forestry

The first weekend of the first ever Women in Wildland Fire Boot Camp exceeded the expectations of boot camp organizer, Bequi Livingston.

“The first session of our boot camp programs were beyond incredible and certainly one of the highlights of my career. I think that we have certainly developed a model for future use that is very successful and provides so much ownership at the field level,” Livingston said.

For over a century, toxic runoff from the Blue Ledge Mine destroyed  aquatic life and fisheries in Joe Creek, a tributary to the world-famous Rogue River in Oregon.

Volunteers play an integral part in helping the Forest Service reach its annual goals in managing healthy national forests.  And on Alabama’s Talladega National Forest, three exceptional volunteers have dedicated countless hours towards this work:  John Calhoun, Ray Bittle and Charles Laminack.

Remember the devastating floods in Vermont – the worst in a century – that made national headlines late last August?  Hurricane Irene pounded Vermont and the Green Mountain National Forest and New Hampshire and the White Mountain National Forest with up to 12 inches of rain in less than a day.  Many communities were left reeling from the massive flood damage for weeks and months in post-storm recovery efforts.

More than 500 road miles and 200 bridges and culverts were destroyed or damaged.  Communities were left stranded by the flood’s devastation of the transportation infrastructure.  Millions of dollars of property damage occurred.  Residents also suffered increased costs related to emergency service access, commuting time and lost tourism revenue.  Aquatic life was also harmed when heavy machinery cleared “debris” and reshaped rivers.

The Forest Service recently unveiled a product that helps natural resource managers rapidly detect, identify and respond to unexpected changes in the nation's forests by using web-based tools.

The satellite-based monitoring and assessment tool aptly called ForWarn, recognizes and tracks potential forest disturbances caused by insects, diseases, wildfires, extreme weather, or other natural or human-caused events believed by many scientists to be caused in part by climate change.

For nearly 70 years, Smokey Bear has been a fixture in America’s history as the stalwart defender of our forests and his “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires” resonates no matter how young or old you are.

Two new Forest Service films have been honored with prestigious Silver Telly Awards for excellence in non-fiction filmmaking.

The U.S. Forest Service is making strides in monitoring energy and water consumption at several of the Agency’s facilities by installing software called the Advanced Metering Program, which accurately reports water and energy consumption.

The project is being lead by the U.S. Forest Service’s National Sustainable Operations Team. In the near future, monitoring devises will be installed at most Forest Service facilities that are larger than 10,000 square feet, or have electrical energy costs that exceed $40,000 per year. Software will collect the data and make it available for viewing online.

Volunteers from the U.S. Forest Service joined forces with Leon County, Florida residents recently to participate in the county’s 17^th annual Super-Clean Sweep cleanup activities which included parts of the Apalachicola National Forest.

The county-wide event was part of the “Keep Tallahassee Leon County Beautiful” program which drew nearly 100 volunteers from county and city agencies, local organizations and local citizens.