Editing United States Forest Service (section)

== Organization ==

=== Overview ===
[[File:US federal land.agencies.svg|thumb|260px|Map of all [[federal lands|federally owned land]] in the United States. The green represents the Forest Service.]]
As of 2019, FY 2020 Forest Service total budget authority is $5.14&nbsp;billion, a decrease of $815&nbsp;million from 2019. The budget includes $2.4&nbsp;billion for Wildland Fire Management, a decrease of $530&nbsp;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&nbsp;million above the base as bridge to the first year of the fire fix.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fs.fed.us/sites/default/files/media_wysiwyg/usfs-fy-2020-budget-justification.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726024537/https://www.fs.fed.us/sites/default/files/media_wysiwyg/usfs-fy-2020-budget-justification.pdf |archive-date=Jul 26, 2022 |url-status=dead |date=March 2019 |title=Forest Service FYI 2020 Budget Justification|website=USDA Forest Service}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.publish.csiro.au/wf/WF04006|title=Forest fire causes and extent on United States Forest Service lands|first=Scott L.|last=Stephens|date=September 12, 2005|journal=International Journal of Wildland Fire|volume=14|issue=3|pages=213–222|via=CSIRO Publishing |doi=10.1071/WF04006|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

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.<ref name="overview">{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.fed.us/documents/USFS_An_Overview_0106MJS.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171230005515/https://www.fs.fed.us/documents/USFS_An_Overview_0106MJS.pdf |archive-date=Dec 30, 2017 |url-status=dead|title=The U.S. Forest Service - An Overview|publisher=U.S. Forest Service}}</ref> 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's [[Ecosystem management|ecosystem 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.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/opinion/20heinrich.html | work=The New York Times | title=Clear-Cutting the Truth About Trees | first=Bernd | last=Heinrich | date=December 20, 2009 | access-date=May 26, 2010}}</ref>

The everyday work of the Forest Service balances resource extraction, resource protection, and providing recreation. The work includes managing {{convert|193|e6acre|km2}} of national forest and grasslands, including {{convert|59|e6acre|km2}} of [[inventoried roadless area|roadless areas]]; 14,077 recreation sites; {{convert|143346|mi|km}} of trails; {{convert|374883|mi|km}} of roads; and the harvesting of 1.5&nbsp;billion trees per year.<ref name=overview/> Further, the Forest Service fought fires on {{convert|2.996|e6acre|km2}} of land in 2007.<ref name=overview/>

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.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/24884487|title=The United States Forest Service: Changing of the Guard|author1=Brown, Greg|author2=Harris, Charles C.|year=1992|journal=Natural Resources Journal|volume=32|issue=3|pages=449–466|jstor=24884487}}</ref>

=== National Places ===
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.

=== Research stations and research work units ===
[[File:U.S. Forest Products Lab.jpg|thumb|left|The Forest Products Laboratory, in [[Madison, Wisconsin]]]]
The Forest Service Research and Development deputy area includes five research stations, the [[Forest Products Laboratory]], and the [[International 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 Research Station|Rocky Mountain]], and [[Southern Research Station|Southern]]. 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 {{convert|195|e6acre|km2}} of public land administered by the Forest Service. Individual sites range from 47 to 22,500&nbsp;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.

=== Regions ===
[[File:United States Forest Service Regions 1-10.svg|thumb|300px|Map of the nine regions]]
There are nine regions in the Forest Service; numbered 1 through 10 (Region 7 was eliminated
in 1965 when the current Eastern Region was created from the former Eastern and
North Central regions.<ref>The Land We Cared for... A History of the Forest Service's Eastern Region.
1997, Conrad, David E., Forest Service.</ref>
). 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.
* '''Northern''': based in [[Missoula, Montana]], the Northern Region (R1) covers six states (Montana, Northern Idaho, North Dakota, Northwestern South Dakota, Northeast Washington, and Northwest Wyoming), twelve National Forests and one National Grassland.
* '''Rocky Mountain''': based in [[Golden, Colorado]], the Rocky Mountain Region (R2) covers five states (Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and most of Wyoming and South Dakota), sixteen National Forests and seven National Grasslands.
* '''Southwestern''': based in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], the Southwestern Region (R3) covers two states (New Mexico and Arizona) and eleven National Forests.
{{anchor|Region 4}}
* '''Intermountain''': based in [[Ogden, Utah]], the Intermountain Region (R4) covers four states (Southern Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Western Wyoming), twelve national forests.
* '''Pacific Southwest''': based in [[Vallejo, California]], The Pacific Southwest Region (R5) covers two states (California and Hawaii), eighteen National Forests and one Management Unit.
* '''Pacific Northwest''': based in [[Portland, Oregon]] the Pacific Northwest Region (R6) covers two states (Washington and Oregon), seventeen National Forests, one National Scenic Area, one National Grassland, and two National Volcanic Monuments.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/r6/about-region|work=Region 6|title=About the Region|publisher=USFS}}</ref>
* '''Southern''': based in [[Atlanta, Georgia]], the Southern Region (R8) covers thirteen states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma and Virginia; and Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands), and thirty-four National Forests.
* '''Eastern''': based in [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]], the Eastern Region (R9) covers twenty states (Maine, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Delaware, and New Jersey), seventeen National Forests, one Grassland and America's Outdoors Center for Conservation, Recreation, and Resources.
* '''Alaska''': based in [[Juneau, Alaska]], the Alaska Region (R10) covers one state (Alaska), and two National Forests.

=== National Forest or Grassland ===
{{further|List of U.S. National Forests|United States National Grassland}}
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.

=== Ranger District ===
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 {{convert|50000|acre|km2}} to more than {{convert|1|e6acre|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.<ref name=organization>{{USFS|url=https://www.fs.fed.us/about-agency/organization|article=Agency Organization|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320144141/https://www.fs.fed.us/about-agency/organization|archive-date=2017-03-20|url-status=dead}}</ref>