The following is a biographical sketch I contributed to a book written by Dr. Archie McDonald on the history of forestry at SFA. This sketch reveals much about why I care so much for the forestry program at SFA. I constantly strive to insure that today’s students receive at least as good an education as I received from SFA.

Following in My Father’s Footsteps:

My father, James (Jim or Buck) D. Fountain, was born in San Augustine County on November 6, 1925. He was the oldest male from a family of 14 siblings. Upon graduation from Camp Worth School (one of the early logging communities during the heyday of logging in east Texas), he joined the US Army and was stationed in England during WWII. While there he married Joan Pauline Cridland. Upon his return from military service, he and a lot of other veterans enrolled at SFA in 1947 (I was born that same fall; on November 16, 1947). My father graduated from SFA in 1951 with a degree in forestry. He then took a job with the U.S. Forest Service working on the Forest Survey team that conducted periodic update information on forests in the South. This was a difficult time for our family since the inventory team had to relocate every couple of months and thus it seemed we were constantly moving. After about a year, my father landed a job with International Paper Company in Jefferson, TX. He later applied for another job with the USFS and eventually landed a forester job on the Beckwourth District on the Plumas National Forest in California. The region was called “the Feather River Country” because the main fork of the Feather River (one of National Scenic Rivers) runs through it. It was one of the premiere trout fishing rivers in the country and my father was able to fulfill one of his lifelong goals of learning how to fly fish. After 3 years in California, he transferred back to Texas (Huntsville, TX: Raven District of Sam Houston National Forest) due to his mother’s illness.

All of these moves for my family made life difficult and they also forged the way I grew up. Because we moved so often, I spent more time with my family that I did with school friends. Hunting quail and fishing with my Dad and his brothers were primary activities for me. If we had stayed in California, I would not have attended SFA. After graduation from Huntsville High School in 1966, I attended Sam Houston State University for 2 years but was unable to decide on what I really wanted to study. I don’t remember my dad ever suggesting to me to study forestry because I think he wanted me to do something else that would provide a more stable life and hopefully better pay. I remember one day when one of my dad’s co-workers came by our house and started talking to me about studying forestry since I liked the outdoors so much. It made sense and it definitely made sense to attend SFA to get my forestry degree. Thus, I transferred to SFA in the Fall of 1968. I graduated with my BSF in forest recreation management in May, 1970 and stayed on for graduate study with Dr. Eugene Hastings (received MSF in August, 1972).

In November of 1969, Dr. Laurence C. Walker, the Dean of the School of Forestry, assembled a group of seven students in his office and informed us that we were the “first group of 2nd generation forestry students”. He had a Pine Log Reporter take pictures and a story was written in the November 21, 1969 issue (Vol. 47, No 10). This was very typical for Dr. Walker, since he was always looking for opportunities to promote forestry at SFA. Prior to this, I was unaware that I might be among the first forestry graduates whose fathers had also graduated from SFA. The other students were Charles Kerr, Freddie Musgrave, Mary Kay Thompson, David Swank, Mark Roraback, and Forrest Roraback. Of this group, only Kerr, Musgrave, and myself were 2nd generation SFA students; the fathers of the other students graduated from places other then SFA. As it turned out, Freddie Musgrave graduated in December, 1970 while Charlie Kerr and myself graduated in May, 1970. Since we marched across the stage during graduation in alphabetical order, I was the “first second generation graduate in forestry from SFA”.

As I indicated earlier, I entered Graduate School in the Fall of 1970 and finished the Masters Degree in August, 1972. Based on my positive experiences teaching lab classes, I decided that I would pursue a doctorate degree and eventually teach forestry at the university level. I thus entered the cooperative Ph.D. program between SFA and Texas A&M. In the summer of 1974, while planning with Monty Whiting to teach surveying at the Milam summer camp, a job announcement from the USFS was posted in the forestry building that captured my attention. It was for a timber marking crew leader position on the Beckwourth District of the Plumas National Forest in California. I decided to apply for several reasons, some of which were tied directly to my father. I missed trout fishing and it would enable me to work on the same forest on which my father had worked. I got the job (I ‘m still working on trying to make amends to Monty since I left him with the surveying class!) and marked the second thinning in some stands in which my father had marked the first thinning. I literally walked in the same steps as my father!

It would have been incredible if one of my 2 sons had decided to follow in the same path taken by my father and me, but Jeffrey (born in 1977 while I was completing my Ph.D. at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV) graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Bio-environmental Science. My youngest son, Trevor Michael, will pursue a degree in computer science. However, with the influence of my father and me, my nephew (Jay Cameron Hein) graduated from SFA with a degree in forest management, becoming the first 3rd generation SFA forestry graduate. Jay had graduated from the same high school I had attended (Portola High School in Portola, CA) and came all the way to Nacogdoches to study forestry.

I am humbled and honored to have had the opportunities to follow in the footsteps of my father.