Did you know that Smokey Bear has his own zip code? Or that a quarter of U.S. ski resorts are located on national forests? To celebrate 120 years of the USDA Forest Service, we bring you these and 10

It’s been a long, grueling day on the fire line. Wildland firefighters, with faces full of soot and ash file wearily towards the building at the center of the camp. A door swings open, and bright

Don’t be fooled into thinking fixing asphalt is quick and easy. While we may take the ground we travel upon for granted, pavement repairs can make all the difference in the safety, accessibility and

There are days we remember forever; from the people we shared them with to the feelings they evoke within us. Most of these days are full of joy and celebration—a wedding, a birth, a graduation. Then

Forestry Technician Doug Phelps grew up visiting Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. He never could have imagined how much the place would come to mean to him. “I remember visiting the

Sarah King remembers one time when she was focusing on the day’s task of preparing an area of the Custer Gallatin National Forest in southwestern Montana to be burned to reduce the threat of future

For Nicole Bringolf being deaf hasn’t stopped her from being many other things. She’s a self-proclaimed ski mountaineer, who summited several 14,000-foot peaks in the U.S. and Switzerland since

Fighting wildland fire, running whitewater rapids, using heavy machinery, interacting with wildlife, and parachuting into rugged terrain. Depending on the career, these are just some of the exciting

A career day at Chaparral High School in Temecula, California. That’s what changed Cole Weissgerber’s life. Before then, he wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do with his life (who really does know

In the heart of the nation's forests and grasslands, a unique opportunity awaits those eager to make a difference. Whether you're drawn to the call of nature or seeking to further advance conservation

Consider looking at the forest from another perspective — you arrived there by road, launched your boat by ramp, crossed a canyon by bridge, and maybe used a wildland restroom. These amenities

You’re given hundreds of zip ties, thousands of seeds, bins piled with pinecones and branches, plus lots of glue and wiring. You have four days to decorate the Forest Service wagon for the 135th

As Kristen Francis looks out across the quiet expanse of the Kaibab Plateau in Northern Arizona, she wonders at what all the land has seen and what we can learn if we look closely. “We learn from the

Deep in a canyon in Colorado, six Forest Service trucks from Nebraska sit in the shade of a row of pines as firefighters pile brush nearby. A wildland fire crew from Nebraska’s Pine Ridge Job Corps is

Newfound confidence. Real life skills. A focus on the future. That’s what some of the 57 recent graduates of the Colombia Youth Conservation Corps (CYCC) report after completion of the eight-month

The Forest Service is around 30,000 employees strong and requires a wide variety of professions to get the job done — to care for the land and serve people, that is. There are foresters, rangeland

After returning home as a disabled veteran from Operation Desert Storm, it was a challenge for Louis Haynes to find his professional footing in the civilian world. He found “home” in the USDA Forest

When you hear the term “nurse,” you probably visualize a modern-day superhero toiling in a hospital or nursing home—not necessarily a USDA Forest Service Job Corps center. In the aftermath of a public

We invite you to experience an interactive story map featuring over 100 stories, images and videos of service to the land by Forest Service volunteers and partners. The breadth and depth of volunteer

Editor’s note: The Backcountry Trails Program, established in 1979, is the longest-running special program of the California Conservation Corps. For two decades, the program, in partnership with