Gus Erdmann (MSO-53)
Posted: August 14, 2026
Gus, 93, died July26, 2026, in Marquette, Michigan. He was born May 20, 1933, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but raised in Wauwatosa with boyhood friend Fritz Wolfrum (MSO-53)
“My first USFS job was at the Ranger Station in Plains, Montana in 1952. Fritz and I drove 1600 miles to work for Ranger Ralph Hanson. We both rookied at Missoula in 1953 after training at Nine Mile Ranger Station.” Gus jumped 1953, 1957-58, and made 20 fire jumps.
“My worst fire was Frank Fowler’s (MSO-52) High Mountain two-manner. Fritz and I both jumped out of the DC-3 with 14 other jumpers. It took three days to put this one out.
“My most difficult two-manner was with Lee Lipscomb (MSO-58) on the Moose Creek R.D. Al Cramer (MSO-43) spotted us out of the Twin Beech. I came down inside Lee’s chute in a fire tree. We had difficulty finding the fire. Once we found it, we felled a very large tree with the cross-cut saw. Max Oro (GAC-58) and Doug Getz (GAC-58) came in as reinforcements.”
Gus was drafted into the Army where he served as a Sergeant in a field artillery division. Gus returned to the University of Montana where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s in Forest Science in 1960.
Gus worked for the USFS as a Research Forester at Iowa State University for six years. In 1966 he transferred to research in Management and Ecology at the Northern Hardwood Project in Marquette, Michigan, and later spent six years in Wisconsin with the North Central States Experimental Station. During his career, Gus wrote or co-authored more than 40 scientific publications. He retired from the Forest Service in 1989.
Gus loved smokejumping and his 30 years with the old Forest Service. In later years he liked being a consulting forester with small woodland owners. He is passionate about deer hunting, fishing in Canada, and being in the woods in Wisconsin.
