Retired Forest Service ranger pens book of outdoor adventures

Nearly a lifetime of working in the Yaak gave Libby resident Mark Mason more than enough memories to write a book about his experiences in one of the wildest places in the Lower 48.

Mason, retired from the U.S. Forest Service, has published “Mountain Trails and Forest Tales” and it was released earlier this week.

Mason will be at Libby Sports Center for a book signing event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 4.

Mason said one of the reasons he decided to write the book was to share some of his interesting experiences.

“I wanted to capture part of the U.S. Forest Service era that has faded,” Mason said. “But my dad was an author and I mainly wanted to write it for my family.”

Mason’s work in the Yaak Ranger District included supervising Youth Conservation Corp crews, timber and wildlife recreation.

“My last 20 years I worked with volunteers, groups such as the Back Country Horsemen, snowmobile clubs and trails groups,” Mason said.

Mason’s desire to come west occurred when he was 13. His older brother and he took a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

Born and raised in Minnesota, Mason attended Vermillion Community College in Ely, Minnesota, graduating in 1978. He worked for the Forest Service in Minnesota for a brief time.

But fate intervened when his wife, Ann, saw an ad for a dental hygienist in Libby. She got the job and Mason found work with a small lumber mill up Pipe Creek that was owned by Martin Edwards and his son Wayne.

He worked there for a few years and had seasonal work with the Forest Service before getting a full-time job with the agency.