Born on the shores of Lake Superior during an early November gale in 1962, Forrest Chad Wilkinson was six of eight children born to John Francis Wilkinson and Randine Marie Jacobson. Educated in Savage then Collegeville, he graduated high school in 1981 from the tiny Mississippi River town of Sartell. Since returning from Submarine Sonar duty in late 1987, he has traversed all eighty seven counties of Minnesota. Working in Tree and Timber, soil and water, stump and lectern, Forrest C. Wilkinson; Minnesota ecologist, continues to celebrate and educate others about the wonderful State of his Birth, Minnesota.