Blessed is the one

    who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

    or sit in the company of mockers,

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

    and who meditates on his law day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

    which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

    whatever they do prospers.

(Psalm 1:1-3)

We at the Evangelical Environmental Network are both mourning the loss, and celebrating the life, of former EEN Board Member James "Jim" Richards Furnish who passed away this past weekend at his home in Gila, NM at the age of 79. 

Jim will be remembered for his dedication to defending God’s creation well through a 34-year career in the U.S. Forest Service, where he focused on conservation, reforestation, ecological health, and biodiversity. As Supervisor of the Siuslaw National Forest in Oregon from 1992 to 1999, he helped create a national model of forest management that moved away from clearcutting and protected the forest’s many natural resources. As Deputy Director of the Forest Service, he helped champion the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, or “Roadless Rule,” which protected nearly 60 million wildland acres from logging road construction, preserving critical wildlife habitats and watersheds. Jim wrote about his vision for more natural forests in his memoir Toward a Natural Forest: The Forest Service in Transition.

After his retirement in 2001, Jim remained involved in environmental work through consulting, advocacy, and serving on the boards of many organizations–including EEN, where he completed multiple terms. We are grateful for the time, experience, and expertise he so generously offered our ministry. We offer our condolences to Jim’s many surviving family members and friends and are confident that his legacy and contributions to God’s creation will not be forgotten.