TALLAHASSEE (FDACS News Release) — Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson today announced the death of John M. Bethea, a dynamic leader in helping shape the current state of Florida’s 1 million-acre State Forest system. He was 89.
“Our current state forests owe a great deal to John’s vision and leadership,” Bronson said. “He was a man of great talent and energy whose entire professional career was spent developing and creating the forest system that millions of residents and visitors alike enjoy today on a daily basis.”
He rose from an extension agent in 1941 to Florida’s chief forester in 1969, where he served until his retirement in 1987.
In addition to overseeing virtually every aspect of the land management and recreational opportunities in the forest system, Bethea was also instrumental in reorganizing what was then known as Florida’s Board of Forestry, culminating in its absorption into the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services as the State Division of Forestry. He became its first director in 1970.
Besides his success in creating Florida’s modern-day State Forest system, Bethea expanded the new Division of Forestry’s role in providing land management assistance to private forest owners. His guidance and oversight about the importance of maintaining healthy and viable private forests in Florida have enhanced the economic contributions to the state that private foresters now provide.
He is largely credited with establishing the Florida Section of the Society of American Foresters, which was formed in 1966, and became its chairman. In 1968, he was honored by the Society as Forester of the Year.
“John Bethea was in a very real sense the father of what we know of today as the state forest system,” Bronson said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family on his passing.”
Florida currently has 35 state forests, encompassing more than 1 million acres. They are used for timber production, land management, wildlife and natural resource preservation, and recreation for hikers, bicyclists, campers, horseback riders and canoeists.
In 2001, the state acquired a nearly 38,000-acre parcel of land in northern Baker County, near Bethea’s hometown of Sanderson, and honored him by naming it the John M. Bethea State Forest.
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