The Southwestern Region is 20.6 million acres. There are six national forests in Arizona, five national forests and a national grassland in New Mexico, and one national grassland each in Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle.The region ranges in elevation from 1,600 feet above sea level and an annual rain fall of 8 inches in Arizona's lower Sonoran Desert to 13,171-foot high Wheeler Peak and over 35 inches of precipitation a year in northern New Mexico. map of forest locations »
Last month USDA Forest Service received an order from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona stating that the agency’s “timber management” actions must cease on six national forests in Arizona and New Mexico pending formal consultation regarding potential effects to the Mexican spotted owl. The Court quickly responded to the request to modify the order and allowed the cutting and collection of fuelwood, which both the plaintiff and the Forest Service supported.
We have requested the court either modify or further clarify its September order. Among other things this request provides extensive information about the minimal potential impact on Mexican spotted owl of many activities that are designed to improve forest health, including stewardship contracts, timber sales, thinning and prescribed burns in specific areas, and that provide forest products such as firewood and Christmas trees to local communities.
Providing 10,000 handcrafted Christmas ornaments to adorn the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree and 70 companion trees is no small feat, but with the help of the community, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is well on its way to achieving that goal!
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![[Photo] Rider on an ATV riding down a sand dune.](/Internet/FSE_MEDIA/fsbdev3_020444_tn.jpg)
