Forest Service Features

Woodsy Owl’s Solar Eclipse Tips: For a fun, safe, and environmentally friendly viewing experience on public lands

Are you excited, too? A total solar eclipse will cross the United States on April 8, 2024, in a path from Texas through Maine and passing through five national forests. The path of totality – the area where the moon will completely block out the sunlight – will draw millions of people to experience it.

Here are six eclipse tips for a safe and enjoyable solar eclipse viewing experience on national forests and grasslands. Read more…

Mechanical thinning, prescribed fire or both? Study shows fuel treatments improve wildfire outcomes

Sometimes out of adversity comes wisdom. That was a lesson Pacific Southwest Research Station Ecologist Eric Knapp learned after the 2021 Antelope Fire burned through long-term research plots in northeastern California.

“I realized the fire presented a rare opportunity,” said Knapp. “We could see how fuel treatments performed in real-world conditions.” Read more…

A family fire legacy: Work, life and the evolution of firefighter culture

Matthew Rau was five years old when his family moved into government housing at a U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service ranger station. Some of his earliest memories are waking up in the mornings and seeing wildland firefighters exercising around the compound. He studied their work ethic and camaraderie and knew from that young age he wanted to be part of it. It was his path.

Now, amidst the adrenaline-fueled rush of managing wildfires, Rau acknowledges a quieter struggle—a struggle against the mental toll of the job. For him and countless other firefighters, the rapid transitions inherent in their work can create unique challenges. Read more…

Extreme wildfires take a toll on California wildlife

Extreme wildfires tore through California, burning more than 4.2 million acres from 2020 through 2021. The fires were like none ever recorded in modern history. Their devastation of human communities was well-documented, but their toll on wildlife was largely unknown.

Forest Service scientists made it their mission to find out. Their efforts focused on how wildlife contended with extreme wildfires in the Sierra Nevada, southern Cascades, and Klamath Mountains. Read more…

The Shoshone National Forest is a first among forests

The heart of Wyoming has a special and sacred place called the Shoshone National Forest. Boasting a rich tapestry of history and an array of breathtaking sites the Shoshone beckons sightseers from all over the country and the world. This pristine wilderness, established as one of the first national forest in the United States was actually designated as public lands many years before the US Forest Service was even established in 1905. Read more…

Forecasting avalanches: Forest Service avalanche specialists help keep us informed and safe

You know about weather forecasters. What about avalanche forecasters?

As the number of new people in backcountry continues to grow, the need for Avalanche Centers around the country to increase avalanche awareness, provide avalanche forecasts, education, and data, and reduce avalanche impacts has become more important than ever. This is especially important in the transition from winter to spring – when avalanches are more likely to occur. Read more…

There’s an app for that! Community monitoring for responsible mining in Zimbabwe

In biodiversity-rich areas of Zimbabwe, women, men, and even children venture into national parks and other protected areas to dig and sluice for gold, platinum, and diamonds. The work is associated with unsafe working conditions; the illegal use of mercury and cyanide, unrehabilitated pits, and environmental damage. Miners can fall sick, communities can lose drinking water, and the precious metals they unearth can contribute to and fund conflicts and corruption.

A new application developed with the Forest Service helps local community monitors pinpoint exactly where illegal and irresponsible mining is occurring and upload photos of sites and detail the practices miners are using there. Read more…