Publications

The Forest Service supports forestry efforts in urban communities throughout the country. Tree cover in urban areas reduces temperatures, energy use, and air and noise pollution. Green spaces provide areas for recreation and relaxation. The care and maintenance of these places create jobs. This factsheet highlights those impacts and shows how the agency's urban and community forestry program supports the communities where more than 80 percent of Americans live.

The Forest Service has used aircraft in fire management since 1919. This book details that history, from the early days of air patrols with the U.S. Army to the modern use of airtankers, helicopters, infrared aircraft, and more through 2021. 

This strategic plan reflects goals, objectives, and strategies that will guide operations and recruitment in the Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations organization for the next 5 years.

This biannual publication provides information about nurseries and nursery production, including seed sourcing, seedling care, and transplanting seedlings for reforestation and related activities. The spring 2024 issue includes articles about zinc deficiencies, seed transfer (loblolly pine, red spruce, and black cherry), increasing the scale of nursery production, and the impacts of climate change on nurseries.

This strategy document details how the Forest Service works to mitigate the impacts of its operations on the climate crisis. With goals that include reducing agency emissions, shifting consumption habits and purchases, and ensuring that Forest Service employees are supported throughout the process, this strategy demonstrates the agency’s mission-focused sustainability commitment to current and future generations.

Fiscal year 2023 marked the second year of annual reporting for the Climate Action Tracker, which is the Forest Service’s primary reporting and tracking tool on climate change actions. This publication summarizes agency progress on climate change adaptation and carbon stewardship as well as progress with integrating environmental justice and Tribal engagement into the agency’s climate programs, planning, and actions.

Proactive stewardship involves forest management practices that promote the quality, composition, structure, pattern, or ecological processes necessary for old-growth forests to be adaptable to stressors and likely future environments. This factsheet highlights two examples of how the agency is using proactive stewardship to ensure resilience of old-growth forests on the Sequoia National Forest and Ochoco National Forest.

The Forest Service and National Forest Foundation established the Nature Connects Us campaign to awaken and strengthen connections to and understanding of the physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, and economic benefits from national forests and grasslands. This playbook describes guidelines, graphics, and questions that individuals and organizations can use as they share and invite others to reflect on their connections with nature and public lands.

This factsheet provides basic information about the definition and value of old-growth forests and explains the need and purpose for a national old-growth amendment to Forest Service land management plans. It summarizes actions taken since the notice of intent for the proposed national old-growth amendment was issued in late 2023, describes changes incorporated into the draft environmental impact statement, and outlines next steps leading up to release of the final environmental impact statement.

In response to Executive Order 14072, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management analyzed the threats to mature and old-growth forests on Federal lands, including from wildfires and climate change. As recognized in Section 1 of E.O. 14072, old-growth forests have decreased significantly from what existed historically. Understanding what threatens mature and old-growth forests is imperative to conserving and managing these forests and protecting their ecological, social, cultural, and economic value.

As the climate warms, suitable habitat for many tree species is shifting northward. Assisted migration is a process that helps establish native trees in areas that are or will be suitable habitat in the future. This handbook compiles guidance for transferring seeds and seedlings to improve nurseries' efforts in restoration, reforestation, and afforestation.

The Forest Inventory and Analysis Program developed a national methodology for compatible predictions of tree volume, biomass, and carbon content for species populating U.S. forest lands. This report serves as the primary reference for the outcome of those efforts and describes all the relevant aspects of the data, statistical modeling methods, and results.

Fiscal year 2023 marked the second year of annual reporting for the Climate Action Tracker, which is the Forest Service’s primary reporting and tracking tool on climate change actions. This publication, a synopsis of the full Climate Action Tracker report, summarizes agency progress on climate change adaptation and carbon stewardship as well as progress with integrating environmental justice and Tribal engagement into the agency’s climate programs, planning, and actions.

In response to Executive Order 14072, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have defined and inventoried old-growth and mature forests on lands that the two agencies manage. This report synthesizes those findings and details how the inventory was completed. Of the 178 million acres of forest land managed by the agencies, over 80 million are defined as mature and 33 million as old-growth.

This guide provides planting and care information for recipients of Moon Tree seedlings grown from seeds flown aboard the Artemis I mission. Instructions in the guide pertain to planting preparation, basic planting techniques, watering, weeding, mulching, protection of young seedlings, pruning, and general maintenance and health checks.