Ronnie emigrated to the U.S. via Thailand's refugee camp in late October of 1978 as a refugee. He went on to graduate from Beaverton High School, received a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture, with an emphasis in environmental planning and design, from the University of Oregon in 1988. He has been serving as a Landscape Architect/Planner on two national forests in the Pacific Northwest Region in the past twelve years. He is currently serving as a District Landscape Architect for the Bend/Fort Rock Ranger District and Special Emphasis Program Manager (in CR & EEO) for Asian/Pacific Islander American for the Deschutes National Forest in Bend, Oregon. Born and reared in Siem Reap Angkor province of the world renounced Angkor World Heritage Site in the Kingdom of Cambodia, Ranachith (Ronnie) Yimsut fled Cambodia after two decades of turmoil where he witnessed the massacre of nearly his entire family under the Khmer Rouge genocide regime. He became an orphan, a refugee, and a "political" prisoner at the age of fourteen. He is now a proud naturalized U.S. citizen, a family man, a professional, a tax payer, an author, an educator, and a volunteer back in his native homeland. Ronnie spent a year (1993-94) in Cambodia where he worked as a Volunteer Development Specialist attached to USAID funded Cambodian-American National Development Organization. He worked in human resource development, including micro-business development to assist urban poor families, instruction/training to university students, special forest products income generation in rural and remote areas, urban and rural planning, animal and seed banks management to support local farmers. He is a co-founder of "Big Brother, Big Sister" program in Cambodia which has supported and served over 200 orphans from local orphanages in Cambodia. He is currently serving as an Environmental Consultant to the World Monuments Fund, a worldwide non-profit organization based in New York City, on conservation projects at Angkor World Heritage Site in Siem Reap Angkor province, his birthplace. Serving as the Deschutes National Forest Special Emphasis Program Manager (SEPM) for Asian/ Pacific Islander (A/PI) on Civil Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity, Ronnie has been active in providing professional services to the Deschutes NF employees and the diverse forest visitors/workers, including SE Asians. He has been busy working with the Matsutake mushroom program where ethnic diversity is a major issue on the Deschutes NF. He is also active on issues facing by his SE Asian communities and community in his native Cambodia. Ronnie's favorite hobbies include: ethnic food & music, native arts & crafts, language, history, custom, cultural awareness, community service/volunteering, gardening, as well as numerous other outdoor recreation activities. Married to Thavy (who is a Computer System Manager for the USDA Forest Service and also a Khmer-American) since 1986, both have a school-aged daughter and a young son.
Works by Ranachit Ronnie Yimsut: Life is a Poem Tonle Sap Lake Massacre Fight for Survival Escape from Cambodia The Road to Pailin Land of the Free, Home of the Brave
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