forestry

The USDA Forest Service has released an updated report today that documents how national forests provide economic, health and recreational benefits.

The National Visitor Use Monitoring (NVUM) Report states that recreation activities on national forests and grasslands have helped to sustain an estimated 223,000 jobs in rural areas and have contributed approximately $14.5 billion annually to the U.S. economy.

By Phil Sammon, USDA Forest Service Public Affairs

As part of the federal response to wildland fires, The USDA Forest Service Fire and Aviation management team follows stringent guidelines to provide the most capable, experienced, well-trained and equipped men and women in both initial attack and sustained fire fighting operations anywhere in the US and overseas. Our leaders at all levels, our crews, our equipment, and our interagency support and cooperation are unequalled anywhere in the world. This level of proficiency, logistics support, and decision-making processes, didn’t happen overnight and it does not maintain itself in a haphazard manner.

When it comes to natural disasters and tragedies, most people opt for complete avoidance. But what should you do when it is not a matter of avoidance, but minimizing risk? Most experts will agree that being prepared to adapt to the expected conditions is the best plan:

The term ‘restoration’ usually conjures up pictures of fine antiques, autos, or other rarities and collectibles, restored to original condition but not necessarily used in their original roles: you won’t find many restored autos in rush hour traffic.

There is an excitement at USDA with respect to bioenergy and biofuels and much is going on – a BIOFRENZY if you will – not in a sense of chaos – but rather many challenges and much to do.  The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) provisions of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 will be implemented July 1, 2010. The RFS2 calls for 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels to be used in the US transportation fuel supply by 2022 - and the majority of this total must be advanced biofuels.

By Phil Sammon, USDA Forest Service Public AffairsTry something a little different for breakfast over the next three weeks with the USDA Forest Service – “Hot Links”! The agency has developed a three-week informational series centered around wildfire prevention and awareness, community planning, wildfire response and resource and landscape restoration information.

The National Academy of Sciences last week released a set of three new reports on advancing the science, adapting to the impacts, and limiting the magnitude of climate change. These peer-reviewed reports reconfirmed that there is a strong, credible body of evidence documenting climate change, its correlation to greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use, and its association with impacts. Many of these will affect forests and grasslands including increases in intense rainfall, decreases in snow cover, more intense and frequent heat waves and drought, increases in wildfires, and longer growing seasons. Many impacts of a changing climate are already showing up. Projections anticipate an additional warming of 2 to 11.5 degrees F over the next century, on top of the 1.4 degrees F already observed over the past 100 years.

By Phil Sammon

While many of their contemporaries across the country may have had their hands on game controllers this week, 1,700 junior high school students from Great Falls, Montana public schools had their hands on caddisfly and mayfly larvae, crayfish, snails, clams, plus a wide range of plants, seeds, and soil types – all in the name of conservation education and science.

By Phil Sammon, Forest Service

Hindsight always proves to be most clear the farther you get from an event. The myths and legends of the event and the anecdotal side stories fade with time when held against the truths of the event or situation. Similarly, the projections and visions of the future impacts of the event can be quite different than what is first conjectured immediately afterward.

By Phil Sammon

Birds do it. Bees do it. Even bats and small mammals do it. So it’s only natural that the Conservation Education Department of the USDA Forest Service worked with other conservation education partners to do it – pollinate!