The Forest Service’s work is remarkable for its scope, scale and complexity. Our efforts to implement the Wildfire Crisis Strategy, combat wildfire, conduct cutting edge research, manage our forests and grasslands, and support the agency through a myriad of administrative functions requires a commitment to continual learning and improvement. Nowhere is this more critical than in our efforts to protect the health, safety and welfare of our employees.   

To support our agency’s focus on learning and safety, I am pleased to announce that the Innovation and Organizational Learning Unit will move from the Rocky Mountain Research Station to the Washington Office Research and Development deputy area.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with IOL, it started as a small unit centered on how the agency learns from and responds to serious incidents. Over time, agency leadership came to rely on the IOL team to help the agency with organizational learning in a variety of contexts. For example, during the pandemic, agency leadership called on the unit to help us better understand how policy and guidance affected agency employees. That led to the creation of the 2020 Wildland Fire and COVID-19 focus groups, which was later recognized with a Chief’s Award.

This realignment will expand the visibility and capacity of the unit as an integrated national program. To be clear, this is not just a realignment; this change recognizes years of increasingly important and stellar work by the unit and the value that IOL can and will bring to the entire agency. I am pleased the Innovation and Organizational Learning unit will continue to expand their critical work advising, coaching and supporting the agency on its safety journey. Please join me in congratulating this unit and welcoming them to the Washington Office.

Editor's Note: Provide feedback about this column, submit questions or suggest topics for future columns through the FS-Employee Feedback inbox.