DNR employee named forester of the year

INDIANAPOLIS (WANE) -- Janet Eger, a district forester with the DNR Division of Forestry, has been named “Northeastern Area Outstanding CFM Forester of the Year 2012” by the Northeastern Area Association of State Foresters. CFM stands for Cooperative Forest Management.

Eger serves District 7, which consists of Lawrence and Orange counties in southern Indiana.

According to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Eger oversees the Indiana Classified Forest and Wildlands program, which gives landowners expert advice in managing their privately owned forestland.

In FY 2011, she increased the amount of acreage placed in the program by 34.5 percent and the number of landowners participating by 44 percent. In the last 10 years she has added more than 11,000 acres owned by nearly 200 individuals in her district.

Stationed in a heavily forested area, Eger educates agencies, organizations and individuals about how the program helps individual landowners, the two counties and the region economically.

Eger, a graduate of Batesville High School and Purdue University, has been a district forester for 19 years. She will receive her award at the annual CFM Awards Luncheon, which will be held in Atlantic City, N.J., on May 15.