Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.The man who loved trees has died.
Dave Mooter, forester emeritus for the Nebraska Forest Service, died this week at the age of 67. He'd had cancer.
Nationally respected among foresters and arborists, Mooter used his gentle-but-direct manner and depth of knowledge to influence the well-being of trees across the Midlands.
"He had a real passion about good forestry, working behind the scenes, getting the work done and finding compromise," said horticulturist John Fech of University of Nebraska Extension.
Fech recalled Mooter as someone who mentored many of Nebraska's young foresters, an individual who conveyed immediate commitment to good work.
In 1987, Mooter, along with his peers in Kansas and Colorado, was influential in helping Congress integrate urban forestry into the 1990 farm bill, said Eric Berg, a forester with the Nebraska Forest Service. That has led to more than $20 million in funding annually for community forestry nationwide.
"Without Dave's vision and guidance, this effort may not have been successful," Berg said.
Jack Phillips, a consulting arborist in Omaha, said Mooter, who was based in Omaha, was missed as soon as he retired from the Forest Service.
"Dave was always someone who was willing to get involved on a personal level — his presences went far beyond his job," Phillips said.
A native of Cincinnati, Mooter joined the Nebraska Forest Service in 1978. In 1984, he earned his master's degree in public administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. In 2005, he retired and then continued to work as a consultant.
In 2010, the Arbor Day Foundation awarded Mooter the Frederick Law Olmsted Award for his lifelong commitment to trees and conservation in Nebraska.
Among Mooter's accomplishments, according to the Nebraska Forest Service and Arbor Day Foundation, were helping to:
» Persuade state leaders to add "Home of Arbor Day" to signs welcoming people to Nebraska.
»Create the state's first full-scale computerized tree inventory.
»Establish, with the Nebraska Department of Roads, a tree-planting program alongside road projects.
»Help more than 100 Nebraska communities earn the Tree City USA designation, ranking Nebraska among the top 15 nationally.
»Develop arborist certification and testing standards for Nebraska and develop the annual Nebraska Arborist Association Arborist School.
»Expand community education through the annual Nebraska Community Forestry Conference and Tree Care Workshops.
»Restore Omaha's canopy after the devastating 1997 October snowstorm and initiate what later became ReTree Nebraska.
He and his wife, Gail, shared a home on her family's farm near Kennard.
"He was a wonderful husband and father, and that's a nice thing to have said about you, if you had to have an obituary written," she said Thursday evening. She said she has been touched by the outpouring of affection during her husband's illness.
"He was in hospice in our house, and the visitors just kept coming," she said. "It was almost overwhelming — one man traveled from Colorado. He said Dave was such an influence on his life.
"I was amazed, but I shouldn't have been surprised. He was a wonderful person."
In addition to his wife, Mooter is survived by two sons, Paul and Chris; a daughter, Mary Ellen; and brothers John and Greg.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church, 15353 Pacific St.
The family will receive friends at the West Center Chapel, 78th Street and West Center Road, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1102, nancy.gaarder@owh.com
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