WASHINGTON, DC—Forest Service employees perform award-winning work resulting in positive effects on the agency’s mission to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The Forest Service awards program supports employees’ dedication to service by efficiently and effectively administering awards so that employees receive recognition as quickly as possible.

So how does it all work, and who manages this important program? While awards are typically recommended and approved at the local unit level, the awards program is part of Human Resources Management. The program staff is made up of five subject matter experts who strive to supply excellent customer service to all employees.

“Our goal is to align the service we provide with our agency’s mission to care for the land and serve the people while honoring our codes and commitments to support each other,” said Ryan Sanchez, supervisory awards specialist.

Our employees keep the awards team busy

• The awards team processes all monetary and time-off awards for the agency. Last fiscal year they processed over 23,000 awards! 11,000 of those awards were processed in fewer than eight weeks at the end of the fiscal year. The team processes each award in the same pay period they are received so employees are recognized as quickly as possible.
• The team implemented the new 2020 USDA standards into the agency awards process so supervisors or colleagues can recognize employees for their accomplishments throughout the year. This also includes hosting regular training sessions about the 2020 changes.
• The team also redesigned the new HRM Awards intranet page for the agency to have the most recent guidance and regulations. This new page combines 13 separate pages into a single resource.

Meet the team

	Ryan Sanchez Supervisory Awards Specialist Career background Ryan has worked for the Forest Service for 11 years. He started as a student hire on the HRM training team. Since then, he’s worked on the personnel action request team, the pay and leave team, and now for awards.
	Andrew Alba Awards Assistant Career background Andrew has worked for the Forest Service for two years. He’s worked in the personnel action request team and now for awards.
	Maria Compean Awards Specialist Career background Maria has worked for the Forest Service for 14 years. She started in personnel action requests, where she worked for five years, then she moved to pay for three years, and has worked for awards for six years.
	Melissa Ranspot Awards Assistant Career background Melissa has worked for the Forest Service for two years. She started in personnel action requests and transferred to the awards team in March 2022.
	Erika Baca Awards Assistant Career background Erika has worked for the Forest Service for seven years. She started in 2015 with personnel action requests, worked for awards during a detail in 2020, and then transferred permanently in 2022. She previously worked in the medical field for 17 years in various business management roles.

Visit the Awards intranet page to find out more about the awards program. Also, feel free to reach out to the team with any questions.