From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (July 2007)

United States Forest Service
Logo of the U.S. Forest Service.
Agency overview
Formed	1905
Preceding Agency	Bureau of Forestry
Jurisdiction	Federal Government of the United States
Agency Executive	Abigail R. Kimbell, Chief of the US Forest Service
Parent agency	United States Department of Agriculture
Website
www.fs.fed.us

The USDA Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's national forests and national grasslands. In addition, the Research and Development branch of the Forest Service carries out research relevant to forest ecosystems and other natural resources.

Contents 1 History 2 Activities 3 Controversies 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

In 1876, Congress created the office of Special Agent in the Department of Agriculture to assess the state of the forests in the United States. Franklin B. Hough was appointed. In 1881, the office was expanded into the newly-formed Division of Forestry. The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 authorized withdrawing land from the public domain as "forest reserves," managed by the Department of the Interior. In 1901, the Division of Forestry was renamed the Bureau of Forestry. The Transfer Act of 1905 transferred the management of forest reserves from the General Land Office of the Interior Department to the Bureau of Forestry, henceforth known as the USDA Forest Service.

Other significant legislation includes: the Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act, P.L. 86-517; the National Forest Management Act, P.L. 94-588; the National Environmental Policy Act, P.L. 91-190; the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act, P.L. 95-313; the Forest and Rangelands Renewable Resources Planning Act, P.L. 95-307; and the National Forest Management Act of 1976.

Since 1978 several Presidents trusted the USFS with the administration of National Monuments inside of preexisting National Forests.

• Admiralty Island National Monument - Alaska
• Giant Sequoia National Monument - California
• Misty Fjords National Monument - Alaska
• Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument - Washington
• Newberry National Volcanic Monument - Oregon
• Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument - California (jointly with the Bureau of Land Management)

Across the whole United States, there are 155 national forests, organized into ranger districts employing district rangers and other personnel. The districts construct and maintain trails, operate campgrounds, regulate grazing, patrol wilderness areas, protect culturally significant heritage sites, and manage vegetation and wildlife habitat.

The Forest Service also has seven Regional Research Stations, including the International Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products Laboratory, that study the ecosystems of the National Forests among other things. The Forest Service also provides funding and technical assistance to non-federal land owners through a branch called State and Private Forestry.

Although a large volume of timber is logged every year, not all National Forests are entirely forested. There are tidewater glaciers in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska and ski areas such as Alta, Utah in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. In addition, the Forest Service is responsible for managing National Grasslands in the midwest. Furthermore, areas designated as Wilderness, which can so created by an act of Congress, prohibit logging, mining, road and building construction and land leases for purposes of farming and or livestock grazing.

In order to help prevent forest fires, the Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council started to release fire education posters featuring a Black Bear on August 9, 1944. The poster campaign was a success and the Black Bear would later be named "Smokey Bear" who for decades was the "spokesbear" for the Forest Service. Unfortunately, the ensuing decades of fire suppression unintentionally caused a buildup of fuels that replaced the historically natural fire regime of slow-burning, relatively cool brush fires with fast-burning, relatively hot wildfires in forest lands across the nation, particularly the West.

The U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement & Investigations (LEI), headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a federel law enforcement agency of the United States government. Law Enforcement covers enforcement of federal laws and regulations governing National Forest Lands and resources. Special agents are primarily used for investigations. Patrols are done primarily by Uniformed Law Enforcement Officers (LEO), completely provided with firearms. The LEI also operates with K-9 and mounted police units.

Part of a series on Wildland Firefighting
Main articles
Wildfire  · Bushfire Wildland fire suppression
Agencies
National Interagency Fire Center USFS  · BLM CALFIRE  · CALFIRE Aviation New South Wales Rural Fire Service  · Country Fire Authority, Victoria  · Country Fire Service, South Australia
Tactics & Equipment
Incident Command System Hotshots Controlled burn Firebreak  · Fire trail Fire lookout tower Fire retardant  · MAFFS Bambi bucket  · Driptorch
Aerial firefighting
Aerial firefighting Helitack  · Smokejumper
Lists
List of wildfires Glossary of wildland fire terms This box: view • talk • edit

The history of the Forest Service has been fraught with controversy, as various interests and national values have grappled with the appropriate management of the many resources for the "greatest good". These values and resources include grazing, timber, mining, recreation, and wildlife habitat. Because of continuing development elsewhere, the large size of National Forests have made them de facto wildlife reserves for a number of rare and common species. In recent decades, the importance of mature forest for the spotted owl and a number of other species led to great changes in timber harvest levels.

Another controversial issue is the policy on road building within the National Forests. In 1999 President Clinton ordered a temporary moratorium on new road construction in the National Forests to "assess their ecological, economic, and social values and to evaluate long-term options for their management." [1] Five and half years later the Bush administration replaced this with a system where each state could petition the Forest Service to open forests in their territory to road building.

In the 1990s, the agency was involved in scandal when it illegally provided surplus military aircraft to private contractors for use as airtankers. (See U.S. Forest Service airtanker scandal.)

• List of U.S. National Forests
• United States Chief Foresters

• Official website

• USDA Forest Service. Retrieved on November 23, 2005.
• U.S. Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory
• USDA Forest Service Research Publications. Retrieved on January 23, 2006.
• USDA State & Private Forestry, Northeastern Area. Retrieved on November 29, 2006.
• Forest Service Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register RSS Feed

v • d • e United States government agencies involved in Environmental science
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Department of the Interior	National Park Service • Fish and Wildlife Service • Bureau of Indian Affairs • Bureau of Land Management • Minerals Management Service • Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement • Geological Survey • Bureau of Reclamation • Office of Insular Affairs
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	National Weather Service • National Ocean Service • National Geodetic Survey • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration • National Marine Fisheries Service • Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
Department of Energy	Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy • Energy Information Administration • Federal Energy Regulatory Commission • Biological and Environmental Research • Office of Environmental Management
Department of Agriculture	Farm Service Agency • Foreign Agricultural Service • Risk Management Agency • Food Safety and Inspection Service • Forest Service • Natural Resources Conservation Service • Rural Business-Cooperative Service • Office of Community Development • Rural Housing Service  • Rural Utilities Service • Food and Nutrition Service • Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion • Agricultural Marketing Service • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration • Agricultural Research Service • Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service • Economic Research Service • National Agricultural Statistics Service • Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service