those for me. I first met him when I moved to Idaho in 2002. As a member of the council that advised the IDL on the program I was hired to manage, Mike was both a mentor and advocate. What I remember most was his desire to innovate, to engage people, and to push us to step out of our comfort zones or, as Mike so often put it, “to think outside the nine dots.” As an urban forester, Mike was well known for his ability to form partnerships that turned otherwise impossible tree-related projects into reality.

When Mike started his second career as Lewiston’s City Forester in 1991, Idaho’s urban forestry program was just beginning. The list of his accomplishments over the next 15 years is exemplary. Just some of the many projects completed during his tenure were the city’s first tree inventory, a licensing program for arborists working within the city, a shaded parking lots program, a crabapple demonstration grove, a Lewis and Clark Memorial Grove, and public education programs that involved schools and service clubs. Beyond Lewiston, Mike helped a host of other communities create and grow their community forestry efforts, and he was a key voice in shaping IDL’s program.  

The programs and efforts he helped foster, the thousands of trees he planted, and the people he encouraged and helped are his legacy.