Late February – 2024

Confronting the Wildfire Crisis Video Series

Confronting the Wildfire Crisis Video Series This is a video series about how the USDA Forest Service is Confronting the Wildfire Crisis. Wildfires have been growing in size, duration, and destructivity. Growing wildfire risk is due to accumulating fuels, a warming climate, and expanding development in the wildland-urban interface. The risk has reached crisis proportions, calling for decisive action to protect people and communities while improving forest health and resilience. The Forest Service, together with tribes and partners, developed a Wildfire Crisis Strategy to focus on strategic fuels and forest health treatments at the scale of the problem, using the best available knowledge and science as the guide.  Read more…

African American Contributions to the Forest Service.

African American Contributions to the Forest Service In the face of challenges like widespread discrimination and restrictions imposed by twentieth century government sanctioned policies segregating Black Americans, the ranks of the Forest Service grew with Black employees, who through their lives of service became leaders in civil rights, champions of equity, and agents of change that paved the way for those of us in this agency who now stand on their shoulders. As the Forest Service embarks on its next 100 years, this is a story that must be told, so that we learn and do not forget. Listen to the first in a series of stories from those that spent the majority of their careers serving America’s Forests and Grasslands.  Read more…

Shanisha Reese, deputy director of engineering for the Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region. (USDA Forest Service photo by Andrew Avitt)

Find your path: One engineer’s story Consider looking at the forest from another perspective — you arrived there by road, launched your boat by ramp, crossed a canyon by bridge, and maybe used a wildland restroom. These amenities happened thanks to more than 1,000 civil engineers working for the USDA Forest Service across the country. Shanisha Reese is one of those civil engineers, working at the Pacific Southwest regional office in Vallejo, California. Although, when she started her career in engineering, the Forest Service wasn’t even a consideration. Read more…

Ash Trees attacked by emerald ash borer have distinct S-shaped or “serpentine” galleries (tunnels) beneath the bark.  These tunnels are approximately 1/8 inch wide and are packed with frass (a fine mixture of sawdust and insect excrement). (USDA Forest Service photo)

The future of ash trees: Tribal collaboration aims to protect ash trees in the northeast In Maine, a coalition of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, tribal members, state and federal foresters, conservation groups, and local communities have been working for the past twenty years to prepare for the onset of emerald ash borer in northeastern forests. The group, called the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik, is focused on identifying research-informed strategies to protect the future of ash trees. Read more…

A newly planting seedling is sheltered by a charred mature tree. This planting site will help it retain water and stay protected from the elements as it grows. (USDA Forest Service photo by Erika Reiter)

Sprucing up high-elevation forests: Working together to improve post-fire watershed health After the intense wildfires of 2020, Forest Service managers and scientists teamed up with conservation groups, water utilities, and universities. Their mission: To fix the damage to watersheds in the aftermath of massive high-elevation blazes. Read more…

Tonto National Forest Silviculturist Patty Ringle (right) updates partners from the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management on Phase 1 of the Dude Fire Restoration Project during a summer 2023 tour of the area. (USDA Forest Service photo).

Dude Fire restoration project: A beacon of hope for forest resilience “Living with fire” — understanding its role in ecology, management and communities – is an expression that became all too real for Arizonans following the devastating Dude Fire that occurred 33 years ago. By the time firefighters declared the Dude Fire “controlled” 10 days later, it had burned more than 24,000 acres in two national forests, destroyed 63 homes and claimed the lives of six firefighters. It led federal and state agencies to ask how they could improve forest resiliency and reduce the wildfire risk to communities and infrastructure. After thorough interdisciplinary research using the best sciences available, the answer was the Dude Fire Restoration Project.  Read more…