Partnership Resource Center
 

Emerging Issues

A man points out packaged foods spread out at a booth to a group of children.Partnerships and collaboration are essential in recognizing and responding to emerging issues.  Some of these issues are about natural resource management, like responding to climate change.  Others are challenges, like connecting kids with the outdoors or responding to changing demographics. 

Here you will find links to how the Forest Service is responding to emerging issues.  In addition, you will find tools to help identify emerging issues that may not be on this list.  These tools are useful for local collaborative planning efforts or ongoing partnerships.

Emerging issues include:

America's Great Outdoors

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Climate Change

  • Forest Service climate change homepage:  Access the many agency efforts to address climate change and find links to selected key information sources.
  • Office of the Climate Change Advisor:  Through the Climate Change Advisor’s office in the Chief’s office, we are working to bring climate change knowledge into our organizational expectations and actions. We will be learning by doing as well as learning from each other.

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Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration

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Connecting Youth with the Outdoors

  • Conservation Education:  The young and young at heart will find something great here.  There's a toolbox for educators, great tools for partners and those who are interested in opportunities, plenty about Woodsy the Owl and Smokey Bear, and information about upcoming events.
  • Forest Service Kids:  The Forest Service is committed to connecting kids with nature and the outdoors by providing students, parents, and teachers with youth-oriented information and resources related to natural resources and the environment.

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Economic Recovery

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Ecosystem Services

  • Ecosystem Services homepage:  Healthy forest ecosystems are ecological life-support systems. Forests and grasslands provide a full suite of goods and services vital to human health and livelihood, natural assets we call ecosystem services.

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Four Threats

  • Four Threats homepage:  Fire and fuels, invasive species, loss of open space, and unmanaged recreation are four of the principle threats the Forest Service is addressing today.

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International Year of Forests

  • Forest Service International Year of Forests homepage: The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests to bolster efforts to promote sustainable management, conservation, and development of forests worldwide. In 2011, the Forest Service, in partnership with other organizations, will host and coordinate many activities to celebrate the International Year of Forests.

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Planning Rule

  • Planning Rule revision homepage:  On December 17, 2009, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA Forest Service is beginning an open, collaborative process to create and implement a modern planning rule to address current and future needs of the National Forest System.

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Roadless Area Conservation

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Rocky Mountain Bark Beetle

  • Bark Beetle homepage: Forests throughout Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota are suffering from Bark Beetle impacts – one of the most destructive insects in western coniferous forests. This website provides up-to-date information on the projects designed to reduce hazardous fuels and wildfire risk to the forest, homes, communities, and critical watersheds and reduce hazards to recreation areas such as campsites, hiking trails, and picnic areas.

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Water

  • Water management in the Forest Service:  Water is one of the most important natural resources flowing from forests and grasslands. The Forest Service manages the largest single source of water in the United States., with about one-fifth originating from 193 million acres of land managed by the agency. A network of water and watershed resource specialists support stewardship efforts at all levels of the organization to promote healthy, sustainable watersheds fundamental to ecosystems and people.

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Wildland Fire

  • Forests and Rangelands:  Forests and Rangelands is a cooperative effort between the United States Department of the Interior (DOI), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and their land management agencies. Forests and Rangelands provides fire, fuels, and land management information to government officials, land and fire management professionals, businesses, communities, and other interested organizations and individuals.
  • The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (Cohesive Strategy) is a collaborative process to seek national, all-lands solutions to wildland fire management issues. The Cohesive Strategy focuses on three key areas: Restore and Maintain Landscapes, Fire Adapted Communities, and Response to Fire.

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