Equity Action Plan

Announcements

"We need every USFS employee to play an active role in this work. We must talk, think, and act together to build and sustain an equity-centered Forest Service. There are still too many accounts where people of color, tribal members and indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, women, and members of the LBGTQ community feel unwelcome, isolated, and marginalized."

‐ Chief Randy Moore, September 2022

**NEW** 2023-2024 Forest Service Equity Action Plan (PDF, 1.3 MB)

The 2022 Forest Service Equity Action Plan represents a broad set of high-leverage actions with potential for creating high impact and enduring systemic change that benefit employees, Tribes, partners, and the public. Delivering the Forest Service’s mission in a purposefully equitable manner requires changing traditional perspectives, processes, actions, and performance measures to ensure the full suite of benefits, outcomes, and opportunities to participate are made available to all, especially in rural and urban places that have been marginalized or overlooked.

Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, requires the head of each agency to prepare a plan for addressing any barriers to full and equal participation in programs, services, procurement, contracting, and other funding opportunities. In this Plan, the Forest Service commits to assessing barriers and identifying equity outcomes for underserved communities by focusing on the following ten actions: increasing Tribal trust responsibilities and participation in Forest Service activities that honor Tribal rights and interests; increasing Tribal and stakeholder engagement and relationship building and equity-centered communications; achieving a representative and inclusive workforce; embedding equity in employee onboarding processes; providing economic opportunities through contracting and procurement; providing economic opportunities through grants and agreements; reducing wildfire risk to Tribes and underserved communities; expanding cooperative and state forestry assistance programs to underserved communities; expanding urban forestry benefits to underserved communities; and increasing access to recreation and outdoor experiences for underserved communities.

Forest Service Equity Action Plan Executive Summary

Translations of the Equity Action Plan Executive Summary: Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Arabic, Tagalog, French, Hmong, Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese.