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The appointment follows the departure of former Director Tom Schultz, who left IDL to become vice president of Government Affairs and Community Outreach for Idaho Forest Group.
Groeschl has been Idaho State Forester since 2011 and IDL Deputy Director since 2016. He came to Idaho in 2008 from the State of Montana, where he led the Forest Management Bureau at the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
Groeschl earned a bachelor’s degree in forest management from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point and a master’s degree in Forestry from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Groeschl’s broad and extensive forestry experience over nearly 30 years includes work in the private, industrial and public forestry sectors, as well as in three different geographic regions of the country – the South, the Great Lakes area and the Intermountain West.
“I appreciate the Land Board’s confidence in me and the opportunity to continue to serve Idahoans as IDL acting director,” Groeschl said.
The Land Board directs the IDL in managing millions of acres of endowment trust lands in Idaho to provide financial support for Idaho’s public school system and other State of Idaho institutions. The IDL also manages the lands beneath Idaho’s navigable waterways and administers regulatory and assistance programs related to mining, oil and gas, forestry, and fire. The Land Board is comprised of Idaho’s five top elected officials.
The Land Board also directed IDL to open the process of soliciting applications for the director position.