Editing United States Forest Service (section)

== Responses to environmental challenges ==
[[File:US-national-forest-service-lands.png|thumb|350px|More than 80% of the {{convert|193|e6acre|km2}} of land managed by the United States Forest Service is in the western states. This map shows USFS lands as a percentage of total land area in each state.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wildlandfire.com/docs/2007/western-states-data-public-land.htm|title=Western States Data Public Land Acreage|work=wildlandfire.com|access-date=2010-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727120656/http://www.wildlandfire.com/docs/2007/western-states-data-public-land.htm|archive-date=2011-07-27|url-status=dead}}</ref>]]

Although a large volume of [[Lumber|timber]] is [[Logging|logged]] every year, not all [[United States National Forest|National Forests]] are entirely forested. There are tidewater glaciers in the [[Tongass National Forest]] in [[Alaska]] and ski areas such as [[Alta, Utah]] in the [[Wasatch-Cache National Forest]]. In addition, the Forest Service is responsible for managing [[National Grassland]]s in the midwest. Furthermore, areas designated as wilderness by acts of [[U.S. Congress|Congress]], prohibit logging, mining, road and building construction and land leases for purposes of farming and or livestock grazing.

Since 1978, several [[President of the United States|Presidents]] have directed the USFS to administer [[U.S. National Monument|National Monuments]] inside of preexisting National Forests.
* [[Admiralty Island National Monument]] – Alaska
* [[Giant Sequoia National Monument]] – California
* [[Misty Fjords National Monument]] – Alaska
* [[Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument]] – Washington
* [[Newberry National Volcanic Monument]] – Oregon
* [[Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument]] – California (jointly with the [[Bureau of Land Management]])

The Forest Service also manages [[Grey Towers National Historic Site]] in [[Milford, Pennsylvania]], the home and estate of its first Chief, [[Gifford Pinchot]].

=== Fighting fires ===
{{See also|History of wildfire suppression in the United States}}
[[File:Smokey3.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Smokey Bear]] poster]]

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 of [[wildfire|forest fires]], the Forest Service and the [[Wartime Advertising Council]] began distributing fire education posters featuring a [[American black bear|black bear]]. The poster campaign was a success; the black bear would later be named [[Smokey 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 the [[Advertising 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 the [[National Association of State Foresters]].

In 1965, at the request of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], the Forest Service was commissioned by the [[Advanced Research Projects Agency]] (ARPA) to research the use of forest fire as a military weapon.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Annie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OYgQBgAAQBAJ&dq=forest+fire+as+a+military+weapon+arpa&pg=PT172 |title=The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency |publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company]] |year=2015 |isbn=9780316371650 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |author-link=Annie Jacobsen}}</ref> A report was published in June 1970 and declassified in May 1983.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Chandler |first1=Craig C. |last2=Bentley |first2=Jay R. |date=June 1970 |title=Forest Fire as a Military Weapon: Final Report |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0509724.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823173504/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0509724.pdf |archive-date=2023-08-23 |access-date=2023-08-23 |website=[[Defense Technical Information Center]] |publisher=United States Forest Service}}</ref>

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:
* Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy: The 1995 Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy and the subsequent 2001 Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy act as the foundation of the National Fire Plan.
* Basic Premise of the National Fire Plan: Investing now in an optimal firefighting force, hazardous fuels reduction, and overall community protection will provide for immediate protection and future cost savings.
* Funding: Initially (2001), the National Fire Plan provided for an additional $1,100,994,000 for the Forest Service for a total wildland fire management budget of $1,910,193,000. In 2008, the total amount for the Forest Service in wildland fire management (not including emergency fire suppression funding) is $1,974,276,000.[[File:US Firefighters in Australia.jpg|thumb|US Forest Service firefighters and Australian firefighters discuss plans to clear brush along a trail in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria, Australia]].]]

In August 2014, Tom Vilsack, the Secretary of Agriculture, announced that the agency would have to put $400 to $500&nbsp;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.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Freking|first1=Kevin|title=MONEY ALLOCATED FOR FIGHTING FIRES TO RUN OUT|url=http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/local/california/2014/08/05/money-allocated-fighting-fires-run/13636869/|agency=Associated Press|access-date=6 August 2014}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fcztWHSqLE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/_fcztWHSqLE| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=US firefighters arrive to help with Australian fire crisis|date=January 5, 2020 |publisher=ABC News|via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

=== Climate adaptation ===

In April 2023, the U.S. Forest Service published a proposed rulemaking in response to [[climate change]] on the topic of improving [[climate resilience]] on the [[Public land#United States|public lands]] that it manages.<ref name=April2023 /> The agency introduced the need for such rulemaking as:<blockquote>

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.<ref name=April2023>{{cite journal |last1=U.S. Forest Service |title=Forest and Grassland Climate Resilience (2023-08429) |journal=Federal Register |date=21 April 2023 |volume=88 |pages=24497–24503 |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/04/21/2023-08429/organization-functions-and-procedures-functions-and-procedures-forest-service-functions}}</ref></blockquote>

The foundational question pertained to [[climate 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."<ref name=April2023 />

===Carbon capture and storage===
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.<ref>{{Cite web |last= Department of Agriculture |date=Spring 2023 |title=Land Uses; Special Uses; Carbon Capture and Storage, RIN: 0596-AD55 |url=https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=202304&RIN=0596-AD55 |access-date=2023-09-11 |website=www.reginfo.gov}}</ref>