history

p>Imagine that it’s 1936. The Great Depression is in its seventh year, more than 20% of Americans are unemployed, and in five years the country will enter the fray of World War II. Many Americans are left with little more than the comfort of friends, family and the great outdoors. And, if you are...

On October 1, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) celebrated our tenth anniversary. Ten years ago, we replaced the former Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service when Congress established NIFA through the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub. L. No...

It takes a special person to spend two weeks of hard-earned vacation time delicately slicing through layers of soil to unearth the past as part of an archeological dig or hand sawing logs for re-birth of a worn-down historical cabin. The U.S. Forest Service has a deep appreciation for the thousands...

On January 15, 1967, the Green Bay Packers faced off against the Kansas City Chiefs in the very first Super Bowl. On that day, few of the estimated 51 million fans gathered around their television sets realized the profound impact the Super Bowl would have on chicken consumption in the United States...

Nanebah Nez turned to a roomful of U.S. Department of the Interior employees and asked quietly for a moment to herself. When the group of curators left, Nez turned her attention to an 80-year-old piece of her ancestral past and quietly began her private prayer in Navajo, “Yáat’eeh Shinaali,” or...

In the Flat Tops Wilderness of Colorado, there is a grand rock formation named the Amphitheatre that serves as the backdrop for the overlook to Trappers Lake known as the Cradle of Wilderness. The area forms a sort of natural amphitheater of majestic volcanic cliffs, 320 surface acres of pristine...

Three out of every five Civil War battles were fought in Virginia, so it should come as no surprise that some of the work of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is taking place on hallowed ground. In Winchester, Va., the agency is partnering with the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields...

On Jan. 2, 1914, the federal government bought a 7,000-acre parcel in Benton, N.H. from E. Bertram Pike at a price of $13.25 per acre. "We're commemorating the first acquisition of what became the White Mountain National Forest, one of New Hampshire's jewels," said David Govatski, a retired Forest...

When the U.S. Forest Service was established in 1905, the common belief was that only men were physically and mentally capable of working outdoors for the agency. In the early 20th century, women were limited primarily to roles as administrative clerks. But in 1913, Hallie M. Daggett was hired as...