Five minutes with...Michael Huffman

Michael Huffman is the Forest Supervisor of Clemmons Educational State Forest. He has worked at Clemmons since 1975. He has been the supervisor since 1986.

Q: Where are you from originally?

A: I was born in Caldwell County, North Carolina, just south of Boone.

Q: Why did you become a forest ranger?

A: I'm a fourth generation woodsman. My great-grandfather was involved with logging in the mountains. My grandfather was a saw man. When I came along they wanted me to get an education. I had worked in fire control for the FFA (Future Farmers of America) and liked it, so I got an Associates Degree in Forestry Management.

Q: Has the tradition continued?

A: My son [Adam Huffman] is the fifth generation. He graduated from Clayton High School and got his degree from North Carolina State University. He worked all across the state for the forestry service but wanted to come back home. Fayetteville is as close as he could get. We are part of the same district.

Q: How did you and your wife meet?

A: That's kind of a cute story. When I was a sophomore in high school I had to dress up in the Smokey the Bear costume for an event. I tried to flirt with her but you can't talk when you're in the costume. I flirted with her the best I could and when I got out of the costume I tried to get a date with her, but she turned me down.

I met her again my second year in college. I had gone to her town and ran into her at the fall festival; we struck it off that time. We've been married 38 years.

Q: How did you get to Clayton?

A: I was part of the last group of rangers that had to take a transfer. I thought I'd be here two years, but I fell in love with Clayton and the Raleigh area and never left. We raised our son Adam and daughter Amy here.

Q: What is your favorite part of the job?

A: It is so varied. My primary duty is to fight forest fires. I've fought fires in North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and Oregon. I've assisted people in hurricane rescue in South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama.

I really like dealing with people. I've been exposed to a lot of different circumstances.

Q: What is your least favorite part of the job?

A: The same thing-- the people. Have you ever watched cops or one of those shows? Invariably you run across people that aren't very pleasant.

Even with people you want to fix everything for you know you can't. You see a lot of devastation through fires and especially hurricanes.

It's also hard leaving your family at home. We go on 16- to 18 -day tours then come home, turn around and go back.

Q: Have you been gone for long periods?

A: Last year with the fires I was gone a total of 77 days from mid-February through the first of August. It's a similar to the military in how [the tours] are structured. We just don't have people firing bullets at us - usually.

A: The forest re-opens in mid-March. What new things will people get to see?

We do a lot of construction projects while the park is closed. This winter we've been re-doing the amphitheater. We've added a new bridge and new trail signs. We try to do construction projects when the public isn't here, so we don't have to worry about people getting hurt.