The benefits of sustainable forest management
How Does The Forest Service Promote Lasting Ecological Vitality?
The Forest Service mission and core values — how you benefit
How the Forest Service promotes healthy forests and livable communities
The Forest Service works to raise public awareness of ecosystem services and to explore marketable conservation opportunities on private and public lands. The agency’s public and private forestry programs and partnerships provide forestry management assistance to various landowners and promote healthy forests and livable communities throughout the United States.
The Forest Service looks after the common natural resources and provides access to resources and expertise that contribute to long-term economic, environmental, and social viability. The Forest Service takes care of the common natural resources in a way that ensures long-term economic, environmental, and social viability. [Sources: 1, 3, 7]
The Forest Service also operates the world’s largest forest research facility and assists public and private individuals by helping manage the approximately 900 million acres of forest land in the United States, including 130 million acres in urban areas in which most Americans are homeowners.
The benefits of sustainable forest management
Sustainable forest management provides a holistic approach to ensuring that forest management delivers social, environmental, and economic benefits, balances conflicting demands, and maintains and enhances forest functions now and in the future.
Sustainable forest management delivers socially equitable, environmentally sound, and economically sustainable outcomes called “the three pillars of sustainable development”. Indicators of adaptation to forest structure that provides ecosystem services should reflect the viability of the components of the entire system. [Sources: 5, 6, 7]
Coping with unknown conditions
Thus, the structure of the forest will determine the extent to which desired ecosystem services can be provided and the ability of forest managers to cope with unknown conditions. But climate change further complicates this approach, as environmental conditions may make some of these services unavailable.
Management of complex forest systems
In managed forests, forest structure is seen as a means of optimizing the ecosystem services that the forest owner intends to provide. However, the management of complex forest systems cannot function on a deterministic basis (Puettmann et al). When forest structures are modified in the face of climate change towards greater environmental stability and economic resilience, service delivery is also likely to be impacted. [Sources: 5]
While much has changed, the Forest Service’s mission remains more relevant than ever today: “To sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations”.
The Natural Resources Discovery Camp
The Natural Resources Discovery Camp is fully aligned with the Forest Service’s core values and impacts meaningful connections between ordinary Americans, especially underrepresented minorities, and the land, the Forest Service, and efforts to protect our natural resources.
As in all work-related matters, recognition of the interdependence between the Forest Service and the people and communities the agency serves was clearly evident through productive and engaging discussions with Mescalero Apache and the various Indigenous students taking part in the June 10–14, 2019 Natural Resources Discovery Camp for American Indian Students, held on Mescalero, New Mexico.
USDA Forest Service Work Environment and Performance Office (WEPO) staff, and subject experts from Lincoln National Forest, Southwest Regional Office and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) partners, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Mescalero Farms organized “Tips for Jobseekers” workshops at the camp.
These workshops and interactive sessions addressed the requirements for exploring opportunities and finding jobs in the USDA Forest Service, how to apply for federal positions on USA Jobs, Pathways Program and third-party internships, and interviewing skills. Source 0 contains excerpts from interviews with the camp participants, expressing their appreciation for being able to attend the five-day camp.
Forest Service core values
The Natural Resources Discovery Camp was an example of the agency’s being in direct alignment with its core values, embracing meaningful connection of ordinary Americans, specifically underrepresented minorities, to the land, to the Forest Service, and to initiatives aimed at conserving the country’s natural resources.
Access to resources and experiences
Among the stated objectives of the camp was the promotion of economic, ecological, and social vitality. There was also a pronounced emphasis on how the knowledge and skill sets that the students gained because of their participation in the discovery camp could be used by them in solving problems in their own communities! [Sources: 0, 1]
The Takeaway
The Forest Service awards grants that develop and expand the use of wood products and strengthen emerging wood energy markets that support sustainable forest management, especially in areas with a high risk of forest fires.
Promotion of ecological vitality
There may also be opportunities to assess the ecological impacts of local fire regimes and the impact of fires on culturally important species. Measuring, managing, and reducing individual and collective consumption of energy and materials helps the agency reduce the environmental footprint of such consumption. [Sources: 2, 3, 7]
Defining the essence of the Forest Service mission
These programs define the essence of the agency’s mission and motivate its work throughout the agency. Fire keeps material circulating in forest ecosystems and thus provides the basis for the long-term viability and ability of a forest to store carbon.
In this anthropogenically altered context, the increase in the number of (controlled) fires from the current lower levels works effectively as an ecological restoration of forest ecosystems. [Sources: 2, 4]
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The Sources List is at the very bottom of my blog post! Enjoy!
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Sources
[1]: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r3/learning/history-culture/?cid=fseprd647852
[3]: https://www.fs.fed.us/ecosystemservices/FS_Efforts/
[5]: https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol19/iss1/art32/
[6]: https://www.pefc.org/what-we-do/our-approach/what-is-sustainable-forest-management
[7]: https://www.onthefarmradio.com/single-post/usda-accepting-grant-applications-for-wood-innovations
[8]: https://www.uvm.edu/rsenr/facilities_and_partners
[9]: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40725-021-00137-8
[11]: https://www.zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/USDA-USFS-2021-0241
