About the Area
The Forest Service manages vital public lands across California and the Pacific Islands—leading the way with research and restoration here in Region 5. The Pacific Southwest Region and Pacific Southwest Research Station welcome everyone to enjoy these diverse landscapes and share in their stewardship with our dedicated employees.
Region 5 manages more than 20 million acres of forests and grasslands across California which:
- Sustain almost 24 million annual visitors and over 40 million California residents;
- Supply more than half the state's water supply or the equivalent of over 11 trillion gallons of water flows from National Forest upper watersheds; has a $3.2B annual value of water market wholesale by sector in California; which helps support a thriving agricultural economy that generates more than $50 billion annually.
- Have hydroelectric power plants where more than 10,190 megawatts of installed hydro plant capacity has the ability to meet the power needs of over 7.6 million households.
- Supply $74 million in lumber and $118 million in forest wood products.
- More about Nature's Benefits
Regional Overview
The Regional Office staff coordinates activities between national forests, monitors activities on national forests to ensure quality operations, provides guidance for forest plans, and allocates budgets to the forests.
The Pacific Southwest Region is commonly referred to as Region 5 (R5). The R5 Regional Office is in Vallejo, California.
The Pacific Southwest Region's Leadership Team, comprised of Forest Supervisors, Regional Program Directors, and the Regional Forester, meet regularly to discuss and identify the issues of greatest importance to the Forest Service in California. The Regional Leadership Team has identified three strategic priorities that will guide the Region through 2024 and beyond.
The Pacific Southwest Region's Strategic Priorities are:
- Wildfire Crisis Strategy/Shared Stewardship Agreement
- Post-Fire Recovery and Disaster Relief
- Visitor Experiences and Public Access
These priorities are not meant to serve as an exhaustive list of everything we do. The annual work associated with regional and national forest operations are necessary and will continue to impact workforce capacity and capability. Zone and unit line officers are empowered to balance this work in concert with the priorities to sustain the health of our workforce.
Wildfire Crisis Strategy/Shared Stewardship Agreement (Fuels Reduction and Forest Resiliency)
Addressing conditions on the landscape to mitigate wildfire risk to communities, infrastructure, and watersheds.
Post-Fire Recovery and Disaster Relief
Providing for immediate needs of landscapes and communities in the wake of wildfires, natural disasters, and other emergency incidents.
Visitor Experiences and Public Access
Ensuring that all those who set foot on National Forest System lands feel welcomed and have broad opportunities to recreate in sustainable ways.
Wildfires
National Forests contain 6 million of the total 9 million acres of highly volatile brushland in California found mainly in the foothill country where urban expansion is increasing and many developments lack adequate protection against wildfire.
Water
Surface water run-off in California averages 71 million acre-feet per year. Annual water use is about 37 million acre-feet, of which 80 percent is used to irrigate crops. National forests supply 50 percent of the water in California and form the watershed of most major aqueducts and more than 2,400 reservoirs throughout the state.
Recreation
The National Forests in California are home to such unique scenic areas as Mt. Shasta, Lake Tahoe, Mt. Whitney, and the Big Sur coast as well as important ecological and prehistoric sites.
These National Forests account for 25 percent of National Forest recreation nationwide and about half of the public wildland recreation in the state. National Parks and other federal, state, county and private lands provide the remainder.
Fish, Wildlife and Plants
More than 600 of the 800 species of fish and wildlife in California inhabit the national forests, making the Forest Service the single largest habitat manager in the state. National forests are also home to nearly 4,000 of the 6,500 native plants in California. Recovery programs include protection of critical habitat for Threatened and Endangered Species such as the California condor, California bighorn sheep, and the northern spotted owl.
Research
The Pacific Southwest Research Station has 13 units in California. They provide critical research in collaboration with universities in areas such as forest genetic applications, the Pacific Southwest Forest Plan implementation, prescribed fire restoration, wildland recreation enhancement, spotted owl restoration, and ecosystem management. Find out more about the Pacific Southwest Research Station
State, Private and Tribal Forestry
The Region’s State, Private and Tribal Forestry program provides financial and technical assistance to state and local governments, Indian tribes, private organizations, urban communities and others to help protect forest resources and assist landowners in practicing good stewardship and quality land management.
Forest Health
Forest conditions, especially in Southern California and the Sierra Nevada, are of particular concern in Region 5. Dense and overgrown areas combined with the influx of people into California’s wildlands have created the potential for disastrous wildfires. Emphasis is being placed on actively managing forests by reducing dangerous accumulations of hazardous fuels to protect people, watersheds, and habitat.
Acquisition Management
- Contracting
- Property Management
- Purchasing
Ecosystem Management
- Aquatic Ecology
- Botany
- Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER)
- Ecology
- Fisheries
- Forest Vegetation
- Genetics
- Hydrology
- Invasive Species
- Range
- Reforestation & Growing Trees
- Soils
- Timber
- Watershed
- Wildlife
Ecosystem Planning
- NEPA Appeals and Litigation
- Freedom of Information Act
- Social Science & Collaboration
Engineering
- Architecture
- Environmental Clean-Up Projects
- Hazardous materials, spills, clean-ups and abandoned mines
- Roads
Fire and Aviation
- Aviation
- Fire
- Fire Ecology
- Fuels
- Intelligence
- Mobilization
Safety
- Occupational Health
Information Management
- Cartography and Geospatial Information Systems
- Corporate Data Management
- Digital Maps and Imagery
- Information Technology
- Natural Resource Monitoring
- Structural, Mechanical, Geotechnical & Civil Engineering
- Vegetation Inventory and Mapping
Law Enforcement
- Drug Eradication
- Fire Investigations
- General Law Enforcement
Program Development and Budget
- Budget Analysis
- Budget and Finance
- Directives
Public Affairs and Communication
- Strategic Issue Identification and Communication Planning
- Internal Communication
- External Communication
- Publications, Audio Visual, and Web Communication
Public Services
- Heritage Resources
- Lands
- Landscape Architecture
- Pacific Crest Trail
- Permits for Special Uses
- Realty/Appraising/Boundary and Title Management
- Recreation
- Travel Management/Motorized Recreation
- Wilderness
State and Private Forestry
- Biomass Utilization
- Forest Health (Insects and Disease)
- Urban and Community Forestry
Ranger District
The district ranger and his or her staff may be your first point of contact with the Forest Service. Each district has a staff of 10 to 100 people. Many on-the-ground activities occur on the ranger districts, including trail construction and maintenance, operation of campgrounds, and management of vegetation and wildlife habitat.
National Forest
There are 18 national forests and one grassland in California. Each forest is composed of several ranger districts. The person in charge of a national forest is called the forest supervisor. The district rangers from the districts within a forest work for the forest supervisor. The headquarters of a national forest is called the supervisor's office. This level coordinates activities between districts, allocates the budget, and provides technical support to each district.
Region
There are 9 Regions in the US Forest Service, numbered 1 through 10 (Region 7 was eliminated some years ago). The regions are broad geographic areas, usually including several States. The person in charge is called the regional forester. Forest supervisors of the national forests within a region report to the regional forester. The regional office staff coordinates activities between national forests, monitors activities on national forests to ensure quality operations, provides guidance for forest plans, and allocates budgets to the forests.
The Pacific Southwest Region is Region 5 and manages 20 million acres of National Forest land in California and assists the State and Private forest landowners in California, Hawaii and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands.
Eighteen national forests are located in this region, in the North Coast, Cascade, and Sierra Nevada ranges and from Big Sur to the Mexican border in the south Coast range.
Number of National Forests: 18
National Forest acres: 20,802,641
Number of Wilderness areas: 65
Number of Wilderness acres: 4,920,774
Number of Wild & Scenic Rivers: 29
Inventoried Roadless acres: 4,416,000
Miles of roads: 46,395
Miles of trails: 16,202
Recreation site visits: 35,623,000
Special Use Permits: 15,000
Family Campgrounds: 869
Group Campgrounds: 131
Ski areas: 25
Active grazing allotments: 515
Number of watersheds (5th field hydrologic units): 385
Annual water yield (in acre feet): 37,500,000
Total annual water supply of NFS in California: 35 million acre feet or 47% of the state
Wildfire acres burned and R5 Fuels Work to Reduce Wildfire Risk (select Pacific Southwest Region in upper right of screen)
National Monuments (2) in acres: 600,000
Number of Grasslands: 1
Pacific Island Partners include: State of Hawaii, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau
Cultural Connections: With 109 federally recognized tribes in California, the U.S. Forest Service in the Pacific Southwest Region encompasses almost 20% of the 574 federally recognized tribes in the nation — the most of any Forest Service region. Additionally, there are over 50 more non-federally recognized tribes in the state who may also have cultural interest in our national forests. List of tribes per national forest (PDF 336 KB).
The Forest Service Mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.
Meet The Forest Service
This factsheet highlights what the Forest Service does and how the agency operates. It provides a broad, national-level look at how the agency carries out its mission to serve the interests of the American people.
Economic Contributions
This information sheet shows how land management activities support local economies and contribute to the Nation's gross domestic product through timber and forest products, minerals and energy production, livestock grazing, recreation, and more.
Working for the American People
This factsheet highlights recent Forest Service accomplishments to include wildfire risk reduction, healthy forests, and contributions to America's food supply. Thousands of Forest Service jobs support our mission of caring for the land and serving people.