Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth announced new leadership taking the helm of the organization in January.

Dr. Ann Bartuska will be the new deputy chief of research and development, and Christopher Pyron will be the deputy chief for business operations.

Bartuska has been directing the invasive species initiative at The Nature Conservancy since 2001 and worked for the Forest Service for 14 years prior to that. She has held positions with research and development, state and private forestry as the director of forest health protection, and the national forest system as the agency's first director of ecosystem management. Bartuska was the first woman and first ecologist to be named director of forest management.

She holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Wilkes College, Wilkes Barre, Pa.; a master's degree in botany from Ohio University; and a doctorate in biology from West Virginia University. She is currently on the board of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents and was recently president of the Ecological Society of America.

Since 2002, Pyron has served as chief of staff for the Forest Service and oversees the day-to-day operations of the national headquarters, including budget, personnel and scheduling. He also is the key liaison to USDA's under secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment. Pyron was deputy regional forester for operations in the agency's Intermountain Regional Office, Ogden, Utah, for several years. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California at Riverside.