Missoula Technology and Development Center: Shaping Solutions for the Forest Service
Introduction
For the past half century, the Forest
Service's Technology and Development
program has provided practical solutions to
problems identified by USDA Forest Service
employees and cooperators. The solutions
help the Forest Service do its work more
efficiently and more safely.
Two centers, one in Missoula, MT, and the other in San Dimas, CA, provide solutions. Each year, they work on 80 to 150 projects. Most projects are completed within 18 months to 3 years.
The current projects at Missoula include:
- Evaluating improved versions of the emergency fire shelter
- Testing fire retardants
- Developing a water pump that can be used by people with disabilities
- Developing a Web-based catalog of trail bridge designs
Such variety requires many different talents. The skills of the center's 50 employees include engineering, forestry, machine tool operation, metal fabrication, drafting, computer systems management, contract administration, publication design, helicopter rappelling, smokejumping, explosives, recreation management, sociology, global positioning systems, equipment design, textile design, contracting, editing, photography, finance, Web design, safety, statistics, chemical analysis, reforestation, and video production.
Although the centers are funded specifically to solve problems for the Forest Service, the solutions have been widely adopted by other agencies and by private groups in the United States and abroad.
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