Feature Stories

In biodiversity-rich areas of Zimbabwe, women, men, and even children venture into national parks and other protected areas to dig and sluice for gold, platinum, and diamonds. They are artisanal small

Are you excited, too? A total solar eclipse will cross the United States on April 8, 2024, in a path from Texas through Maine and passing through five national forests. This will be my third total

Extreme wildfires tore through California, burning more than 4.2 million acres from 2020 through 2021. The fires were like none ever recorded in modern history. Their devastation of human communities

You know about weather forecasters. What about avalanche forecasters? Fresh snow brings an increased amount of interest from backcountry winter sports enthusiasts who seek the adventure of untracked

A childhood dream ignited. Matthew Rau was five years old when his family moved into government housing at a U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service ranger station. Some of his earliest

How can an insect that is smaller than a penny cause so much ecological, economic, and cultural devastation? The emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle native to Asia, is one of the most destructive

After the intense wildfires of 2020, Forest Service managers and scientists teamed up with conservation groups, water utilities, and universities. Their mission: To fix the damage to watersheds in the

“Living with fire” -- understanding its role in ecology, management and communities – is an expression that became all too real for Arizonans following the devastating Dude Fire that occurred 33 years

Consider looking at the forest from another perspective — you arrived there by road, launched your boat by ramp, crossed a canyon by bridge, and maybe used a wildland restroom. These amenities

In Fall of 1863, 461 Native Americans from the Yuki, Wailacki, Concow, Little Lake Pomo, Nomlacki, Pit River, Maidu and Nissinan tribes were forcibly marched from their homelands. The march was part

Smoking fields and bare soil betray a common practice in this rural Mozambique district: slash and burn agriculture. The rural population here barely subsists on low-yield rice, cassava, and

Listen to the Story It appears that your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio. Please use the following download directly link instead. Transcript | Download directly (66 MB) In a meadow, the squish of

Dry thunderstorms rolled across California’s Central Valley into the Sierra Nevada range on August 17, 2020. Lightning-caused fires, fueled by hot, windy conditions, would eventually burn more than

Growing up in Chicago, a career as a wildland firefighter felt as distant to Lex Scanlan as the vast mountains and giant conifers far to the West. “Most of my family and friends are from the Midwest

When you consider civil rights, what do you think of? Many may think of activism, protest, art, community and music. What about forest recreation? “Millions of past peoples have lived and worked in