Al West retired as the Deputy Director of the U.S. Forest Service, the second highest post in this vital government agency, overseeing millions of acres and billions of dollars in Washington, D.C. He retired to Ojai, where his career had taken him earlier as District Ranger of the Los Padres National Forest and then Los Padres Forest Supervisor.

His peripatetic career in forestry began humbly enough as a laboratory scientist before he was posted to Donner Summit, in a year when more than 900 inches of snow fell. His study of watershed and wildfire behavior still informs state and federal agencies to this day. His expertise and insight has taken him all over the world, managing wildfire and drought crisis, including catastrophic fires in Yellowstone and Australia.

Al and his wife Joyce are better known locally for their decades of active, caring and conscientious community service. Both have been named Living Treasures of Ojai. He was born in London, grew up in York, moved to Toronto, where he met Joyce at a square dance with the memorable pickup line, delivered in his York accent: "I guess you're stook with me."

We talked about snowfall, fire patterns, coaching soccer, the Rotary Club and many of the things that make Ojai special. We did not talk about the Roman's Lost Legion, Nate Bargatze's new standup special or barramundi fishing on the Murray River.