Press Releases

WASHINGTON—The National Association of State Foresters elected Leah W. MacSwords, State Forester of Kentucky, as its new president at the association's 86th annual meeting last week in Hyannis, MA. MacSwords is the first woman to serve as the president of NASF and is also the first Kentucky State Forester to lead the organization. Ms. MacSwords [read more]

Collaborative group of agencies and non-governmental organizations develop resource guide. WASHINGTON—Communities where homes are intermixed with forests and wildlands have a new fire-fighting tool that will help protect property in the event of a wildfire: the Community Guide to Preparing and Implementing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Community Wildfire Protection Plans have proven to be [read more]

WASHINGTON—The National Association of State Foresters was encouraged by the dialogue on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives today over the need to address the ever-increasing impact of emergency fire suppression costs on the USDA Forest Service and the Department of Interior's (DOI) constrained budgets. Unfortunately, the Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement [read more]

WASHINGTON—The Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act (FLAME Act) introduced yesterday by U.S. Reps. Nick J. Rahall (D-WV), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), and Norm Dicks (D-WA) is an important step in solving the escalating cost of wildland fire protection and associated restrictions to urgently needed forest conservation efforts. The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) [read more]

Severe cutbacks threaten America's forests. WASHINGTON—The National Association of State Foresters reacted angrily to elements of the Bush Administration's proposed FY09 budget released yesterday, which includes historic cutbacks of State and Private Forestry (S&PF) programs within the U.S. Forest Service. Two-thirds of the forestland in the United States resides in the hands of private or [read more]

WASHINGTON—The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) is honoring Collin Peterson, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, with the 2007 Bernard L. Orell Award for Partnership. The award is named in memory of Bernard L. Orell (1914-1983), State Forester of Washington from 1949-1953, and recognizes members of Congress that have made [read more]

WASHINGTON—Drought conditions, the build-up of hazardous fuels, and more homes in fire-prone landscapes are changing how we experience wildfire in America. The record-setting wildfires that burned in the South this spring, in the Mountain West this summer, and last month’s California blazes are the latest in an unbroken string of ever worsening fire seasons. As [read more]

WASHINGTON—The National Association of State Foresters elected Kirk Rowdabaugh, State Forester of Arizona, as its new president at the association’s 85th annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas. Kirk Rowdabaugh became the State Forester of Arizona in 2001. Rowdabaugh is chair of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group and is past chair of the Council of Western [read more]

WASHINGTON—To achieve better controls over wildland fire suppression costs, the National Association of State Foresters (NASF) asked Congress today, in testimony given by Kirk Rowdabaugh, Arizona's State Forester, to direct the federal agencies to make collaboration on all four goals of the 10 year Comprehensive Strategy for reducing wildland fire risks and cost controls one [read more]