Forest Service

U.S. Forest Service Incident Management Teams have a wealth of experience in response to natural disasters. And as the Forest Service's Gordy Sachs points out, that experience has come in to play as a part of the national COVID vaccine campaign in staffing vaccination centers across the country ...

The U.S. is roughly mid way through an active avalanche season. "It's a bad avalanche season nationwide. In fact, in the last 10 days, we have had more record recreational fatalities than ever before than in the 100 years of our database," noted Simon Trautman is a national avalanche specialist with the Forest Service ...

If you were to rank this year, in terms of acreage burned by wildfires nationwide, where would it sit? "So far in 2020 we've gotten above 9.5 million acres. And currently looking at the modern statistics this ranks # 4," according to USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey. "S ...

The 2020 wildfire season has been an incredibly busy up and down the west coast. So, why did we see so many large fires this year? A recent House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry looked to address that issue. "The wild land fire problem is complex," Forest Service Deputy Chief, John Phipps, told lawmakers ...

Late last week, Washington Senator Maria Cantwell took to the Senate Floor calling for more to be done to fight wildfires now and to prevent them into the future. First, Cantwell called on President Trump to help the U.S. reach out to the international community for additional firefighters ...

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has confirmed another depredation in Wallowa County, the second in less than a week. Crews were called to a dead, four-month on calf found in a large, timbered Forest Service pasture Monday. When ODFW arrived, the calf was intact with little scavenging ...

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue will visit the Northwest over the next couple of days. On Thursday, the Secretary will participate in a Farmers to Families Food Box event with Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers in Liberty Lake. After the Thursday afternoon tour and food box demonstration, Perdue will travel to north Idaho, where he will participate in a forestry Roundtable with Governor Brad Littl

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden said the west is facing an unprecedented one-two punch this year, in the form of COVID-19 and anticipated active wildfire season. And as the Forest Service makes plans how to fight those fires, Wyden said it’s still unclear what’s going to be done to keep firefighters safe. In la ...

Communities in or near national forests facing the annual increasing threat of wild fire activity now have a resource to expand, explore, and reduce community wildfire risk. Jim Menakis of the US Forest Service said the wildfire risk to community’s website is now available online. ...

Since early December, U.S. Forest Service ground crews have been supporting Australia's efforts to control massive wildfire.  Shauna Legarza with the Forest Service said American fighters will remain in support as long as they are needed.  ...