 Logo of the U.S. Forest Service | |
 Flag of the U.S. Forest Service | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | February 1, 1905; 120 years ago (1905-02-01) |
| Preceding agency |
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| Jurisdiction | Federal government of the United States |
| Headquarters | Sidney R. Yates Building 1400Independence Ave SW Washington, D.C. |
| Employees | |
| Annual budget | $9.32 billion (additionally, $2.30 billion for wildfire adjustment) (FY 2024)[2] |
| Minister responsible | |
| Agency executives |
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| Parent agency | U.S. Department of Agriculture |
| Website | fs |
| Footnotes | |
| [4] | |
TheUnited States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within theU.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154national forests and 20national grasslands covering 193 million acres (780,000 km2) of land.[5] The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's Office, National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, Business Operations, as well as Research and Development.[6] The agency manages about 25% offederal lands and is the sole major national land management agency not part of theU.S. Department of the Interior[7] (which manages theNational Park Service, theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and theBureau of Land Management).
In 1876, Congress formed the office of Special Agent in the Department of Agriculture to assess the quality and conditions of forests in the United States.Franklin B. Hough was appointed the head of the office. In 1881, the office was expanded into the newly formedDivision of Forestry. TheForest Reserve Act of 1891 authorized withdrawing land from the public domain as forest reserves managed by theDepartment of the Interior. In 1901, the Division of Forestry was renamed theBureau of Forestry.
TheTransfer Act of 1905 transferred the management of forest reserves from theUnited States General Land Office of the Interior Department to the Bureau of Forestry, henceforth known as theUnited States Forest Service.Gifford Pinchot was the firstUnited States Chief Forester in thePresidency of Theodore Roosevelt.[8]
A historical note to include is that theNational Park Service was created in 1916 to manage Yellowstone and several other parks; in 1956, theFish and Wildlife Service became the manager of lands reserved for wildlife. TheGrazing Service and theUnited States General Land Office were combined to create theBureau of Land Management in 1946. Also of note was that it was not until 1976 that theFederal Land Policy and Management Act became the national policy for retaining public land for federal ownership.[9]
Significant federal legislation affecting the Forest Service includes theWeeks Act of 1911, theTaylor Grazing Act of 1934, P.L. 73-482; theMultiple Use – Sustained Yield Act of 1960, P.L. 86-517; theWilderness Act, P.L. 88-577; theNational Forest Management Act, P.L. 94-588; theNational Environmental Policy Act, P.L. 91–190; theCooperative Forestry Assistance Act, P.L. 95-313; and theForest and Rangelands Renewable Resources Planning Act, P.L. 95-307.[10]
From the early 1900s to the present, there has been a fierce rivalry over control of forests between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior. Their roles overlap but numerous proposals to combine the two have failed.[11] Most recently, in 2009, theGovernment Accountability Office (GAO) evaluated whether the Forest Service should be moved from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of the Interior, which already manages some 438 million acres (1,770,000 km2) of public land through theNational Park Service, theFish and Wildlife Service, and theBureau of Land Management. GAO ultimately did not offer a recommendation upon the conclusion of itsperformance audit.[12] The Forest Service remains a part of the USDA.
As of 2019, FY 2020 Forest Service total budget authority is $5.14 billion, a decrease of $815 million from 2019. The budget includes $2.4 billion for Wildland Fire Management, a decrease of $530 million from the 2019 Annualized Continuing Resolution because the "fire fix" cap adjustment becomes available in FY 2020, while the FY 2019 Annualized Continuing Resolution includes $500 million above the base as bridge to the first year of the fire fix.[13]
The Forest Service, headquartered in Washington, D.C., has 27,062 permanent, full-time employees as of Sept. 20, 2018, including 541 in the headquarters office and 26,521 in regional and field office.[14]
The USDA Forest Service's mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.[15] Its motto is "Caring for the land and serving people."
As the lead federal agency in natural resource conservation, the Forest Service provides leadership in the protection, management, and use of the nation's forest, rangeland, and aquatic ecosystems. The agency'secosystem approach to management integrates ecological, economic, and social factors to maintain and enhance the quality of the environment to meet current and future needs. Through implementation of land and resource management plans, the agency ensures sustainable ecosystems by restoring and maintaining species diversity and ecological productivity that helps provide recreation, water, timber, minerals, fish, wildlife, wilderness, and aesthetic values for current and future generations of people.[16]
The everyday work of the Forest Service balances resource extraction, resource protection, and providing recreation. The work includes managing 193 million acres (780,000 km2) of national forest and grasslands, including 59 million acres (240,000 km2) ofroadless areas; 14,077 recreation sites; 143,346 miles (230,693 km) of trails; 374,883 miles (603,316 km) of roads; and the harvesting of 1.5 billion trees per year.[15] Further, the Forest Service fought fires on 2.996 million acres (12,120 km2) of land in 2007.[15]
The Forest Service organization includes ranger districts, national forests, regions, research stations and research work units and the Northeastern Area Office for State and Private Forestry. Each level has responsibility for a variety of functions.[17]
The Chief of the Forest Service is a career federal employee who oversees the agency. The Chief reports to the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an appointee of the President confirmed by the Senate. The Chief's staff provides broad policy and direction for the agency, works with the Administration to develop a budget to submit to Congress, provides information to Congress on accomplishments, and monitors activities of the agency. There are five deputy chiefs for the following areas: National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, Research and Development, Business Operations, and Finance.
The Forest Service Research and Development deputy area includes five research stations, theForest Products Laboratory, and theInternational Institute of Tropical Forestry, in Puerto Rico. Station directors, like regional foresters, report to the Chief. Research stations include Northern, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest,Rocky Mountain, andSouthern. There are 92 research work units located at 67 sites throughout the United States. there are 80 Experimental Forests and Ranges that have been established progressively since 1908; many sites are more than 50 years old. The system provides places for long-term science and management studies in major vegetation types of the 195 million acres (790,000 km2) of public land administered by the Forest Service. Individual sites range from 47 to 22,500 ha in size.
Operations of Experimental Forests and Ranges are directed by local research teams for the individual sites, by Research Stations for the regions in which they are located, and at the level of the Forest Service.
Major themes in research at the Experimental Forests and Ranges includes:develop of systems for managing and restoring forests, range lands, and watersheds; investigate the workings of forest and stream ecosystems; characterize plant and animal communities; observe and interpret long-term environmental change and many other themes.
There are nine regions in the Forest Service; numbered 1 through 10 (Region 7 was eliminatedin 1965 when the current Eastern Region was created from the former Eastern andNorth Central regions.[18]). Each encompasses a broad geographic area and is headed by a regional forester who reports directly to the Chief. The regional forester has broad responsibility for coordinating activities among the various forests within the region, for providing overall leadership for regional natural resource and social programs, and for coordinated regional land use planning.
The Forest Service oversees 155 national forests, 20 grasslands, and one tall-grass prairie. Each administrative unit typically comprises several ranger districts, under the overall direction of a forest supervisor. Within the supervisor's office, the staff coordinates activities among districts, allocates the budget, and provides technical support to each district. Forest supervisors are line officers and report to regional foresters.
The administration of individual National Forests is subdivided into Ranger Districts. The Forest Service has over 600 ranger districts. Each district has a staff of 10 to 300 people under the direction of a district ranger, a line officer who reports to a forest supervisor. The districts vary in size from 50,000 acres (200 km2) to more than 1 million acres (4,000 km2). Most on-the-ground activities occur on ranger districts, including trail construction and maintenance, operation of campgrounds, oversight of a wide variety of special use permitted activities, management of vegetation and wildlife habitat, and cultural resource management.[6]
The 193 million acres (780,000 km2) of public land that are managed as national forests andgrasslands are collectively known as theNational Forest System. These lands are located in 44 states, Puerto Rico, and theVirgin Islands and comprise about 9% of the total land area in the United States. The lands are organized into 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The mission of the National Forest System is to protect and manage the forest lands so they best demonstrate the sustainable multiple-use management concept, using an ecological approach, to meet the diverse needs of people.
Wildfire management and suppression is a significant subdivision of the National Forest System.Wildfire suppression and prevention programs comprise nearly 50% of the Forest Service’s overall budget and, during the peak fire season, it employs approximately 10,000-15,000 wildland firefighters. Wildland firefighters are often deployed on aninteragency basis alongside firefighters from other federal and state land management agencies often with support from local and county structure fire departments. Additionally, Forest Service employees who are not normally full time firefighters are regularly called upon to respond to wildfire incidents in administrative, support, security, and even direct firefighting roles. For both primary fire and supplementary employees, fire assignments usually last 2–3 weeks at a time for each individual employee during which they typically work 16 hours on and eight hours off while sleeping in tents. After an assignment ends, the employee is granted three days of R&R before either returning to their day job or going on another assignment.
U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement & Investigations (LEI), headquartered inWashington, D.C., is afederal law enforcement agency of the U.S. government. It is responsible for enforcement of federal laws and regulations governing national forest lands and resources. Alllaw enforcement officers andspecial agents receive their training throughFederal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC).
Operations are divided into two major functional areas:
Uniformed Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) enforce federal laws and regulations governing national forest lands and resources. LEOs also enforce some or all state laws on National Forest Lands. As part of that mission, LEOs carry firearms, defensive equipment, make arrests, executesearch warrants, complete reports, and testify in court. They establish a regular and recurring presence on a vast amount of public lands, roads, and recreation sites. The primary focus of their jobs is the protection of natural resources, protection of Forest Service employees and the protection of visitors. To cover the vast and varied terrain under their jurisdiction, they use modified 4x4 pickup trucks,Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors, special serviceSUVs, horses,K-9 units, helicopters,snowmobiles, ATVs, ROVs, dirt bikes, and boats.
Special Agents are criminal investigators who plan and conduct investigations concerning possible violations of criminal and administrative provisions of the Forest Service and other statutes under theUnited States Code. Special agents are normally plainclothes officers who carry concealed firearms, and other defensive equipment, make arrests, carry out complex criminal investigations, present cases for prosecution toU.S. Attorneys, and prepare investigative reports. All field agents are required to travel a great deal and usually maintain a case load of ten to fifteen ongoing criminal investigations at one time. Criminal investigators also conduct internal and civil claim investigations. An example of the latter would be large scale wildfire liability cases in which the government is seeking civil restitution for major damage to National Forest Lands.
As of 2025, 8 special agents and 1 K9 of the LEI have been killed in the line of duty.[20]
LEI is also responsible for the oversight, training, and administration of the Forest Protection Officer (FPO) program. FPOs are unarmed, non-law enforcement, field going employees who have been granted the authority to enforce class B misdemeanors within Title 36, Part 261 of the Code of Federal Regulations (the day to day laws primarily governing the use of forests by the public). They do this by writing citations and mandatory federal court appearances. They must volunteer to become FPOs, pass an additional background check performed by LEI, and attend an initial training plus yearly recertification to maintain their authority. FPO is a “collateral duty” one performs in addition to their primary job; because of this, the majority of FPOs are Recreation Technicians, Wilderness Rangers, or Fire Prevention Patrol Technicians, but the program is open to any field going employee who meets the requirements. Since they are unarmed and not LEOs, FPOs do not engage in enforcement contacts in situations that have a high probability for violence including those involving excessive alcohol intoxication, illegal substances, domestic disputes, assault, gang activity, etc instead disengaging and calling law enforcement immediately in such situations.
The goal of the State and Private Forestry program is to assist with financial and technical assistance to private landowners, state agencies, tribes, and community resource managers. It provides assistance by helping sustain the United States' urban and rural forests and their associated communities from wildland fires, insects, disease, andinvasive organisms.[21][22] Approximately 537 staff are employed in the program and is administered through National Forest System regions and the Northeastern Area of the United States.[21]
Theresearch and development (R&D) arm of the Forest Service works to improve the health and use of the United States' forests andgrasslands. Research has been part of the Forest Service mission since the agency's inception in 1905. Today, Forest Service researchers work in a range of biological, physical, and social science fields to promote sustainable management of United States' diverse forests and rangelands. Research employs about 550 scientists and several hundred technical and support staff, located at 67 sites throughout the United States and inPuerto Rico. Discovery and technology development and transfer is carried out through seven research stations.
Research focuses on informing policy and land management decisions and includes addressinginvasive insects, degradedriver ecosystems, or sustainable ways to harvest forest products. The researchers work independently and with a range of partners (formerly through aNational Partnership Office),[23] including other agencies, academia, nonprofit groups, and industry. The information and technology produced through basic and applied science programs is available to the public for its benefit and use.
In addition to the Research Stations, the USFS R&D branch also leads several National Centers such as theNational Genomics Center for Wildlife and Fish Conservation.
The Forest Service plays a key role in formulating policy and coordinating U.S. support for the protection and sound management of the world's forest resources. It works closely with other agencies such asUSAID, theState Department, and theEnvironmental Protection Agency, as well as with nonprofit development organizations, wildlife organizations, universities, and international assistance organizations. The Forest Service's international work serves to link people and communities striving to protect and manage forests throughout the world. The program also promotessustainable land management overseas and brings important technologies and innovations back to the United States. The program focuses on conserving key natural resource in cooperation with countries across the world.
Although a large volume oftimber islogged every year, not allNational Forests are entirely forested. There are tidewater glaciers in theTongass National Forest inAlaska and ski areas such asAlta, Utah in theWasatch-Cache National Forest. In addition, the Forest Service is responsible for managingNational Grasslands in the midwest. Furthermore, areas designated as wilderness by acts ofCongress, prohibit logging, mining, road and building construction and land leases for purposes of farming and or livestock grazing.
Since 1978, severalPresidents have directed the USFS to administerNational Monuments inside of preexisting National Forests.
The Forest Service also managesGrey Towers National Historic Site inMilford, Pennsylvania, the home and estate of its first Chief,Gifford Pinchot.
By 1935, the U.S. Forest Service's fire management policy stipulated that all wildfires were to be suppressed by 10 am the morning after they were first spotted.
In August 1944, to reduce the number offorest fires, the Forest Service and theWartime Advertising Council began distributing fire education posters featuring ablack bear. The poster campaign was a success; the black bear would later be namedSmokey Bear, and would, for decades, be the "spokesbear" for the Forest Service. Smokey Bear has appeared in innumerable TV commercials; his popular catch phrase, "Only YOU can prevent forest fires"—later changed to wildfires—is one of the most widely recognized slogans in the United States. According to theAdvertising Council, Smokey Bear is the most recognized icons in advertising history and has appeared almost everywhere via Public Service Announcements in print, radio, television. Smokey Bear, an icon protected by law, is jointly owned by the Forest Service, the Ad Council and theNational Association of State Foresters.
In 1965, at the request of theJoint Chiefs of Staff, the Forest Service was commissioned by theAdvanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) to research the use of forest fire as a military weapon.[25] A report was published in June 1970 and declassified in May 1983.[26]
In September 2000, the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior developed a plan to respond to the fires of 2000, to reduce the impacts of these wildland fires on rural communities, and to ensure sufficient firefighting resources in the future. The report is entitled "Managing the Impacts of Wildfire on Communities and the Environment: A Report to the President In Response to the Wildfires of 2000"—The National Fire Plan for short. The National Fire Plan continues to be an integral part of the Forest Service today. The following are important operational features of the National Fire Plan:
In August 2014, Tom Vilsack, the Secretary of Agriculture, announced that the agency would have to put $400 to $500 million in wildfire prevention projects on hold because funding for firefighting was running low as the fiscal year ended. The decision was meant to preserve resources for fighting active fires burning in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Politicians of both parties indicated they believed the then-current funding structure was broken, but did not agree on steps to fix the funding allocation.[27]
During the 2019–2020 bushfires in Australia, the US Forest Services sent a contingent of firefighters. They worked alongside firefighters from other American fire departments.[28]
In April 2023, the U.S. Forest Service published a proposed rulemaking in response toclimate change on the topic of improvingclimate resilience on thepublic lands that it manages.[29] The agency introduced the need for such rulemaking as:
Climate change and related stressors, such as wildfire, drought, insects and disease, extreme weather events, and chronic stress on ecosystems are resulting in increasing impacts with rapid and variable rates of change on national forests and grasslands. These impacts can be compounded by fire suppression, development in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), and non-climate informed timber harvest and reforestation practices.[29]
The foundational question pertained toclimate adaptation: "How should the Forest Service adapt current policies and develop new policies and actions to conserve and manage the national forests and grasslands for climate resilience, so that the Agency can provide for ecological integrity and support social and economic sustainability over time?" Ancillary questions pertained to both "adaptation planning" and "adaptation practices".
The background section of the proposed rulemaking includes a short history of how agency responsibilities have grown and evolved over its 118-year history in accordance with "what the American people desire from their natural resources at any given point in time."[29]
In the spring of 2023, the USDA proposed a change to its regulations to allow for the "responsible deployment of"carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration on National Forests lands.[30]
Although part of the Department of Agriculture, the Forest Service receives its budget through the Subcommittee on Appropriations—Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies.
| Appropriations | 2011[31] | 2012[31] | 2013[32] | 2014[32] | 2015 | 2016[33] | 2017[33] | 2018[34] | 2019[35] | 2020[36] | 2021[37] | 2022[37] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research | 306,637 | 295,300 | 279,854 | 292,805 | 296,000 | 291,000 | 290,447 | 306,216 | 297,000 | 305,000 | 258,760 | 313,560 |
| State and Private Forestry | 277,596 | 252,926 | 239,696 | 229,980 | 232,653 | 237,023 | 236,573 | 319,737 | 335,525 | 346,990 | 267,180 | 304,614 |
| National Forest System | 1,542,248 | 1,554,137 | 1,455,341 | 1,496,330 | 1,494,330 | 1,509,364 | 1,506,496 | 1,890,313 | 1,923,750 | 1,957,510 | 1,786,870 | 1,786,870 |
| Wildland Fire Management | 2,168,042 | 1,974,467 | 1,868,795 | 2,162,302 | 2,333,298 | 2,386,329 | 2,381,795 | 2,314,793 | 2,880,338 | 2,350,620 | 1,927,241 | 2,369,634 |
| Capital Improvement and Maintenance | 472,644 | 394,089 | 358,510 | 350,000 | 360,374 | 364,164 | 363,472 | 361,014 | 449,000 | 455,000 | 140,371 | 148,371 |
| Land Acquisition | 33,982 | 53,701 | 50,665 | 44,654 | 48,666 | 64,601 | 64,478 | 55,204 | 65,379 | 79,748 | 814 | 814 |
| Other appropriations | 5,179 | 5,875 | 4,821 | 5,540 | 4,865 | 4,865 | 4,856 | 4,832 | 4,610 | 5,545 | 3,863 | 7,863 |
| Subtotal, discretionary appropriations * | 5,096,746 | 4,845,876 | 4,936,514 | 5,496,611 | 5,073,246 | 5,680,346 | 5,669,553 | 5,779,217 | 5,955,602 | 7,450,413 | 7,451,262 | 8,436,564 |
| Subtotal, permanent appropriations | 627,234 | 581,595 | 507,631 | 566,231 | 293,316 | 517,889 | 348,252 | 296,285 | 285,396 | 528,550 | 919,265 | 724,899 |
| Total | 5,858,615 | 5,584,586 | 5,749,146 | 6,264,941 | 5,547,812 | 6,331,984 | 6,168,886 | 6,190,502 | 5,955,692 | 8,142,677 | 8,370,527 | 9,161,463 |
| * Includes regular, supplemental and emergency appropriations | ||||||||||||
The Forest Service achieved widespread awareness during the 1960s, as it became the setting for the long running classic TV showLassie, with storylines focusing on Lassie's adventures with various forest rangers.[38]
The iconic collie's association with the Forest Service led to Lassie receiving numerous awards and citations from theU.S. Senate and the Department of Agriculture, and was partly responsible for a bill regarding soil and water pollution that was signed into law in early 1968 by PresidentLyndon Johnson, which was dubbed by some as "The Lassie Program".[38][39][40]
In the 2019 family comedy moviePlaying With Fire,John Cena plays a U.S. Forest Service firefighter who (along with his crew) watches over a group of rambunctious children while searching for their parents after rescuing them from a fire in the wilderness during a family vacation.
The history of the Forest Service has been fraught with controversy, as various interests and national values have grappled with the appropriate management of the many resources within the forests.[41] These values and resources includegrazing,timber,mining,recreation, wildlife habitat, andwilderness. Because of continuing development elsewhere, the large size of National Forests have made themde facto wildlife reserves for a number of rare and common species. In recent decades, the importance of mature forest for thespotted owl and a number of other species led to great changes in timber harvest levels.[42][43]
In 1910, the first Chief of the Forest Service,Gifford Pinchot, was dismissed by President Taft as a result of thePinchot-Ballinger controversy.
In the 1990s, the agency wasinvolved in a scandal when it illegally provided surplus military aircraft to private contractors for use asairtankers in 1980s.
The policy on road building within the National Forests is another controversial issue. In 1999, President Clinton ordered a temporary moratorium on new road construction in the National Forests to "assess their ecological, economic, and social values and to evaluate long-term options for their management."[44] The Bush administration replaced this5+1⁄2 years later, with a system where each state could petition the Forest Service to open forests in their territory to road building.
In 1997, the agency reported it was losing money on its timber sales.[45]
A 2017 draft report describing the legal basis which provides federal land managers a scope of decision making authority exceeding that of state fish and game departments has proven unexpectedly controversial.[46][by whom?]
In 2018, the Forest Service was reprimanded by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Service had issued permits for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to build through parts of the George Washington andMonongahela National Forests and a right of way across theAppalachian Trail – in violation of both theNational Forest Management Act of 1976 and theNational Environmental Policy Act.[47]
In 2020,Melody Starya Mobley, the first black female forester hired by the Forest Service, claimed she had been sexually assaulted by a colleague in the late 70s, citing misogyny and racism within the institution as reasons why she did not speak up at the time. She also stated that though there was a witness present, her assault was largely ignored when she disclosed it to the agency and the perpetrator was never punished.[48]
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromAgency Organization.United States Forest Service. Archived fromthe original on March 20, 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
| Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment | ||
| Under Secretary for Rural Development | ||
| Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services | ||
| Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety | ||
| Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics | ||
| Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs | ||
| Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation |
| |
| Office of the Chief Financial Officer | ||
*Reports directly to the Secretary of Agriculture | ||
