(10/28/2024) BATON ROUGE, La.— The Society of American Foresters recognized 22 of their members this past year after each had been nominated for “longstanding service to forestry” and “advancement of the forestry profession.” After more than 50 years of being a part of the forestry industry, work across multiple states and even a foray into Canada, LSU AgCenter School of Renewable Natural Resources professor Cornelis De Hoop was more than deserving of this recognition.

De Hoop was awarded his fellow award on Oct. 23 at the Louisiana Society of American Foresters’ Convention in Natchitoches, La. De Hoop, who goes by Niels, has been a party of the SAF since 1972 when he joined the student chapter at the University of Kentucky, where he received a bachelor’s degree in forestry.

After working for a while in London, Ky., he began his forestry career when he started working for the U.S. Forest Service.

De Hoop would quickly move on to colder weather as his career progressed, however. In the late 70s, he began working in Canada, where he would work for three companies across the country, as well as a personally important stint in British Columbia.

“It was sort of my teenage dream. I read about the Yukon Territory and all that, and I just wanted to get up there,” De Hoop said. “I didn't want to just do a work permit, so I actually applied for Canadian immigrant status and managed to get it.”

After a few years, De Hoop decided to move back closer to his family in east Texas and began working as a logging supervisor, and later an audit and security forester. He decided to advance his education and attended Stephen F. Austin University where he received an MBA in 1983 and later a doctorate from Texas A&M in forestry in 1991.

Throughout his time in Texas, de Hoop was an active part of the Society of Foresters and through that organization came across an opportunity that interested him and his wife.

“My wife saw an ad for a job in the Journal of Forestry for a forester they needed in Hawaii,” De Hoop said. “She told me she was going to divorce me if I didn’t apply for it, so I applied for it and ended up getting the job.”

He spent a few years in Hawaii before getting a job as a forestry professor at LSU in 1993, not too long after the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center was formed at the university, and has been teaching there ever since.

As a part of working at the College of Agriculture, De Hoop led a research team that successfully altered safety codes for lumber harvesters that have significantly lowered the number of injuries and fatalities on lumber harvesting sites.

Since he first started at LSU, De Hoop has been active within the Louisiana chapter of SAF as well as the regional chapter. He has also helped lead and promote the student chapter on LSU’s campus.

His expansive experience in the lumber industry has supported his ability to teach and educate both LSU students as well as local foresters on the forestry industry and its practices. As a part of his extension work, De Hoop teaches farmers and landowners how to perform a prescribed burn through a workshop.

He takes pride that he can use his past experiences to teach the next generation of foresters and epitomize his “longstanding service to forestry” for the SAF.

“I now teach what I used to do, and it certainly gives me a nice perspective because what I teach are things that I've done,” De Hoop said. “I'm teaching a timber harvesting class, and I've operated chainsaws, and I've supervised logging operations. So, it's easy for me. And I just do it, and I know what the students need to know.”

Cornelis De Hoop, right, was given the fellowship award on Oct. 23 in Natchitoches, La. at the SAF state meeting. Photo by Tim L. Holland.