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USDA Forest Service International Programs Workshop in Brazil April 22-26, 2024
The Pike-San Isabel National Forests & Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands, located in USDA Forest Service Region 2, recently supported the USDA Forest Service International Programs in Brazil at a five-day sustainable trail and natural resource management workshop April 22-26, 2024, at the Brasilia National Park.
U.S. Forest Service Brazil Program specialists Suelene Couto and Lorena Brewster welcomed San Isabel National Forest Trail Coordinator Dani Cook to Brasilia, Brazil, along with partners Larry Lechner, Erin Hicks and Ryan Finchum from the Center of Protected Area Management at Colorado State University to support ongoing partnerships with Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio). The workshop was hosted by ICMBio staff with the objective of finalizing a trail manual for planning, maintenance and construction of sustainable trails. It also included a 40-hour training course focusing on initial concepts of sustainable trails.
The week was filled with presentations, panels and demonstrations. After a six-year gap, these renewed discussions reignited goals and helped fine tune deliverables surrounding key topics and agency needs.Years of dedication, support and fostering partnerships between U. S. Forest Service, United States Agency for International Development, Conferência Pan-Americana de Meteorologia and ICMBio shined through, demonstrating the positive effects that the international program has with Brazil including this first phase of dedicated management. Larry Lechner reflected on his time spent in Brazil over the past 30 years with a sense of pride and confidence that ICMBio professionals are now setup for success in natural resource management.
During the workshop, Ana Luiza Violato Espada, from the U.S. Forest Service, facilitated an important panel discussion around gender equity with a presentation of data surrounding gender dynamics in the natural resource management workforce. The discussion was also augmented by the personal testimonies of four women.The workshop fostered a welcoming and safe environment for women to share their experience, with the intent of opening the conversation for further analysis and shedding additional light on a topic that holds great importance around the world, though is rarely vocalized.
Participants were grateful for the opportunity to express powerful sentiments that continued through the remainder of the workshop and were encouraged to bring the conversations back to their home units. All of the experiences from this workshop highlighted the high functioning partnerships this program fosters, resulting in deeper connections and a shared joy for the conservation of the great outdoors shared by the professionals in attendance and around the world. The ongoing partnerships will include U.S. Forest Service support in publishing a trail manual with ICMBio, along with solidifying a 40-hour training course for the organization, tiered toward local culture, topography and management practices.
Additional information on International Programs:
The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) through International Programs, has worked in partnership with the Government of Brazil for more than 30 years, as well as with communities, universities in Brazil and the United States, civil society organizations and the private sector to strengthen forest and fire management, strengthen socio-bioeconomy initiatives and contribute to governance and management of protected areas and Indigenous Lands in the Amazon and other biomes.
International technical cooperation involves U.S Forest Service staff and their counterparts in Brazil, creating deep exchanges of ideas, practices, standards, lessons and shared challenges to deliver high quality natural resource management activities to improve lives, landscapes, and biodiversity.
The activities are supported by interagency agreements, between the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and others.