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United States Forest Service

The US Forest Service is a multi-faceted agency that manages and protects 154 national forests and 20 grasslands in 44 states and Puerto Rico. The agency’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.

We have an elite wildland firefighting team and the world’s largest forestry research organization. Our experts provide technical and financial help to state and local government agencies, businesses, private landowners and work government-to-government with tribes to help protect and manage non-federal forest and associated range and watershed lands.

We augment our work through partnerships with public and private agencies that help us plant trees, improve trails, educate the public, and improve conditions in wildland/urban interfaces and rural areas, just to name a few. Our team also promotes sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation internationally.

Gifford Pinchot, first Chief of the Forest Service, summed up the mission of the Forest Service: “to provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people in the long run.”

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Hotter-burning fires and a warming climate make it harder for seedlings to survive. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The West’s iconic forests are increasingly struggling to recover from wildfires – altering how fires burn could boost their chances

Over 50 fire ecologists across the Western U.S. took an unprecedented look at how forests in thousands of locations are recovering from fire in a changing climate. The results were alarming.
The Cedar Creek Fire burns in Washington’s Methow Valley in late July 2021. Jessica Kelley

How years of fighting every wildfire helped fuel the Western megafires of today

More than 40 fire scientists and forest ecologists in the US and Canada teamed up to investigate why wildfires are getting more extreme. Climate change is part of the problem, but there’s more.
Several studies have shown that spending time in nature is good for health. Now new research has looked specifically at asthma and found that living in green neighbourhoods protects children from developing the condition. from www.shutterstock.com

Children living in green neighbourhoods are less likely to develop asthma

New research shows that children who live in greener neighbourhoods are less likely to develop asthma, and that the more diverse the plant life is, the more they are protected.
Planting trees can make cities more desirable and safer places to live in. Joe Castro/AAP.

Greening cities makes for safer neighbourhoods

Not only do healthy, well-maintained trees provide shade and benefit the ecosystem, they can have a meaningful social impact: people in newly greened neighbourhoods start to look out for each other.

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