Jason Hartman, the assistant fire management officer for the Kansas Forest Service for the past 15 years, has been named the new state forester for the agency, effective Sunday.

He succeeds Larry Biles, who served as leader since 2008. Biles’ recent retirement marked the end of a career in forestry that spanned four decades.

The Kansas Forest Service serves Kansas citizens with such programs as conservation tree and shrub planting, fire management, community forestry, rural forestry, marketing and utilization and forest health.

Hartman will lead a staff of 30 employees in the agency’s headquarters on the K-State campus, as well as several local and district offices across the state.

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