WASHINGTON, DC—The public and agency employees alike can now view an updated dashboard showing how the Forest Service contributes to local economies surrounding each national forest unit.

Staff from the Social Science and Economics branch of the Policy Office have been hard at work analyzing and compiling the data included in this new tool. In previous years, the branch posted the Job and Income At A Glance Reports as PDF documents, providing similar economic contribution analysis.

The updated analysis in the dashboard uses 2019 data to model local economic conditions and the contributions of Forest Service inputs. The branch updates this analysis on a three-year cycle and will make 2022 results available some time in 2024.

The dashboard demonstrates how national forests and grasslands support local economies by providing recreation opportunities, forest products, energy, minerals and livestock grazing. In addition, the dashboard includes economic contributions from payments to local governments and agency investments; this includes investments in construction and maintenance of infrastructure, environmental restoration and forest health also contributes to local economic activity.

Agency partners, local governments and the public use this information to understand economic connections to forest service lands (e.g., economic dependence); and now have a new way to access this highly valued analysis. For example, public outreach related to a recreation site improvement could highlight the overall economic contributions stemming from a forest or grassland unit’s recreation program (available from the dashboard) or public interest and communication materials related to the re-opening of a local mill could include the contribution of timber harvest volume and related wood product processing from a forest unit to local jobs and income from the dashboard.

Who is the audience for this dashboard?

The information can be accessed by anyone, and used to gain an appreciation for current employment, income and gross domestic product supported by national forest and grassland management. The dashboard serves as an easy reference for our partners, the public and many levels of the agency. As calls for information come in, resource specialists, planners, public affairs staff, district rangers, forest supervisors, regional office staff and Washington Office staff now have this information readily available to share with the public. Don’t hesitate to reach out to your regional office, Enterprise or Policy Office Economics staff for questions on underlying data, assumptions or modeling protocols as well as application of results.