Are you looking for Forest Service photos or videos for your presentations, story maps, flyers, briefing papers or publications? The Office of Communication is here to help.

According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, neuroscientists found that the brain can identify images in as little as 13 milliseconds. With the public’s shortening attention span, images and videos are key in capturing our audience’s attention amidst the digital landscape of social media, cable TV and an array of streaming services. Our Creative Media and Visitor Services section offers several photo and video platforms you can use to share Forest Service messages and highlight the beauty of our national forests and grasslands.

Our official platforms

Our national Forest Service photo Flickr account provides access to thousands of Forest Service images. The account has several albums on Forest Service themes, including fire, landscapes, animals, recreation, timber, employees, shared stewardship and more. There are also some regional, station, forest and grassland Flickr accounts.

As our video social media platform, the national YouTube account contains our approved video productions for all employees and the public. Similar to Flickr albums, our YouTube account has video playlists based on Forest Service themes like fire, recreation, conservation, science and technology, animals and more. The use of YouTube and its social media aspect is a powerful platform for sharing meaningful video messages externally. Its social impact can help enhance comprehension of diverse and complex ideas. It allows subject matter experts the ability to better illustrate concepts and  procedures.

Through Vimeo, an online third-party video platform, we also provide an archive of training videos, town hall videos, internal videos, webinars, raw video clips (or b-roll) and more. This internal video platform helps us organize our videos that aren’t video productions. Unlike YouTube, Vimeo offers specific organizational tools that include download capabilities, privacy options, and more. Anyone looking for a video clip of firefighters or Chugach National Forest landscape can find these videos on Vimeo. Regions and research stations also have Vimeo accounts and the ability to share video content on this platform. Contact your regional or station multimedia (photo/video) managers for more information.

You can help us

Please take some time to review the content on our Flickr, YouTube and Vimeo platforms. We hope they will give you inspiration to create additional content. Yet we want them to be even better, and to do that, we need your help. If you have photos and videos and would like to help us build our visual archive, contact your local public affairs office, regional/research station multimedia managers or send us an email at sm.fs.digitalmedia@usda.gov. 

If you’re a Forest Service employee, you do not need to provide a photo or video release form for your imagery unless it contains minors. All images taken by a Forest Service employee as part of their official duties or because of work-related access can become part of the Forest Service photo archive with public affairs review and approval. If you are a retiree or private citizen, please contact us for a copy of the photo or video release form. When sharing, please provide the location (national forest or unit and state) where the image was shot and the photographer’s name.

We can help you

As you think about your projects, contact us or your local public affairs or multimedia specialist for support. Do you have questions about photo and video support? What kind of permission requirements do you need for a video? We can help you. Do you need some tips on how to manage your photo resources? We have that too. Do you need the scoop on requirements for commercial filming? Yes, we have an answer.

Are you working on a project with a partner in developing a video or other content? We can help facilitate collaboration efforts and ensure ownership, endorsement and content concerns are appropriately addressed. We can help ensure you stay within agency and department guidelines, as well as offering expert advice about the best format for your project.

Visit our OC Hub for public affairs standards on photography and video. It is a one-stop shop to find the latest guidance and standards for photography, videography and audio needs.

And as travel allows, we can come and provide video and photo support for your project. We offer video production and photo support across the agency on many communication campaigns. We may also be able to identify other program offices with similar projects and develop plans that will decrease costs, as well as ensure consistency in content. Building on our relationships, we look for opportunities across program areas.

We are ready to support you and advance our agency’s mission. We offer many different avenues to get your ideas, campaigns, videos and photos published internally or externally. Let us know how we can help you.