Natural Resources
Forest Resource Management includes the oversight of a wide variety of forest resources - from urban forests to remote wilderness areas - to provide environmental and economic benefits for society including wood, wildlife, special forest products, and water.
The overriding objective of the Forest Service's forest management program is to ensure that the National Forests are managed in an ecologically sustainable manner. The National Forests were originally envisioned as working forests with multiple objectives: to improve and protect the forest, to secure favorable watershed conditions, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use of citizens of the United States. Forest management objectives have since expanded and evolved to include ecological restoration and protection, research and product development, fire hazard reduction, and the maintenance of healthy forests.
Guided by law, regulation, and agency policy, Forest Service forest managers use timber sales, as well as other vegetation management techniques such as prescribed fire, to achieve these objectives.
The natural infrastructure from each of California's 18 National Forests provides multiple benefits to people and populations, plants, animals, and habitat.
Ecosystem services are the benefits people receive and value from nature. This comprehensive suite of benefits provided by healthy ecosystems includes, but is not limited to:
- clean air
- water filtration
- carbon sequestration
- cultural heritage
- pollination
- flood control
- jobs, commerce, and value to local economies
- recreational opportunities and open space for communities
- renewable and non-renewable energy
- increased physical and psychological wellness
- wood products
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