Paul on duty in the field at a controlled burn.
there to work, at least in part, with the snowmobilers and serve in some manner to improve the trails system for the betterment of the program. In most cases the relationship was one of mutual respect with interests in snowmobiling activities being the common fabric bringing us together, but occasionally it becomes one a little more personal, and in such cases the acquaintance becomes a friendship with someone who really and truly cares. I would like to think that over the many years I have known Paul E. Gaberdiel, we have developed not only a mutual working relationship, but a strong friendship as well, and when he finished his duties and retired on November 12th, he left a huge hole in
Eastern U.P. Rec-Spec Retires BY JIM DUKE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
D
uring the past forty plus years since I rode my first snowmobile and soon after became involved in organized snowmobiling, I have been privileged to become acquainted with a good many individuals whose employment placed them in a position of management of sorts, within the snowmobile programs. Some were employed by the state Department of Natural Resources and some by the federal government, but regardless of their position they were
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Paul on his vintage Polaris, getting ready to race.
DECEMBER • 2021 • MICHIGAN SNOWMOBILER + ORV
the snowmobile program that the DNR will have a difficult time filling. Paul is a fairly private individual and is usually reluctant to talk about himself, but his love of the great outdoors led him to take advantage of an employment opportunity back in 1987 and thus began his long-term position with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, lasting, buy my count, of some thirty-four years. He was hired as a forest fire officer and spent many years learning about fire suppression and training on how best to control them. He says preventing them in the first place is always better than battling them, and then working on the damage control. Working for the state wasn’t Paul’s first employment, however, he says between his high school graduation in 1976 from the Tahquamenon Area Schools and his achieving a Bachelor Degree in Forest Management Science from the Michigan Technological University in 1980, he had several short-term jobs such as over-the-road semi driver, worked for a while at Watson’s Marina in Curtis, and at Louisiana Pacific in Newberry. As already stated, Paul began his career in 1987 at a Forest Fire Officer located in Seney at the Field Office and worked in that position until receiving a promotion to Forest Fire Officer Supervisor in 1998 and transferring to the Newberry Field Office. In 2001 he became Incident Commander for the Eastern Upper Peninsula Incident Management Team, better known simply as ICT3.
