Solutions

Company

Our Roots

Backed by an unparalleled legacy, Mason Bruce & Girard is one of the nation’s premier natural resource consulting firms.

1921
1923
1925
1927
1928
1931
1935
1936
1937
1940
1945
1952
1958
1961
1965
1966
1973
1981
1985
1997
2006
2016
2018
2019
2021
2022
David T. Mason from April 1921 Timberman article

1921

David T. Mason leaves a professorship at U.C. Berkeley to form a consulting business in a one-room office in the Northwestern National Bank Building (later known as American Bank Building) in downtown Portland, Oregon. His first project is solving income tax and forestry problems for C. R. Johnson, head of Union Lumber Company, Marysville CA. Other clients wanted timber appraised, forest working plans, reports on forest management possibilities, and timberland exchanges.
Carl Stevens

1923

Mason asks former Bureau of Revenue colleague Carl M. Stevens to join him. The firm is renamed Mason & Stevens.
Donald Bruce

1925

Former Forest Service colleague Donald Bruce joins the Mason & Stevens partnership part-time from Washington D.C. while continuing to work for the Forest Service. His expertise is forest mensuration.

1927

Mason produces his first article on sustained yield forestry and sets out on an educational campaign to acquaint lumbermen with its merits as an answer to the problem of overproduction as well as for conservation. He presented the paper at the National Lumber Manufacturers Association in August. In October, the article, Sustained Yield and American Forest Problems was published in the Journal of Forestry.

1928

Sometime during the 1920s, a Cruising Department is formed, headed by Frank King. From 1928-1930, the firm maps a million acres of young forest, cruises 150,000 acres between Coos Bay, OR and Grays Harbor, WA, and assists in purchasing 70,000 acres in 250 transactions for Crown Willamette Pulp & Paper Company.
Attribution: Library of Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

1931

President Hoover appoints Mason to the Timber Conservation Board and the newly formed Western Pine Association elects Mason as its first Manager. Mason leaves his partnership with Stevens for D.C. Stevens soon establishes a partnership with Donald Bruce, renaming the firm to Stevens & Bruce.

1935

Carl Stevens dies suddenly in July at age 47. Donald Bruce talks to Mason about rejoining him in consulting work.

1936

With the Timber Conservation Board work completed, Mason returns to Portland to rejoin Donald Bruce, re-establishing the firm as Mason & Bruce.
Louis W. Hill

1937

Mason & Bruce are hired by First Trust Co. of St. Paul, MN to advise the Louis W. Hill family on timber properties totaling 130,000 acres in Linn, Deschutes, and Jefferson Counties, Oregon. It becomes a textbook example of the implementation of sustained yield forestry that is still thriving today.
Orick, California

1940

Mason & Bruce make the first use of aerial photography in the U.S. for mapping and cruising timber. On the 40,000-acre Hammond-Hill-Davis redwood property near Orick, CA, air photos are used to plan the cruise and allocate the total cruise to 1,000 40-acre subdivisions.
Jim Girard

1945

James W. Girard, a lifelong friend of both Mason and Bruce, joins firm as a partner. His expertise is timber cruising and volume measurements. The firm is renamed as Mason, Bruce & Girard in 1948.
Credit: National Museum of Forest Service History. This plaque marks the Jim Girard Tamarack Grove near Seeley Lake, MT. The Girard virtual exhibit : https://forestservicemuseum.org/exhibits/jim-girard/

1952

Jim Girard passes away November 11 in Portland at the age of 75. The firm creates a woodland department to serve the needs of small private landowners. At the time, only a few consulting firms across the country provide services to this class of owners. Richard Smith is hired to lead the department.

1958

Management of the Avery Family Forest in Linn County, OR begins. Larry Zach is named first forest manager and partner Lu Alexander is in charge of the account. The firm has managed the property for more than 60 years on behalf of the family.

1961

With the partners' blessing, the firm's woodland department is spun off as Woodland Management, Inc. Richard Smith heads the new, independent company. The two companies share office space for many years.

1965

The firm begins management of McMinnville Water & Light's Haskins Creek Watershed in Yamhill County, Oregon. The firm continues to manage the property after more than 50 years.

1966

Donald Bruce passes away on October 16 in Portland at the age of 82.
Undated photo of a partner's dinner honoring Dave Mason. Back Row (L to R): Bob Knepper, Richard Smith, Gwyn Sharer, Carl Newport; Front Row (L to R): Lu Alexander, David Mason, Gil Beau

1973

David Mason, the first and last of the founding generation, passes away on September 2 in Portland at the age of 90. He is noted as an honored consulting forester, promoter of conservation and the sustained yield theory, and as a philanthropist.

1981

MB&G begins a timber inventory on 194,000 acres of timberland conveyed to Sealaska Corporation and 10 native Alaskan villages under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. It is based on both aerial photography and on-the-ground field work conducted between 1981 and 1985. The survey reports a net merchantable timber volume in operable areas of 2,997 MMBF.
Carl Newport

1985

During the mid-1980's, partner Dr. Carl Newport, a forest economist, assists Times Mirror Corporation in the sale of its 250,000 acres of timberland in Oregon and Washington. The firm releases its first software products during the mid-1980s: Stand Projection System (SPS) and Stand Inventory System (SIS).

1997

In its first expansion beyond traditional forestry services, the firm creates an Environmental Services Group, adding biologists and other environmental scientists specializing in environmental permitting, wildlife and fisheries, and ecology.

2006

The first property management contracts for a timberland investment management organization are won for the Scott Valley and Foresthill properties in California and Tilton property in Washington. Offices are opened in Yreka & Foresthill, CA. Additionally, the firm assists Brookfield Asset Management in its acquisition of Longview Fibre, including nearly 600,000 acres of Oregon and Washington timberland.

2016

The firm is managing close to 190,000 acres in California, Oregon, and Washington for a variety of clients. Land management offices were added in Medford and Eugene while the Yreka office was closed and the Foresthill office was relocated to Auburn. Woodland Forest Management, Inc., spun off from the firm in 1961, is re-acquired and organized as a subsidiary called Woodland Forest Management Company.

2018

The California based, Auburn Forestry Group, expands significantly to support Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s wildfire risk reduction efforts and other vegetation management projects throughout the utility’s service territory.

2019

TerraSource Valuation is acquired and an office in Blacksburg, Virginia is established to expand the firm's appraisal services to the Eastern U.S. and international markets.

2021

The company celebrates 100 years in business.

2022

Barnes & Associates, Inc., a Mason, Bruce & Girard company, had been serving southwest Oregon since 1992 with the concept of providing quality natural resource analysis and management. In 2022, Barnes & Associates merged with Mason, Bruce & Girard.

Our Guiding Principles

Our Vision

We combine our passion for sound stewardship of natural resources and our deep commitment to client satisfaction to deliver a level of consulting unrivaled for 100 years.

Core Values

Integrity – honesty, doing the right thing, independent
Expertise – best at what we do, getting it right
Positivity – great attitude, personable, helpful
Motivation – strong work ethic, motivated, taking on challenges
Collaboration – communicating with team, working together to achieve common goals

Our Mission

Mason, Bruce & Girard is dedicated to advancing informed natural resource management using innovative ideas and time-tested expertise. We provide our clients with the tools and information needed to manage ecosystems to promote economic, social, and environmental values. Through collaboration, integrity, and a commitment to excellence, we aim to be a positive force in shaping a sustainable future.

Guided by our core values, we will
accomplish our mission by:

• Fostering long-term business relationships by providing clients with timely and credible services and products.

• Building long-term strategic partnerships.

• Providing a multi-disciplinary approach to projects through the integration of our core areas of expertise.

• Seeking new challenges and growing our business by expanding our expertise, providing our services to existing clients, and by increasing our geographical service area.

• Developing creative solutions and applying advancements in science and technology applicable to client need.

• Valuing our employees as our most important resource. We will foster the development of a well-trained, highly-motivated, accountable, and team-oriented staff that is responsive to client needs and demonstrates the highest standards of integrity. We will respect our employees’ needs to balance their professional and personal lives.

• Managing our business profitably to ensure long-term corporate success and expanding employee opportunities and rewards.

Our Principals & Associates

We are proud to continue to use their names – David Mason, Donald Bruce, and James Girard – and follow the course they set. MB&G’s current principals and associates work with the firm’s staff to bring to every project the experience and skills relevant to today’s complicated natural resource world.

Mike Lester

PRESIDENT

Mike has used his business education to help MB&G achieve financial success by strengthening our operations and customer service. Since joining MB&G in 1991, Mike Lester has focused on making the firm’s administrative systems function at high efficiency. When not working for MB&G, Mike can be found playing piano and guitar in his home studio that he and his son built over the last few years. 

Reggie Fay

PRINCIPAL

Reggie is responsible for managing the Inventory & Biometrics and Land Management divisions. His work includes forest inventory data management for both industrial and non-industrial landowners and investment companies, as well as forest inventory analysis in support of forest land appraisals and due diligence. Reggie enjoys spending time with his wife, two teenage sons, and his Boston Terrier traveling, hiking, biking, and anything that keeps the family outside and moving.

Erin VanDehey

PRINCIPAL

Erin is responsible for strengthening the Environmental Services Group in both project opportunities and team development. She has over 15 years of successful operations management and 25 years of program and project management experience in natural resource consulting. Erin enjoys spending time with her family outdoors kayaking, fishing, and exercising their rambunctious dog.

Mike Buffo

DIRECTOR

Mike is a senior forest economist and is the Director of MB&G’s Technical Services Group. He manages long-term forest planning, forest economics, field data collection, and forest policy analysis projects. Mike enjoys road running races, biking, and hiking. He also volunteers with a non-profit that works with solar power in rural Zambia.

Roger Lord, ACF

PRINCIPAL EMERITUS

Roger is a principal emeritus and senior appraiser at MB&G. He has over 30 years of experience in the areas of timberland appraisal, acquisition and divestiture due diligence, forest economics, and planning. He is a state certified appraiser in OR, WA, ID, and MT. Roger and his wife are avid fans of the Portland Timbers and Thorns professional soccer teams and can usually be found at the Park on game days. He also enjoys historical fiction and traveling.

Brent Keller

ASSOCIATE

Brent has 30 years of experience in forest management, including 25 years at MB&G and five years in private industry. Brent’s land management, project management, and forest inventory experience is extensive and includes projects across the Western United States, Alaska, and Canada. Brent loves Baseball, Hunting, Fishing, and has an extensive music collection of over 3,000 Vinyl Records, CDs, and Cassette Tapes.

Stuart Myers, CERP

ASSOCIATE

Stuart is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner (CERP) with a focus on natural resource assessment, impact mitigation and restoration while improving built and natural environments. Stuart is an avid outdoor recreator and can often be found running rivers with fishing rod in hand, seeking out powder turns on his snowboard, and experiencing the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest with his family.

Wendy Wente, Ph.D.

ASSOCIATE

Wendy is an ecologist and wildlife biologist with extensive experience in meeting the environmental consulting needs of public and private sector clients. Wendy has over 20 years of experience specializing in fish and wildlife surveys, wildlife habitat assessment, and mitigation design and implementation. In her spare time, Wendy enjoys riding her Oregon BLM mustang, Greyson.

Holly Hill

ASSOCIATE

Holly is a marketing manager focusing on supporting long-term growth, and all other internal and external marketing functions for MB&G. She enjoys reading, traveling, baking, and spending time with her niece.

Phil Bailey, MAI

ASSOCIATE

Phil is the Senior Appraiser for the Eastern US and International properties and leads MB&G’s Appraisal Services Group. He has over 20 years of experience appraising properties across the US, Central America, South America and Europe.  Phil is a Certified General Appraiser in 15 eastern states and is an MAI Designated member of the Appraisal Institute. Phil enjoys traveling with his wife and 2 teenagers as well as hiking, camping, and reading newspapers.

Join our team

As a firm, we strive to find the best possible solutions for our clients, which means we make sure that all environmental regulations are being properly observed, and we work to find a balanced approach that supports both environmental and economic goals. If you share our commitment to environment, to clients, and to excellence in science and technology, we’d like to talk with you about your career.

Partners

MB&G has a long history of partnerships. We are proud to work together with other firms to bring our clients the best solutions we can.

We're here to help.