Kusano, John
John Kusano
John Kusano is a retired forester with a 35-year United States Forest Service (USFS) career. Throughout his career, he advocated for increased diversity in the USFS and recruited many minority students into environmental careers. He held various positions with the USFS, including as the Assistant Director of Human Resources, Senior Staff Assistant for Business Operations, and Division Director for HR Policy and Strategy. He is the Vice Chair of the Advisory Council at the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership and helps advance Asian-Pacific representation.
“We have such valuable and beautiful public lands in this country; being associated with them has been a pleasure and an honor.” - John Kusano, 2005.
John Kusano was born in 1953 to Toshi and Jim Hagimori as the middle of three children. He is a third-generation Japanese-American, the grandson of immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in the 1920s. Kusano grew up raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where his father owned a restaurant, and his mother was a hospital worker. Kusano describes the Bay Area as a place of significant natural beauty where he was always connected to nature and the outdoors. That bond prompted him to study forestry at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of California at Berkeley. Kusano’s interest in the environment grew during college when he camped for forty-five days with friends on public lands nationwide. He graduated in 1983 from the University of California- Berkeley.
After college, Kusano began working as a forester for the United States Forest Service (USFS), focusing on restoring landscapes. In addition to his work as a forester, he was interested in civil rights issues and helped the agency with diversity recruitment, mentoring, and leadership training programs. In 1990, Kusano became a Forest Service Civil Rights staff member, formally taking on the diversity recruitment and leadership programs. He advanced to the National Headquarters in Human Resources and Civil Rights in 1993, and in 1997, Kusano became the Director of Civil Rights of the Southwestern region of the USFS. After three years in this position, he was promoted to Assistant Director of Human Resources. He remained in human resources at the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the Division Director for HR Policy and Strategy.
Kusano found his work at the USFS compelling – he got to work in great places, with great people, doing great jobs. Working with the public lands and the natural resources they hold is a career highlight for Kusano. As he sees it, “working with people who are involved with public lands is a highlight – they tend to be very dedicated to their jobs and the mission of the agency in preserving and protecting the public lands of this country” (Taylor, 2005).
In 2009, Kusano became a Senior Staff Assistant for Research and Development at the USFS. In 2012, he was named Senior Staff Assistant for Business Operations. In these roles, he helped facilitate organizational effectiveness, recruit students to the agency, and served as the cultural transformation coordinator.
In 2011, Kusano helped develop the bylaws and constitution for the Asian Pacific American Employees Association (APAEA) at the USFS. The APAEA was created in 1993 to support Asian employees at the USFS. The APAEA advocates for community involvement, student recruitment, and USFS initiatives in support and partnership with Asian Pacific Americans. In 2013, the AEPAEA recognized Kusano’s contributions to supporting and mentoring Asian employees with a USFS Proclamation. In 2014, Kusano retired from the USFS.
Kusano is the Historic Preservation Director at the 1882 Foundation, an organization focused on increasing awareness of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. He also serves as Vice Chair of the Advisory Council at the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL). CAPAL is dedicated to increasing opportunities and empowering Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Asian Americans. The organization believes strongly in public service. In line with the organization’s goals, Kusano helped CAPAL establish an internship program with the USFS.
Kusano notes that he had many mentors guide him in his career. He says, “People are very generous with their advice in the Forest Service and in helping folks who are trying to move up in the organization” (Taylor, 2005). He explains that foresters with technical expertise, colleagues with management experience, and human resources personnel have mentored him throughout his career.
Kusano considers his role as a mentor as “probably the most important thing I do during the course of his day” (Taylor, 2005). This was evident in the programs he led he led at the USFS. One, Leadership Success, identifies and mentors future leaders of the USFS. Kusano is most proud of creating a recruitment initiative at the University of California at Davis that focuses on recruiting Asian-Pacific Americans. He also managed a national program focused on recruitment at targeted universities, including historically Black colleges, Hispanic serving institutions, and tribal colleges.
He advises minorities considering a career in the field “that there are many opportunities and I think it’s a growing field, particularly in the area of providing services to and otherwise representing the interest of minority communities” (Taylor, 2005). As the fastest-growing segment of the American population, minorities are increasingly impacted by what happens in the environment. “It’s very important for minorities that have connections back to their communities to be involved in these issues so that the right decisions get made, and the right resources get applied to the right programs.” His dedication to the USFS, diversity, and the environment demonstrates this well.
Leadership Team. Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2023 from https://www.capal.org/site/leadership-team/
Leadership Team [Photo]. Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2023 from https://www.capal.org/site/leadership-team/
John Kusano. LinkedIn. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2023 fromhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/john-kusano-4875301b/
Taylor, Dorceta (Ed.). 2005. The Paths We Thread: Profiles of the Careers of Minority Environmental Professionals. Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment.
Leadership Team [Photo]. Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2023 from https://www.capal.org/site/leadership-team/