forestry

More and more these days we recognize that clean water is one of the most important products of our forests.  Forest lands are the source of nearly two-thirds of water in the 48 contiguous states -- the clean water that fills our rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands, sustains our fisheries, or flows from the taps of our homes and businesses.  Forests serve as a living sponge to capture, store and slowly release precipitation as well as trapping and transforming the chemicals and nutrient deposits that come in the rain or from adjacent runoff.  All the benefits that forests provide—like erosion and sediment control, maintenance of water quality, regulation of flows, and provision of clean drinking water—are called ecosystem services, and in this case can be called watershed services.

Although the U.S. Forest Service Planning Rule is still a draft document, it has helped to produce environmental change for one special group of involved students. Over the past year this special group of young adults attended planning rule public sessions, followed developing issues, and then provided some input of their own. Through their diligence and proactive engagement, some of their concerns have made it into the draft planning rule.

In 1995, the Girl Scouts of the USA adopted “Linking Girls to the Land,” a program supported by the U.S. Forest Service and one that echoes the non-profit organization’s nearly decade-long legacy of helping to build girls of courage, confidence and character, and who make the world a better place.

On Saturday, March 12, as they have all week during National Girl Scout Week, the organization will honor founder Juliette Gordon Low, who organized the nation’s first Girl Scout Troop with just 18 girls in Savannah, Ga., 99 years ago. Congress chartered the Girl Scouts of the USA on March 16, 1950.

The U.S. Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service honored partnerships in four states for outstanding efforts in conservation and forest stewardship.

The National Joint Forestry Team, comprised of the Forest Service, NRCS, conservation districts, and state forestry organizations, sponsors the Two Chiefs’ Partnership Award. Award winners work in partnership with the team’s agencies and organizations.

My team at the U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station recently completed a study of the District of Columbia’s urban forest using the publicly available, free iTree software suite. Understanding an urban forest's structure, function and value can promote management decisions that will improve human health and environmental quality. Urban trees clean our air, capture stormwater and provide huge energy savings.

Like in many communities, tree care in Casper, Wyo. was largely reactive and just one of many duties performed by the Public Services Department staff. Year after year of seeing trees removed without a plan for replacement worried the city staff members who performed tree work. No one, however, had any basis for articulating an argument that Casper’s prized legacy—their tree canopy—was poised for imminent decline. The last large scale tree planting initiative in Casper was at the end of World War II and their urban forest, full of Siberian elms, was not aging gracefully. For a few staff members, finding a way to make a compelling argument to care for community trees that was cost effective, accessible and credible became their personal charge.

The wait is over! The U.S. Forest Service unveiled its proposed Forest Planning Rule today. This proposed rule is the outcome of the most participatory planning rule development process in Forest Service history. Based on your feedback gathered online and during more than 40 public meetings hosted across the nation, we think we’ve crafted a proposed rule that reflects the public and Tribal input received so far, our expertise, current science, and regulatory requirements.  The proposed rule would establish a new national framework to develop land management plans that protect water and wildlife and promote vibrant communities. Now, we are seeking your comments on the proposed rule to help us develop a final rule that will have broad support and endure over time.

One way to help reconnect today's children to the outdoors is through gardening. Schoolyard gardens are places where students not only learn about wildlife species and ecosystems, but also become outdoor classrooms where they hone their academic skills and nurture their innate curiosity and creativity.

Register for the web seminar for teachers from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Feb. 8. Presentations will demonstrate how gardens can be started, maintained, and incorporated into instructional activities.

Woodsy Owl and Forest Service staff members visited Braddock Elementary School in Fairfax County, Virginia on Friday, Jan. 14 to kickoff the school-wide Recycling Program.  Forest Service employees were part of a K-2^nd grade assembly that focused on educating students about the four R’s—reduce, reuse, recycle and rot.

Tamberly Conway, Conservation Education Coordinator, along with Maritza Huerta from Sustainable Operations, gave a Spanish and English bilingual presentation to kids about how recycling benefits the environment. The students were also offered a hands-on opportunity to practice making compost, an essential part of the “rot” portion of the four R’s.

Do you have any idea how many ornaments it takes to decorate a 67-foot-tall Christmas tree? Do you ever count your ornaments? For this year’s Capitol Christmas Tree Wyoming did.