-
The Forest Corps, a new collaboration between AmeriCorps and the U.S. Forest Service, just inaugurated its first cohort of nearly 90 members. They’ll be sent out into priority landscapes across the West to do fuels reduction, prescribed burn and tree reseeding projects, all intended to support the USFS’ broader Wildfire Crisis and Reforestation strategies.
-
In the wake of the devastating Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire in 2022, the U.S. Forest Service paused prescribed fires – which started the infernos – to review the agency’s program. A newly released Government Accountability Office report looks into how well the agency has implemented changes since then. While acknowledging that changes necessary to resume burning have been made, the government watchdog says more work remains.
-
Beneficial fire is an essential part of confronting the wildfire crisis. But for now, there’s not enough people to do the work. A prescribed burn this spring in Central Idaho shows how partnerships can get more workers on the line.
-
The cost of housing has long been an issue for wildland firefighters, many of whom end up living in vehicles or camping on days off to avoid those expenses.
-
On a sunny May morning, more than a 100 fifth graders played and explored in an open grassy clearing, surrounded by pine trees on the banks of the rushing Buffalo Fork River. They were attending the annual Blackrock Field Camp, a two-day educational event put on by the U.S. Forest Service each year for students from elementary schools on the Wind River Reservation.
-
The federal government recently proposed changes to the way it manages forestlands – a plan that would elevate conservation of old and mature forests facing increasing threats.
-
The Nature Conservancy has been working with prescribed fire for years, often with federal agencies like the U.S. Forest Service. Leaders say a new multiyear agreement with the USFS and other recent developments will help get more beneficial fire on the ground, and could serve as a model for expanding prescribed fire efforts across the region.
-
The main thing about Kate Olsen is she’s a fish biologist for the U.S. Forest Service and loves and knows all things fish. Part of her job is managing a fish that is only found in one place in the world: in a 1,000-foot stretch of stream in the Upper Green. The Kendall Warm Springs dace is a tiny fish that’s been listed as endangered for 50 years.
-
In the world of wildfire, hotshot crews are seen as among the most elite and capable personnel on the fireline. But those crews - and wildland firefighters of all stripes - face myriad challenges: low pay, tough conditions, mental and familial strain and all the stress that comes with being on the front lines of climate change-fueled conflagrations. In a first of its kind review, dozens of crew superintendents and other federal officials took a hard look at the program, and recently released a report that makes quite a number of recommendations.
-
The U.S. Forest Service is spending nearly $19 million to fight invasive species threatening the nation’s forests, including several in the Mountain West.