Norwin E. Linnartz
Inducted 2007
Born in Comal County, Texas, Norwin E. Linnartz served in the U.S. Navy 1944-46. He earned a B.S. in range management at Texas A. & M. in 1953, and after working as a range conservationist with the Soil Conservation Service in Texas and Louisiana, he earned his M.F. in 1958 and Ph.D. at LSU in 1961. He served on the LSU School of Forestry faculty 1961-92. He worked half-time as assistant dean of the LSU Graduate School 1977-80. Retired in 1992, he was recalled to LSU as Interim Director of the School of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries from 1997 until 2000. Dr. Linnartz taught forest soils, silviculture, reforestation, and bottomland hardwoods management and was major professor for 19 graduate students. Author or coauthor of 56 scientific and technical publications, he served as editor of two volumes of the Proceedings of the annual LSU Forestry Symposium. He presented numerous talks on various aspects of forest management to foresters and to the general public.
In 1995 the LSU Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries Alumni Association named Dr. Linnartz its Alumnus of the Year. He received many other awards, especially from the Society of American Foresters, in which he was a volunteer leader for 43 years. He was elected Fellow in 1983. In 1978 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Gulf States Section and in 1998 the national John Beale Memorial Award for promoting forestry though voluntary service to the Society of American Foresters. At the state and chapter level, he chaired and edited the newsletter of the Gulf States Section, the Louisiana Chapter, and several committees. He held many national offices and positions, including membership on the SAF Council 1980-83 and several national SAF committees. He chaired the SAF Ethics Committee, the Student Affairs Committee, and the 1976 national convention Registration Committee. Honor societies to which Dr. Linnartz belonged include Xi Sigma Pi, Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, Gamma Sigma Delta, and Alpha Zeta. He was a Fellow in the American Association for Advancement of Science and was sketched in Who’s Who in the South and Southwest and American Men and Women in Science. He was a member of the Forest Farmers Association, Louisiana Forestry Association, Society for Range Management, Soil Science Society of America, and Ecological Society of America.
Professional accomplishments of Dr. Linnartz include helping to educate approximately 800 professional foresters, charter membership and holding an office in the Southern Forest Soils and Southern Forest Environment Research Councils, and membership on the editorial advisory committee of Forests and People magazine. His community activities involved being a volunteer docent, LSU Alumni Center; executive secretary, LSU School of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries Alumni Association; service on the diaconate of his Baton Rouge church; and a participant in the Livingston Parish Forest Awareness program for school children.
