Festival Year: 2018

Leslie Weldon

Roles: Special Guest

Leslie Weldon has served as the Deputy Chief for National Forest System with the USDA Forest Service since 2011. In this role, she is the lead executive responsible for natural resource policy, oversight and program management of the 193 million acres of National Forests and Grasslands. Throughout her 35-year career with the Forest Service, Leslie has served in positions at every level of the organization, from summer hire monitoring seedlings, fighting forest fires, and surveying spotted owls on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington to Regional Forester for the Northern Region in Northern Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota. Leslie earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Virginia Tech. She and her husband, Michael Weldon, are the proud parents of adult twin sons – Joseph and Kevin.

Festival Year: 2018