Congress has heard your voice concerning the Forest Service and “Build Back Better”
How Has The Forest Service Brought People Together?
How Has The Forest Service Brought People Together To Answer The Call Of Conservation?
The US Forest Service — the lead federal natural resource agency
The National Civil Society Corps, part of AmeriCorps, a national service program, recruits men and women aged 18 to 24 for a 10-month period who work for non-profit and government organizations, often for environmental purposes. To date, the body has more than 100 programs at the local, state and national levels, involving young people in community service and environmental work.
It works closely with other agencies such as USAID, the Department of State, and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as non-profit development organizations, wildlife organizations, universities, and international aid organizations.
As the lead federal natural resource agency, the Forest Service provides a leading role in the protection, management, and use of the nation’s forests, rangelands, and aquatic ecosystems. [Sources: 3, 7]
Sustaining economic, environmental, and social viability
As a federal agency serving the American people, the Forest Service looks after the common natural resources in a way that promotes sustainable economic, environmental, and social viability. For over 100 years, the Forest Service has brought people and communities together to answer the call for conservation.
For more than 100 years, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service has been committed to maintaining the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and rangelands to meet the needs of present and future generations.
As part of National Forest Products Week, the agency has focused on partnering with the communities it serves by working on public, tribal, and private lands to support the ability of America’s forests to continue to provide many benefits that will improve our lives for generations to come. [Sources: 2, 4, 6, 11]
Everyone who wants to go outdoors should be able to visit public lands, and the Forest Service needs funding to ensure it can carefully manage increased use, protect these valuable natural resources, and manage our national forests so people can continue to enjoy them.
The agency’s work includes managing 193 million acres (780,000 km2) of national forests and grasslands, including 59 million acres (240,000 km2) of roadless land; 14,077 recreational facilities; 143,346 miles (230,693 km) of trails; 374,883 miles (603,316 km) of roads; and a crop of 1.5 billion trees per year. [Sources: 5, 7, 9]
There are 92 research and development units spread across 67 sites in the United States. [Sources: 7, 9]
Congress has heard your voice concerning the Forest Service and “Build Back Better”
When the Biden administration and Congress were preparing the budgets for the Forest Service and other state land administration agencies in 20231 for the Fiscal Year 2022 budget, they heard from you, “loud and clear”. In response to your submitting your comments and concerns, Congress has stepped up its game by proposing that bold investments be made in our National Forests.
Five reasons why funding the Forest Service is more important than ever
This is considered by many stakeholders to be an integral part of President Biden’s “Build Back Better” program! The Outdoor Alliance has succinctly and clearly outlined the five reasons why funding the Forest Service is more important than ever, to meet the needs of the people of America: [Source: 5]
* Demand for recreation is just getting bigger.
* Addressing climate change.
* Everyone deserves access to public lands.
* Responding to a changing American economy — supporting rural economies.
* Creating US Forest Service jobs, to keep up with increased recreation demand, maintenance requirements, and the ecological stressors of our changing climate.
You can read the full Outdoor Alliance report at source 13, “A Case For Bold Investment In The Forest Service”. It makes for an excellent read, it you want to learn all the “details” of the rationale for the need to fully fund the Forest Service in Fiscal Year 2022!
The Forest Service is a good neighbor
The Forest Service is indeed a good neighbor and builds relationships with the people and communities it serves! Forest Service employees time and time again have demonstrated that they know how to clearly explain what they do in the context of what interests the communities they serve.
Listening to how people, communities, and their diverse interests want to interact — with conservation, with each other, and with their forest service — has been key to the success of the Forest Service in carrying out its mission:[Sources: 6, 11]
“To sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.”
The Takeaway — “the greatest good”
Perhaps the first step in restoring employee morale is adding “The Greatest Good” to mandatory annual training not for employees who already have a Forest Service mission at their heart, but for Congress to become sensitized to the purpose and value of the Forest Service.
Specifically, Congress should fully appreciate the fact that the Forest Service was created on the principle of managing the Nation’s natural resources “for the greatest good, for the greatest number, for the longest time.” [Sources: 5, 8, 13]
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Sources
[0]: https://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/historyculture/theodore-roosevelt-and-conservation.htm
[1]: https://www.doi.gov/blog/gifford-pinchot-legacy-conservation
[3]: https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/civilian-conservation-corps
[4]: https://www.volunteermatch.org/search/org1173176.jsp
[6]: https://www.fs.fed.us/features/story-conservation-and-our-place-it-setting-stage
[7]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Forest_Service
[8]: https://www.landcan.org/landcan-blog/Collaborative-Conservation-on-the-Siuslaw-National-Forest/234
[9]: https://www.ncforestservice.gov/news_pubs/newsdesk_2021.htm
[10]: https://www.nwfirescience.org/aggregator/sources/6
[11]: When the Biden administration
[12]: https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/ConservationEducation/
[13]: https://mountainjournal.org/morale-plummets-in-forest-service
[14]:
