Candice Stevenson, a Forest native and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) refuge manager in Florida has been named the new fire communication and education specialist for the National Park Service (NPS) Division of Fire and Aviation. The promotion will take McCormick and her family from Florida to Boise, Idaho for her new position.
Tina Boehle, who formerly held the position of fire communication and education specialist, became the division’s chief for communication and education which left McCor-mick’s new position unfil-led until early November when she was offered, and promptly accepted, the position.
Stevenson is the daughter of Hardy and Betty McCormick of Forest and is a 1996 graduate of Forest High School. She graduated from East Central Community College in 1998 and moved on to Mississippi State University where she completed her undergraduate and graduate studies. Stevenson has 15 years of experience with the USFWS.
“I’m very excited for the promotion and this opportunity,” Stevenson said. “This is something I really wanted to do and when the job came open I had to apply even though I thought it was a long shot. I originally applied in July so this was a long process, but when I was offered the position, I was very surprised and excited.”
While completing her Master’s Degree at MSU, she worked concurrently with Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge in the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP).
Candice has served as refuge manager for Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge in central Florida for the past five years.
Hardy McCormick said that he and his wife could not be prouder of their daughter’s accomplishments. “All I can say is that it’s beyond words how proud we are of Candy. She figured out exactly what she wanted to do, and she has done so well at every step of the way,” Hardy said.
While working in Florida, Stevenson developed a passion for wildland fire management and providing information to the public to promote advocacy for wildland fire management activities. She became a wildland firefighter in 2011 and a public information officer in 2013.
She currently serves as the USFWS representative and deputy chairperson on the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, PIO Subcommittee (PIOSC). The PIOSC provides national leadership in all areas of wildland fire public information management.
“I’m looking forward to Candice joining the NPS fire and aviation communication and education program. She’s a proven leader, and her expertise will strengthen our internal and external outreach for NPS aviation, structural fire, and wildland fire, as well as interagency wildland fire management,” said branch chief, Boehle.
“After I applied for the position in July almost two months went by with no word,” Stevenson said. “The first of September I was contacted about interviewing for the position and the date of the interview happened to be one day before I was scheduled to have surgery to remove kidney stones. When I went in for the interview, I was nervous about the surgery and the interview, and I just didn’t know how well it went. When I received the call in November I was so excited, and my husband and I knew this was the right thing at the right time for our family.”
Stevenson and her husband Stacy have two girls, Cheyenne, 18 and Layla,10. She and her family look forward to moving to a new part of the country and plan to take advantage of the cultural and recreational activities near Boise.
“We are both excited about moving to Boise. I have been there for training, but he has not been there yet. He was a little unsure of moving our family all the way across the country in the beginning, but since I accepted the position he has been just as excited as I am.” She added.
Stevenson’s mother Betty said this just shows that you can achieve anything you put your mind to. “I’m without a doubt proud of her. This is proof you can do anything you want to do in life. You just have to know what you want and put your head down and work to do it.” she said.
Candice will begin her new position in early December and move to Boise in January 2020. Her position will be located at the National Interagency Fire Center, which serves as headquarters for the National Park Service Division of Fire and Aviation and other interagency wildland fire management partnering agencies.
