Press Releases

WASHINGTON—President Obama this weekend signed legislation that will bring a degree of relief to the nation's forests by helping federal agencies solve several of the top problems caused by the skyrocketing costs of wildfire suppression. The measure establishes a new approach to budgeting for costly wildfires, which continually drain the budgets of the Forest Service [read more]

WASHINGTON—The National Association of State Foresters elected a new slate of officers to its governing Executive Committee and agreed on a number of national policy positions at the association's 87th Annual Meeting last week in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Steven W. Koehn, State Forester of Maryland, will lead NASF as president in 2009-2010. Mr. Koehn is the [read more]

Senate action is another step toward solving wildfire suppression drain on forestry programs. WASHINGTON—Senate leaders unanimously approved the creation of a separate source of funding for federal agencies to suppress large-scale wildfires via an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill (passed September 24). The Federal Land Assistance Management and Enhancement Fund ("FLAME" fund) is designed [read more]

WASHINGTON—In a recent letter to U.S Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the National Association of State Foresters (NASF) applauded the new vision he shared for America's forests during an August 14 address in Seattle. State Foresters have a long history of working cooperatively with the Forest Service and were pleased to see the secretary [read more]

Smokey Bear stars in new CG-animated PSAs and appears on Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube in time for July 4th. WASHINGTON—The Advertising Council joined today with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters to launch a new series of public service advertisements (PSAs) designed to celebrate Smokey Bear's 65th birthday and provide [read more]

WASHINGTON—The National Association of State Foresters praised the appointment of Tom Tidwell as Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, announced today by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Tidwell was selected to replace Gail Kimbell, who has served as chief of the agency since January 2007. "State Foresters look forward to working with Chief [read more]

Other critical program areas still suffer from inadequate funding. WASHINGTON—State Foresters were pleased with federal support for the nation's forests as demonstrated in President Obama's proposed FY2010 budget released earlier this month. The president's first budget included $306 million for the U.S. Forest Service's State and Private Forestry (S&PF) program, a $40 million increase over [read more]

Joint report highlights 124 projects nationwide that identify the greatest threats to forest sustainability and pursue meaningful change in high priority areas. WASHINGTON—From California to Connecticut, state forestry agencies are tackling threats to the nation's forests through a new multi-stage process within the U.S. Forest Service. Dubbed "Redesign," this strategic approach effectively and proactively invests [read more]

FLAME Act will help solve the drain fire costs have had on other critical forestry programs. WASHINGTON—Yesterday, House and Senate leaders introduced bipartisan legislation designed to alleviate funding problems caused by emergency wildland fire costs. The National Association of State Foresters supports the bill in both the House and Senate and applauds the congressional leaders [read more]

Stimulus funds could do more by broadening forestry authorities. WASHINGTON—One of the surest ways Congress can maintain and create green jobs that improve the health of the nation's forests and support communities is to broaden investment in the full range of existing state forestry programs. Today, the Senate passed its version of the economic stimulus [read more]