The American Tree Farm System (ATFS) announced this week that the Defrees family of Oregon are the 2016 National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year. Father and son duo, Lyle and Dean Defrees, along with their family have been protecting their forested land, the wildlife habitat it provides, and the water supply that runs through [read more]
Every five years, NASF renames its state forestry award categories in honor of former State Foresters who have had significant impact on State and Private Forestry programs. Meet the 2016-2020 NASF award category designees. Lifetime Achievement- Jim Hubbard worked for the Colorado Forest Service for 35 years, serving as Colorado State Forester for the final [read more]
Savannah’s famous tree canopy is providing a backdrop for the nation’s largest gathering of State Foresters this week. The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) is made up of directors of all state and territorial forestry agencies as well as the District of Columbia. This year, the Georgia Forestry Commission and State Forester Robert Farris [read more]
Together with its partners in fire prevention, NASF is pleased to announce the launch of the new and improved smokeybear.com. Go ahead - click on over and check it out! Nearly nine out of every 10 wildfires in the United States are human-caused, which demonstrates one staggering fact: most of our nation's wildfires can be [read more]
By Greg Pilchak This Tuesday, May 24th, the House Appropriations Committee released the fiscal year 2017 Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill (see page 84). This draft legislation includes funding for the USDA Forest Service and various other independent and related agencies. The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee marked up the bill on Wednesday, May 25th. [read more]
Members of the National Association of State Foresters’ executive committee held Congressional briefings on May 4 to introduce decision makers to state Forest Action Plans and convey the importance of consulting these important documents when making forest management decisions. In attendance were key staff members from the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and member offices, USDA Forest [read more]
Did you know that every state has at least one Tree City? The smallest Tree City is Sibley, North Dakota with a population of just 28 people. On the other end of the spectrum, the largest Tree City is New York with a population of more than 8.4 million. Ohio is the state with the most [read more]
By: Jessica Hernandez On Wednesday April 20th, Congressman Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas) and a bipartisan group of members of Congress launched the Working Forests Caucus. The caucus, which is co-chaired by Rep. Westerman and charter members Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Washington), Sanford Bishop (D-Georgia), and Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota) was created to promote the benefits of America’s working [read more]
The Tree City USA program, founded in 1976, is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2016. This program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with NASF and the USDA Forest Service (USFS). This national program is helping state forestry agencies meet the urban and community forestry goals outlined in each Forest Action Plan. [read more]
America’s federally owned forestlands face serious threats. Entire landscapes are experiencing deteriorating health problems and uncharacteristic ecological change as a result of insect and disease epidemics, catastrophic wildfire and other forest health stressors. Increasing the pace and scale of forest management projects is necessary to improve the resilience of federal forest lands. There are 750 [read more]
