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Technology &
Development Center

Sixty Years of Innovation and Problem Solving

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Trail Maintenance

With thousands of miles of trails to maintain, the USDA Forest Service needs the best possible tools to do its job. In some settings, one of these tools may be the miniature rock rake modified by the Technology and Development Program.

[photo] An all-terrain vehicle operator pulling a rock rake that has been modified by the Technology and Development Program.

Traditional Tools

Power tools can't be used in wilderness areas. The Technology and Development Program makes sure that the skills to use and maintain traditional tools, such as crosscut saws, aren't completely lost.

[photo] Loggers cutting a large tree with axes while standing on springboards. [photo] Crosscut saw being used by two workers to cut a tree.

Accessibility

Keeping facilities in remote areas accessible for people with disabilities requires imagination. A new rotary handpump developed by the Technology and Development Program allows anyone to pump water at a campground even if they don't have strong arms and a long reach. Special loading platforms allow persons to transfer from wheelchairs into boats. The Technology and Development Program maintains mechanical drawings that will allow anyone to build accessible loading platforms.

[photo] Woman in a wheelchair using a rotary handpump designed by the Technology and Development Program to pump water at a campground. [photo] Man in a wheelchair using a special loading platform designed by the Technology and Development Program.

Training Guides

Storing hazardous materials properly requires understanding many laws and regulations. The Technology and Development Program and a private contractor condensed the laws and regulations into easy-to-understand guidebooks.

[photo] Technology and Development Guidebook resting over a picture of hazardous materials lined up on a storage shelf.

Facility Improvements

Since 1990, vault toilets at USDA Forest Service campgrounds have relied on a passive ventilation system that keeps most of the odor outside. The Sweet Smelling Toilet is just one example of the Technology and Development Program's innovations for facilities.

[photo] A vault toilet facility. [image] A surface and subsurface drawing of the vault toilet facility.
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