The Manuel F. Correllus State Forest is currently without a full-time superintendent following the departure of Chris Bruno in March, state officials confirmed this week.

Mr. Bruno had been forest superintendent since 2017. A spokesman for the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) confirmed in an email Wednesday that Mr. Bruno had left, although he could not confirm the reason or say whether a search is under way to replace him.

“At this time, DCR is reviewing forest management options, and has an assigned firefighter strategically positioned on the Island working closely with the agency’s park operations division,” Troy Wall, director of communications for DCR, wrote.

But Adam Moore, executive director of the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, who has worked closely with Mr. Bruno on trails and other projects, said he had moved to Kentucky to take another forestry job.

“Chris was a good ambassador and a good face of DCR on the Vineyard,” Mr. Moore said. “He will be missed.”

Robert Woodruff, a West Tisbury resident who spearheaded the formation of a friends of the state forest group two years ago, said Karen Lothrop, a state forest firefighter, has been filling in as acting superintendent, commuting several days a week from the DCR regional office in Sandwich.

The 5,000-acre-plus state forest occupies a vast area in the center of the Island, protecting the Vineyard’s sole source aquifer. The forest includes some 100 miles of trails and fire lanes and diverse habitat, and is widely used for hunting and recreation.

When he took the job in 2017 Mr. Bruno became the fourth person to serve as state forest superintendent since it was established in 1908. The late Manny Correllus was the first superintendent, followed by longtime superintendent John Varkonda, who died suddenly in 2014. Since then the forest superintendency has seen turnover.

Mr. Woodruff expressed concern about the lack of forest management this summer.

“There is very important habitat. Some of the biggest array of rare plants and moths in all the Northeast,” he told the Gazette by phone. “There is maintenance and oversight that is needed on the property . . . it is certainly of concern.”

And with the advent of wildfire season, he said there is added concern. Mr. Bruno was in charge of hiring temporary fire tower watchers for the summer, he said.

“The risk of fire increases without a supervisor,” Mr. Woodruff said. “The Island has a scary list of ten, fifteen, twenty thousand-acre fires . . . the area is, and was, and ever will be fire prone.”