forest service

With a brief countdown and the flick of a switch, the towering U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, on the West Lawn of Capitol Hill, lit up the dark. Visitors from all across America, who stood in near freezing temperatures beneath the majestic pine, cheered as the tree’s thousands of lights glistened the ornaments made especially for it.

As another extreme drought in southwest Colorado lingers into fall, land managers continue to search for solutions to deal with severe water shortages. Low winter snow pack and record heat left much of the state scorched, and reservoirs have been far below their normal capacity since spring.

With an eye on to getting forests back to health after wildfires and other disturbances – and protecting cultural heritage sites – the USDA.

Hurricane Michael, which roared through Florida, Alabama and Georgia on October 10, hit timberland owners and timber markets hard.

Prescription drug and opioid misuse has become a tragic epidemic with tremendous social and economic impacts, affecting communities and families of all sizes and from all socio-economic backgrounds.

“You can’t have a forest without a foundation of quality soil,” said Debbie Page-Dumroese, a soil scientist for the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station in Moscow, Idaho. That’s the lesson learned when hundreds of ponderosa pines were planted on rocky streambanks in national forests—only to die during their first year.

2018 was another record year of hurricanes and fires, which have inflicted huge economic losses to timber landowners as well as homeowners with landscape trees.

The summer of 2015 was exceptionally hot and dry in northern Idaho. Fuel moistures had dropped to alarming levels, and when a series of lightning storms moved across the region in early August, hundreds of fires flared up. A group of fast-moving and intense fires, which eventually became known as the Clearwater Complex, destroyed 62 homes and damaged another 211 structures. Overall, the fire encompassed more than 47,000 acres of both public and private land.

On August 10 of this year, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue proclaimed (PDF, 1.3 MB) October 24 through 31 to be National Bat Week. The Secretary’s proclamation was followed by proclamations from the governors of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Montana, and South Carolina.

From October 21-27, 2018, we celebrate the value of America’s forests and recognize how vital they are to our well-being and national prosperity during National Forest Products Week. This week is recognized each year by a Presidential proclamation. At the USDA Forest Service, we work year round to create new opportunities for wood products that contribute to diversified rural economies and support sustainable forest management.