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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend August 15, 2005 Volunteer Werner Bruckner, right, nails on siding with the help of Sam Guisler on a Habitat for Humanity house in Central Point. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Giving back, one house at a time Hometown Hero By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune After a four-decade career helping to manage healthy forests, Central Point resident Werner Bruckner has come full circle in his relationship with trees. Bruckner gives some 20-plus hours each week helping Rogue Valley Habitat for Humanity build houses for low-income families with lumber from the very forests in which he worked. Bruckner, who retired from the U.S. Forest Service in 1999, started volunteering about three and a half years ago. "Back when I was still working for the Forest Service, I thought that would be a really neat thing to do, to work for Habitat," said Bruckner. "Not only to help other people as far as getting them into a home that they could afford, but to learn, sort of a selfish thing, how to build houses. � Whenever there was a housing project someplace, I would go see how this was done or that was done." Advertisement Bruckner and his wife, Jacuiline, began their volunteering efforts when Habitat broke ground on a series of duplexes in Central Point. While he’s picked up carpentry, landscaping and a slew of other skills along the way, he says he has no plans to call it quits. What else would he spend his time doing? "I think anyone should not really retire," the 66-year-old said. "They might retire, so to speak, from one career, but you need to go on and do something else to keep you going and keep you occupied." Born in Romania, Bruckner and his family were forced to move to Austria at the start of World War II. After a short time, they made their way to America, when Bruckner was 11 or 12. It was there he got his first taste of construction work, helping his father on construction sites. While Bruckner’s father worked as a civil engineer in his homeland, he was forced to find work in America utilizing carpentry, masonry and other construction skills he had learned before college. "In the summer, when my brother and I were not in school, we would help him. We would put in roofing, siding, flooring � and the house we lived in was an older house, so there were things to do," Bruckner said. Bruckner took forestry in college in eastern Pennsylvania, then went to work for the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station for Pennsylvania. After a stint in the Army in the early 1960s, Bruckner returned home to find his job had been eliminated. "Being in forestry, I knew the place to practice was out West," noted Bruckner. A young 20-something, Bruckner packed up his family and headed west to continue what would become a 36-year career with the U.S. Forest Service. Spending his time among various ranger districts in the Southern Oregon region, particularly in the Applegate, Bruckner spent much of his career in silviculture and in helping area ranger districts manage forest growth and issues such as drought and disease. Habitat project manager Nick Hale said Bruckner has great work ethic and has provided a much-needed continuity by his willingness to work Saturdays and to fill gaps when needed. "He’s there at least three days a week and sometimes more," Hale said. "Werner really stands out because of the extra time that he’s put in. ... The crew comes in Monday and Wednesday. He’s been doing that for years. Now he’s begun to come in on Saturdays to help supervise volunteers. He’s just always there when we need him." Bruckner shrugs off any praise, pointing at a handful of crew members who’d been around "a lot longer than I have." Bruckner said the feeling of doing something good, and continuing to have a job outdoors, keeps him going with Habitat. When the project ends in Central Point, he’ll be ready for whatever is next, he said. "It’s just really something to watch people show up and work on their home and learn and grow," Bruckner said. "I can’t imagine anything better than helping someone to build their own home. It’s very satisfying." For information on volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, contact the Medford office at 779-1983. Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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