The Forest History Society’s new film, America's First Forest: Carl Schenck and the Asheville Experiment, will be airing during April on public television stations around the country in conjunction with Earth Day. The 1-hour film examines the work of forester Carl Schenck and the important role he played in revitalizing the forest landscape around the Biltmore Estate [read more]
Mark your calendars: Stewardship Week kicks off on Sunday, April 24 and this year’s theme is We All Need Trees! In 1955, NASF's partner the National Association of Conservation Districts founded Stewardship Week to encourage Americans to focus on stewardship. The success of Stewardship Week relies on locally-led conservation districts sharing and promoting stewardship and conservation activities. Districts [read more]
Last month, Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition (SUFC) hosted its Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. This national urban forestry coalition held a reception in the United States Botanic Garden. The stars of the reception were Congressman David Joyce of Ohio's 14th District and USDA Forest Service Associate Chief Mary Wagner. Both Chief Wagner spoke and Representative Joyce spoke passionately about the work [read more]
The Department of Defense (DoD)’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program is a key tool for combating encroachment that can limit or restrict military training, testing, and operations. The REPI Program protects these military missions by helping remove or avoid land-use conflicts near installations and addressing regulatory restrictions that inhibit military activities. Through Fiscal Year 2015, [read more]
Forests and woodlands across the state of Arizona are in need of market development opportunities to facilitate on-the-ground restoration activities. Arizona State Forestry and the USDA Forest Service are committed to advancing the installation of commercially viable wood energy systems in the public and private applications that use woody biomass generated from public lands and [read more]
Clark W. Seely, CF, formerly an executive of the Oregon Department of Forestry, began his term as the 2016 president of the Society of American Foresters (SAF) by calling for increased partnerships with other natural resources professionals. “It’s an honor to be elected to lead the foresters and other natural resources professionals who are members [read more]
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that in 2015, wildfires burned a record 10,125,149 acres across the United States, surpassing the previous record set in 2006. The Secretary renewed the call for Congress to pass the bi-partisan Wildfire Disaster Funding Act. In 2015, there were more than 50 fires that exceeded 50,000 [read more]
Scientists are still trying to understand what drives the relentless spread of invasive species in the United States. Invasions are often assessed by measuring species richness, or the number of non-native species known to grow in a certain area. However, other measurements of plant invasions could offer more insights. “We can make stronger inferences about invasions [read more]
Implementation of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (CS) has moved forward this spring with the formation of the National Strategic Committee (NSC), the establishment of three priorities, one for each of the three CS tenets by the Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC), and ongoing work by the NSC and the three Regional Strategic [read more]
Provisions to pay for the most extreme wildfires through federal disaster funding were included in the Fiscal Year 2016 Interior Appropriations Bill, which was passed by a Senate panel on June 18. The funding method is similar to legislation introduced by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who along with Sen. Jeff Merkley [read more]
