Matthew (Matt) Beach is living his dream of being an outdoor enthusiast. Not only does he get to play outside in central Oregon fishing, rock hounding, mushroom foraging, snowboarding, gardening, hanging out with friends, and building structures from sheds to chicken coops, but he also gets to work outside! Matt is a Natural Resources Conservation Service Coordinator for the southern Oregon area. His job includes providing small, private non-industrial landowners with forestry technical guidance. He inventories properties, writes prescriptions to fix properties, works with contractors to make sure the work is done correctly, and plans and executes community outreach programs. He LOVES his job.

Matt grew up in Aspen Park and graduated from Conifer High School in 2010. He received several scholarships from Bootstraps and was able to take advantage of the Mountain Community Bootstraps Loan Fund which provided interest-free loans to help him complete his education.

During spring break of his senior year, Matt was in a serious snowboarding accident and suffered injuries from his head to his toes. As a result of his injuries, some of which continue to plague him today, he wasn’t able to return to school for classes. March through May were challenging months for him, but he persevered and was able to use his crutches to walk across the stage with his classmates and graduate.

​Matt started his postsecondary education at Front Range Community College in Fort Collins. The scholarships and loans Matt received helped him tremendously. Not only did the scholarships help pay for his tuition, but his loans helped him with his living expenses. Matt couldn’t work initially because of the ongoing medical needs from his accident, so the loans helped pay his rent and alleviate stress.

Matt and his beloved trees

Receiving funding from Bootstraps also taught Matt to advocate for himself in his classes and empowered him to apply for other scholarships. After spending three years attending Front Range Community College, Matt transferred to Colorado State University where he applied for and was accepted into the Reisher Scholars Program which provided substantial funding for him to complete his education. The Reisher Scholars Program focuses on rising college sophomores and transfer students from community colleges who have already demonstrated academic and leadership potential. 

College was definitely a wakeup call for Matt in several areas. He had to learn how to study correctly and how to manage his time. Matt graduated from CSU with a 3.6 GPA and a degree in Natural Resources, so he obviously learned how to study and studied well.

After graduating from CSU, Matt held a seasonal job with Jeffco Open Space, worked for the Washington Department of Natural Resources, returned to Jeffco Open Space, and then landed his current position with the Oregon Department of Forestry. He started his job in Oregon one week before the pandemic hit. He didn’t know anyone in Oregon, everything was shut down, he was the only employee to go into the office, and yet he persevered and made his position into more than the job description.

Matt really enjoys serving as the liaison between the federal government, the state forestry department, and the landowners. He has such a friendly and sincere disposition and can get along well with everyone. Matt thrives on training landowners on how to manage their land so they will remain successful into the future, and he prefers working with landowners with land less than 5,000 acres. He also enjoys training employees and wouldn’t mind taking on more of a management role at some point as long as he can remain outside, hiking properties, and talking with landowners.

Matt is very appreciative of the funding he received from Bootstraps, and he believes it helped him to succeed. He said he felt empowered because the community told him, “We believe in you.” His empowerment translated into confidence that allowed him to apply for additional scholarships and, later, jobs. He thanks the entire Bootstraps community for having him be part of the Bootstraps family.