United States Forest Service

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“USFS” redirects here. For the figure skating organization, see U.S. Figure Skating.

Logo of the U.S. Forest Service.

The USDA Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's national forests and national grasslands. In addition, the Research and Development branch of the Forest Service carries out research relevant to forest ecosystems and other natural resources.

The laws that established the agency and control its actions are: the Forest Reserve Act of 1891; the Organic Administrative Act of 1897; the Transfer Act of 1905 which transferred the forest reserves from the Interior Department to the Agriculture Department and changed the Bureau of Forestry into the Forest Service; the Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act, P.L. 86-517; the National Forest Management Act, P.L. 94-588; the National Environmental Policy Act, P.L. 91-190; the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act, P.L. 95-313; the Forest and Rangelands Renewable Resources Planning Act, P.L. 95-307; and the National Forest Management Act of 1976.

Across the whole United States, there are 155 national forests, organized into ranger districts employing district rangers and other personnel. The districts construct and maintain trails, operate campgrounds, regulate grazing, patrol wilderness areas, and manage vegetation and wildlife habitat.

The Forest Service also has seven Regional Research Stations, including the International Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products Laboratory, that study the ecosystems of the National Forests among other things. The Forest Service also provides funding and technical assistance to non-federal land owners through a branch called State and Private Forestry.

Although a large volume of timber is logged every year, not all 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 Grasslands in the midwest. Furthermore, areas designated as Wilderness, which can so created by an act of Congress, prohibit logging, mining, road and building construction and land leases for purposes of farming and or livestock grazing.

Smokey Bear poster

The history of the Forest Service has been fraught with controversy, as various interests and national values have grappled with the appropriate management of the many resources for the "greatest good". These values and resources include grazing, timber, mining, recreation, and wildlife habitat. Because of continuing development elsewhere, the large size of National Forests have made them de facto wildlife reserves for a number of rare and common species. In recent decades, the importance of mature forest for the spotted owl and a number of other species led to great changes in timber harvest levels.

Another controversial issue is the policy on road building within the National Forests. In 1999 President Clinton ordered a temporary moratorium on new road construction in the National Forests to "assess their ecological, economic, and social values and to evaluate long-term options for their management." [1] Five and half years later the Bush administration replaced this with a system where each state could petition the Forest Service to open forests in their territory to road building.

In order to help prevent forest fires, the Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council started to release fire education posters featuring a Black Bear on August 9, 1944. The poster campaign was a success and the Black Bear would later be named "Smokey Bear" who for decades was the "spokesbear" for the Forest Service.