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USDA Forest Service Role

The Forest Service and the National Forest System

The Forest Service manages public lands, known collectively as the National Forest System, located in 44 States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The lands comprise 8.5% of the total land area in the United States. The natural resources on these lands are some of the nation's greatest assets and have major economic, environmental, and social significance for all Americans.

mixed forest

USDA Forest Service

The USDA Forest Service was established by Congress in 1905 to provide quality water and timber for the nation's benefit.

It was later directed by Congress to broaden its management to the sustained yield of renewable resources such as water, forage, wildlife, wood, and recreation.

The Forest Service has a mission to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.

The motto of the Forest Service is "Caring for the Land and Serving People."

Facts

Let's look at some Forest Service facts. The Forest Service

  • manages 193 million acres of land, roughly the size of Texas
  • manages public lands in the form of national forests and grasslands
  • provides technical and financial assistance to state and private forestry agencies
  • makes up the largest forestry research organization in the world
  • helps people share and enjoy the forest while conserving the environment for future generations

History

Watch History of the US Forestry Service.

Activities

national forest trail and trail sign
Image provide by James H. Miller, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

The job of the Forest Service is to manage the forest in a way that allows people to share and enjoy the forest, while conserving the environment for generations to come. The Forest Service accomplishes this task through five main activities:

Resource Protection and Management:: The Forest Service works for the protection and management of natural resources on National Forest System lands.

Forest Service Horse Patrol members talk with hikers on Forest Service land

Research: The Forest Service conducts research on all aspects of forestry, rangeland management, and forest resource utilization.

Forest Service member collecting water sample

State and Private Forests: The Forest Service provides community assistance and works in cooperation with state and local governments, forest industries, and private landowners to help protect and manage non-federal forest and associated range and watershed lands to improve conditions in rural areas.

Volunteers working together

Workforce Diversity: The Forest Service works to achieve and support an effective workforce that reflects the full range of diversity of the American people.

Man hiking looking out at a lake. The graphic has the text: Are you ready to make a difference? Put your skills to work wiht a career at the U.S. Forest Service. Now hiring qualified candidates for a variety of entry-level and experienced positions.

International Programs: The Forest Service offers international assistance in formulating policy and coordinating U.S. support for the protection and sound management of the world's forest resources.

The Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry (IPIF) in Hawaii has been a center of research and technology since 1967. They have shared what they have learned with the other islands of the Pacific.

Districts

The Forest Service is organized into four basic levels. Each level has a specific role to play in accomplishing the management tasks of the nation's forest resources.

There are more than 600 districts, each with a staff of 10 to 100 people. Each district has a person in charge of that staff called a District Ranger.

The districts vary in size from 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) to more than 1 million acres (400,000 hectares).

Many on-the ground activities occur on the ranger districts, including trail construction and maintenance, operation of campgrounds, and management of vegetation and wildlife habitat.

ranger

National Forest and Grasslands

There are 155 National Forests and 20 National Grasslands.

The person in charge of a national forest is called the Forest Supervisor.

Each forest is composed of several ranger districts. The district rangers from the districts within a National Forest work for the Forest Supervisor.

The headquarters of a national forest is called the supervisor's office. This level coordinates activities between districts, allocates the budget, and provides technical support to each district.

Pine Glen campground at the Talladega National Forest in Alabama
A trail sign in a National Forest
A National Grasslands
District Office sign at the Caddo-LBJ National Grasslands in Decatur, TX

Regions

The Forest Service has 9 regions, numbered 1 through 10. Region 7 was eliminated some years ago.

The regions are broad geographic areas, usually including several states. The person in charge is called the Regional Forester. Forest supervisors of the national forests within a region report to the regional forester. The regional office staff coordinates activities between national forests, monitors activities on national forests to ensure quality operations, provides guidance for forest plans, and allocates budgets to the forests.

Map of the forest service regions in the united states. Alabama and most of the other southeastern states - from Texas in the west to Virginia in the east, Kentucky in the nouth to Florida in the south - are part of Region 8.

National Office

The national office of the Forest Service is commonly called The Washington Office. The person who oversees the entire Forest Service is called the Chief. The Chief is a Federal employee who reports to the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The Chief's staff provides broad policy and direction for the agency, works with the President's Administration to develop a budget to submit to Congress, provides information to Congress on accomplishments, and monitors activities of the agency.

The Washington Office is located in the USDA building in Washington, D.C.

Forest Service Videos

Watch We Are The Forest Service.