Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics

Celebrate National Forest Week by visiting your favorite national forest. The Featured Forest in our upcoming issue of Forest News is the Daniel Boone National Forest. https://nationalforestadvocates.org/daniel-boone-national-forest/

𝐄𝐜𝐨-𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐌𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞-𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧

Eco-Integrity Alliance is pleased to announce our receipt of a generous grant from a foundation based in the western U.S. for its Rocky Mountain Wildfire-Forest Media Campaign.

The goal of the campaign across Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, is to balance the dominant narrative promoting unscientific “wildfire fuel reduction” logging in mainstream and alternative media.

In collaboration with Eco-Integrity Alliance member groups and advocates, tasks include the following:

-Collecting the names and emails of the hundreds of journalists across the six Rocky Mountain states reporting on wildfire and forests issue in a regularly updated database.

-Crafting and sending bi-weekly press releases from a variety of angles relating to wildfire and forests to journalists.

-Compiling and updating a comprehensive list of relevant scientific studies.

-Distributing these informative press releases to Rocky Mountain state residents via Eco-Integrity Alliance blog and newsletter, and sharing the link across Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter along with targeted ads.

-In response to media coverage, collaborating with Eco-Integrity Alliance member groups to submit letters to the editor and opinion pieces.

-“Media Accountability Reports” will rate relevant published media pieces on balance and scientific accuracy, which will be shared through our blog, newsletter, and social media.

The Rocky Mountain Wildfire-Forest Media Campaign will be coordinated with Eco-Integrity Alliance members across the Rockies and managed by award-winning former environmental journalist, Josh Schlossberg, based in Colorado.

Celebrating the Gila National Forest, home to the world's oldest wilderness area, which just turned 100 years old.
https://nationalforestadvocates.org/gila-national-forest/

Check out the latest issue of Forest News.https://nationalforestadvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/FSEEE-Forest-News-Spring-2024-web.pdf

Great news for forest resilience!https://nationalforestadvocates.org/burned-redwoods-recover-from-2020-fire/

Gila National Forest - History & Culture Gila National Forest - History & Culture

Why Federal Tax Dollars are Funding the National Wild Turkey Federation March 13, the National Wild Turkey Federation crowed about its “new Participating Agreement with the USDA Forest Service, marking a significant step in bolstering efforts to continue the great work that is being accomplished.” The press release gushed about the Federation’s new funding “enti...

Exciting career opportunity!

The BIA Forestry and Wildland Fire Management is hiring a Safety and Occupational Health Manager in the Division of Forestry & Wildland Fire Management.

📈 GS-0018-13
💰$103,409 - $134,435 per year
📍 Duty station in Boise, ID - or may be negotiated at the time of selection
✈ Relocation expenses are covered in accordance with agency policy
🕰 Applications open NOW, closing May 10, 2024
✅Apply here: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/789462200


📸Samantha Storms, BLM. Photo of medical emergency training in Nevada.

Protecting Salmon Strongholds in the Klamath Mountains
The Smith River watershed in northern California and southern Oregon is a land of superlatives. Ancient redwood forests stand along the lower river as it flows through Redwood National and State parks. The Smith is the only major undammed river in California, and it contains the highest density of Wild and Scenic River designations in the U.S. Anglers have landed record king salmon and steelhead trout here, and the Wild Salmon Center describes the Smith as “irreplaceable salmon habitat.”
https://nationalforestadvocates.org/protecting-salmon-strongholds-in-the-klamath-mountains/

asSAuLTing a Unique Forest on the Toiyabe
https://nationalforestadvocates.org/assaulting-a-unique-forest-on-the-toiyabe/

A few of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest staff were pleased to attend the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce Spring Job Fair and Career Expo today!

Are you interested in a career with the Forest Service? Jobs are available in a variety of exciting and rewarding opportunities, such as agriculture, natural resources, and business careers. https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/conf/about-forest/jobs

Join our webinars to learn how to apply!

Visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/working-with-us/careers/application-tips-and-webinars for details.


📷: Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest staff from the Forest Supervisor’s office located in Gainesville, Ga.

Work in the great outdoors and join the USDA Forest Service! Today is the last day to apply for student and recent graduate positions across the nation as part of our Spring Agriculture and Business Careers hiring event!

Jobs are available in a variety of exciting and rewarding occupations, such as agriculture, natural resources, and business. Visit fs.usda.gov/working-with-us/careers for details.


📷 Haylee Darby, a climbing ranger on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, poses with the gear she takes with her while on the trail. (USDA Forest Service photo by Andrew Avitt)

The South Park and Pikes Peak Ranger Districts of the Pike-San Isabel National Forests & Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands are seeking public input on the proposed East Park North Divide Fuels Reduction project. The East Park North Divide Fuels Reduction project area consists of approximately 18,640 acres and is located along the U.S. Highway 24 corridor in eastern Park and central Teller counties. In this project, the USDA Forest Service proposes to use vegetation treatments such as tree thinning, prescribed fire and other fuel reduction methods to reduce the intensity of fires and create healthier and more fire-resilient forest conditions across the project area.

The deadline to provide comments is May 17, 2024. To provide electronic comments and learn more about the project’s location, purpose and proposed actions, please visit the project website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/psicc/?project=65314.

You can also read the full press release on the PSICC website at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/psicc/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD1172085

We wish it was an April Fool's gag, but make no joke about it: the Green Mountain National Forest is planning to log more than 800 acres of old-growth forest as defined by the Eastern Region of the US Forest Service in the proposed Telephone Gap logging project. We aren't laughing at the games being played with public forests. Please take action today using the instructions at this link: https://www.standingtrees.org/post/take-action-telephone-gap-on-the-chopping-block-round-2

Save Public Forests

Don’t Offer up our National Forests for Industrial Carbon Waste Dumping, a timely op-ed by Jim Furnish, former Forest Service deputy chief.
https://nationalforestadvocates.org/dont-offer-up-0ur-national-forests-for-industrial-carbon-waste-dumping/

Old-growth Forests: Can the Forest Service Kick its 100-year Addiction to Logging? Read our latest "In Depth" investigation.
https://nationalforestadvocates.org/old-growth-forests/

𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐨 𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 “𝐄𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲” 𝐋𝐨𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐕𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞

Deanna Meyer, a small organic farmer in Sedalia, Douglas County whose property abuts the Pike National Forest, is sounding the alarm about a massive “emergency” logging scheme that studies show will increase the risk of wildfire burning down her home.

“The proposed North South Vegetation Management Project is making my farm, my family, and my neighbors even more vulnerable to fire,” Meyer says.

The U.S. Forest Service’s “North South Vegetation Management” project features scientifically-contested “wildfire fuel reduction” logging over 116,600 acres of public forest in the Front Range mountains of Jefferson and Douglas Counties, 18,500 acres of which falls inside protected Colorado Roadless Areas, with clearcuts up to 40 acres.

In 2002 and 2010, the Meyer farm contracted with the U.S. Forest Service to log its private forests after assurances that the tree cutting would protect the family’s home and outbuildings from wildfire. Two decades later, the logged forest consists of dry wood chips, log piles, and invasive w**ds, which peer-reviewed studies conclude are far more likely to burn hot and spread flames than cool, moist, dense forests.

“My family agreed to ‘thin’ our forests because the Forest Service promised us that would protect both our home and the forest,” Meyer says. “Now I know my home is in far more danger due to the elimination of windbreaks and the presence of flammable invasive w**ds and massive log and mulch piles left behind from this logging.”

The latest issue of Forest News is available on our website.https://nationalforestadvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/FSEEE-Forest-News-Winter-2024-web.pdf

Precipitation from 2023 weather patterns produced flooding in the Nevada desert during Burning Man and limited the number of acres burned across the West (photo by Cory Doctorow).

The next issue of Forest News will be in the mail soon. Here's a sample of what's inside: https://nationalforestadvocates.org/2023-brings-quietest-u-s-fire-season-in-decades/

September Forestry Careers | US Forest Service Apply in September! We will be hiring entry-level forestry positions. Check back early September for location details.

This promises to be a really good event, and featured speaker Rick Bass is our guest author in the upcoming Fall edition of Forest News.

https://nationalforestadvocates.org/wood-vaults-for-forest-resilience-and-financial-returns/

To all our readers out there in nature, hiking and making memories, there’s something important we need to ask of you–

Please don’t stack the rocks.

There is a trend of stacking rocks to make “cairns” near our beautiful waterways. It might seem like a fun and creative way to connect with nature, but there's more to this than meets the eye.

When we stack rocks along the riverbanks, we're disrupting the delicate balance of the natural ecosystem in ways we might not realize. Moving rocks can disturb countless tiny creatures' habitats—including the larval stages of aquatic insects such as dragonflies, damselflies, mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, and many others.

When moving rocks, we also alter how water flows along the river, which can lead to long-term erosion and sedimentation issues. Once the riverbanks are significantly disturbed, erosion can make the water murkier and deposit sediment downstream, suffocating fish eggs and other aquatic life.

So remember, think twice before you stack those stones.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/rockcairns.htm

Tell Your Senators to Oppose S 796, which would exempt fire retardant from the Clean Water Act and allow the Forest Service to continue polluting pristine waterways with toxic chemicals. (The photo shows the Twisp River after it was polluted with retardant in 2015.)

https://nationalforestadvocates.org/tell-your-senators-to-oppose-hr-1586/

Entry-Level Forestry Careers: August | US Forest Service We will be hiring entry-level forestry positions throughout IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, NH, OH, PA, WV, and WI