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]
Laurie Schoonhoven is assuming the role as the new National Forest Stewardship Program manager in USDA Forest Service Washington Office-Cooperative Forestry after previously serving as the Sustainability Specialist for two years. Over the course of Laurie's 20 years of collaborative and conservation leadership experience she has managed Federal grants; convened and coordinated diverse project teams; worked to integrate efforts with [read more]
NASF has honored Jaelith Hall-Rivera of the USDA Forest Service (USFS) with the Marvin Brown Current Achievement Award for Partnerships in recognition of her work to build partnerships with state foresters, jointly develop performance measures to capture the importance of work accomplished through State & Private Forestry funding, and explore mechanisms for increasing the ability [read more]
The USDA Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service are seeking nominations for the 2015 Two Chiefs' Partnership Award. Nominations are due by June 15, 2015. The awards recognize successful forestry conservation efforts made possible through partnerships among the Forest Service, NRCS, State Forestry agencies and conservation districts. The 2015 Two Chiefs' Partnership Award [read more]
With support from the USDA Forest Service, the Kentucky Division of Forestry (KDF) is achieving goals outlined in its Forest Action Plan. In conjunction with local partners, Kentucky has helped six communities in the southeastern Appalachian corridor develop their own plans for greenspaces, all of which have begun implementing these designs. The plans were used [read more]
Rebecca Nisley is a science writer and editor for the USDA Forest Service’s Northern Research Station. We know that trees provide ecosystem benefits even in cities. The oxygen, cooling shade, and carbon storage are commonly understood, but did you know that trees also remove air pollution? Trees do this by catching small particles of soot and dirt on [read more]
As everyone reads this article on their respective computer screens, it’s hard to escape the sense that Americans are less connected to the outdoors. Not only does this have negative consequences for our personal health, it can have impacts on our local environment if we aren’t careful. For instance, water quality suffers from issues like [read more]
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced continued progress during the first 90 days of implementing the Agricultural Act of 2014 (the 2014 Farm Bill). Progress has occurred throughout all Farm Bill titles including announcements on trade and marketing promotion, the establishment of conservation programs, the initiation of specialty crop and local food programs, funding for [read more]
For the 33rd consecutive year, Ohio leads the nation for Tree City USA designations with 244 communities achieving the title this year. The program, which is sponsored by the National Association of State Foresters, the Arbor Day Foundation, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the National League of Cities, requires that [read more]
State Foresters Monica Lear, Ph.D., (DC) and Steve Koehn (MD) have been selected to join the US Forest Service as Director for Forest Health Protection and Director of Cooperative Forestry, respectively, in Washington, DC. Both have served in numerous leadership roles with the National Association of State Foresters over the years. Lear serves as Chair [read more]
