A Seminole man who was appointed Oklahoma State Forester nearly seven years ago will be out of work effective Monday.

In a Wednesday press conference, Governor Kevin Stitt announced that Mark Goeller would no longer be serving as the state’s forester and director of Oklahoma Forestry Services, a position he has held since May 2018. Stitt’s announcement came on the heels of wildfires that consumed over 170,000 acres in Oklahoma and claimed four lives. KOSU reported that one of the fires destroyed a home near Luther that was owned by Stitt.

The governor was critical of Goeller’s response to the wildfires in Wednesday’s presser, and shortly thereafter the news broke that Goeller had tendered his resignation effective Monday, March 31.

“He’s the head of the forestry department, and we had a horrible, horrible wildfire in the State of Oklahoma, and I didn’t think they did a really good job,” Stitt told reporters Wednesday.

Fielding Lucas, former Seminole Fire Chief, said Goeller was the right person for the job and that the progress Oklahoma has made in wildfire protection is largely because of him.

“His leadership brought real, measurable improvements to wildfire response. He provided training, wildland PPE, and vital equipment to rural departments across the state, many of which would otherwise be operating with next to nothing. His efforts gave small, volunteer-based departments a fighting chance,” Lucas said.

“Before I moved out of Oklahoma in 2023, I served at the Seminole Fire Department for 13 years, including three years as fire chief. Mark lived in Seminole, and I had the privilege of working directly with him, taking his classes, and fighting fires beside him. I once watched him and a small crew, using nothing but a dozer, put a stop to a 1,000-acre wildfire that had burned for three days. Between Oklahoma Forestry Services and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, I learned more about effective wildfire suppression than I ever could have through local resources alone,” Lucas added.

Goeller became the State Forester and Director of Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry - Forestry Services Division (OFS) in May 2018. He has served in numerous positions during his career with OFS, beginning in 1984 as a Service Forester stationed in Duncan. After nearly three years in Duncan, he was promoted to District Forester for the Jay District in northeast Oklahoma. He served as District Forester for seventeen years before assuming the role of Area Forester for OFS’s Northeast Area.

Goeller served as the State’s Fire Management Chief beginning in 2005 until assuming the State Forester role. Goeller also serves in leadership roles on the state, regional and national levels. He is chair of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group Risk Management Committee and serves on the S-520 Advanced Incident Management Steering Committee. He also chairs the Southern Group of State Foresters Fire Management Chiefs. Additionally, Goeller is an Operations Section Chief, having served in that capacity on a Northern Rockies Type I Incident Management Team since 2005. His incident management experience comes from wildfire and all-hazards assignments in 21 states. He also serves as chair of Oklahoma’s All-Hazards Standards, Qualifications and Training Committee for Incident Management Teams and a member of the Oklahoma Incident Management Team Advisory Committee. Goeller holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture – Forest Management from Oklahoma State University.

In addition to wildland fire experience, Goeller has 18 years of structural firefighting experience for the City of Jay Fire Department and Keys Volunteer Fire Department.

The Producer reached out to Goeller Thursday via his state email address and Facebook Messenger for comment, but as of press time no response was received.