{"id":26005,"date":"2023-12-18T17:22:24","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T21:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/?p=26005"},"modified":"2025-07-30T17:05:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T21:05:40","slug":"lenny-farlees-distinguished-forester-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/lenny-farlees-distinguished-forester-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Lenny Farlee’s Distinguished Forester Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"lenny<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Three foresters with exemplary careers, including two Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources alumni, were recognized with the John F. Datena Distinguished Forester Award at the recent\u00a0Indiana Forestry & Woodland Owners Association<\/a>\u00a0annual conference.<\/p>\n

Jack Nelson of Lizton, Lenny Farlee of Lafayette and Bob Koenig (posthumously) from Greencastle were recognized for their leadership in forestry and support for Indiana woodland owners.<\/p>\n

The Datena Award, named after former state forester John F. Datena to honor his commitment to Indiana\u00a0forestry, recognizes professional foresters who have been highly influential in promoting the forestry\u00a0profession in a manner that rises above their peers. Honorees have spent their careers making significant and sustained contributions to the betterment of forestry and are recognized by their peers to be leaders.<\/p>\n

Jack Nelson retired after 34 years working for the\u00a0Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry<\/a>\u00a0and followed that long career with a private consulting forestry business. He has been practicing forestry for 53 years. In his role with the DNR he assisted private landowners and administered the\u00a0Indiana Timber Buyers Licensing<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Indiana Classified Forest<\/a>\u00a0programs. He owned a Christmas tree farm for 30 years and is active in many conservation organizations.<\/p>\n

After a 20-year career with the IDNR Division of Forestry,\u00a0Lenny Farlee<\/a>\u00a0pivoted to an Extension Forester role at Purdue University, where he provides science-based information on sustainable forest management to woodland owners and natural resource professionals across the Central Hardwoods region. Lenny is especially known for the \u201cForest Management for the Private Woodland Owner<\/a>\u201d short course he annually teaches and his series of\u00a0120+ videos<\/a>\u00a0on tree identification.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis award has special significance to me as my fellow awardees this year were both pivotal supervisors and mentors in my early career,\u201d Farlee said. \u201cIt also represents a very humbling acknowledgement of contributions over a career to the profession and practice of forestry in Indiana, something that has been my joy and pleasure to participate in with so many others. I recognize that significant accomplishments are always done in conjunction with others, and I am grateful for the support and assistance I have received from the Indiana forestry community over these many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farlee earned his bachelor\u2019s degree in Forestry and Natural Resources from Purdue in 1985 and his master\u2019s degree in 1991. He then worked as a nursery forester with the Indiana Division of Forestry at Vallonia State Tree Nursery from 1988 to 1991 and as a district forester from 1991 to 2006. In January 2007, Farlee joined Purdue FNR as an extension forester for the Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center.<\/p>\n

Farlee received the Friend of Conservation Award from the Tippecanoe County Soil and Water Conservation District in 2015 and was named as a recipient of the Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen\u2019s Association\u2019s President\u2019s Award in 2015 and 2017. He also was part of the multidisciplinary group that received the\u00a0PUCESA Team Award<\/a>\u00a0in 2021 for its outreach work on the cicada emergence.<\/p>\n

To see the full article, please visit the FNR News and Stories page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Resources:<\/strong>
\nForest Management for the Private Woodland Owner Course<\/a> – Got Nature? Blog, Purdue Extension – Forestry and Natural Resources
\nVirtual Forest Management for the Private Woodland Owner Course<\/a>, Purdue Extension-FNR Events
\nForestry Management for the Private Woodland Owner Course<\/a> – Jackson County, Purdue Extension-FNR Events
\nCost Assistance for Landowners Planning Conservation Practices<\/a>, Purdue Extension-FNR Got Nature? Blog
\nWoodland Stewardship for Landowners: EQUP<\/a>, video, Purdue Extension-Forestry and Natural Resources (FNR) YouTube Channel
\nWoodland Stewardship for Landowners YouTube Playlist<\/a>, Purdue Extension \u2013 FNR
\nWoodland Management Moment: Invasive Species Control Process<\/a>, Purdue Extension \u2013 FNR Video
\nWoodland Management Moment YouTube Playlist<\/a>, Purdue Extension \u2013 FNR
\nInvasive Species YouTube Playlist<\/a>, Purdue Extension \u2013 FNR
\nWhat are invasive species and why should I care?<\/a>, Got Nature? Blog, Purdue Extension \u2013 Forestry and Natural Resources
\nReport Invasive Species<\/a>, Purdue Invasive Species
\nThe GLEDN Phone App<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 Great Lakes Early Detection Network
\nEDDMaps<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System
\nHardwood Ecosystem Experiment: Uneven-aged Management<\/a>, Purdue Extension \u2013 FNR Video
\nFinding help from a professional forester<\/a>, Indiana Forestry & Woodland Owners Association
\nForest Improvement Handbook<\/a>, The Education Store, Purdue Extension resource center<\/p>\n

Lenny Farlee<\/a>, Extension Forester
\nHardwood Tree Improvement & Regeneration Center (HTIRC)
\nPurdue University Department of Forestry and Natural Resources<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three foresters with exemplary careers, including two Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources alumni, were recognized with the John F. Datena Distinguished Forester Award at the recent\u00a0Indiana Forestry & Woodland Owners Association\u00a0annual conference. Jack Nelson of Lizton, Lenny Farlee of Lafayette and Bob Koenig (posthumously) from Greencastle were recognized for their leadership in forestry and support […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,80,49,53,54,622],"tags":[1885,1772,340,1140],"class_list":["post-26005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forestry","category-trees","category-plants","category-urbanforestry","category-wildlife","category-woodlands","tag-distinguished-forester-award","tag-indiana-forestry-and-woodland-owners-association","tag-lenny-farlee","tag-woodland-management","audience-for-enthusiasts","audience-for-homeowners","audience-for-landowners","audience-for-professionals"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 00:12:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26005"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33870,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26005\/revisions\/33870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}