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Water in the West is life

An aerial view of rivers flowing through the mountains of western Colorado.
On Colorado’s Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests, water for the region begins as snow in high-elevation locations before flowing down to creeks, reservoirs and irrigation systems that support communities across the Western Slope. It’s a quiet process, but it supports nearly every part of life downstream. (Forest Service video By Travis Weger)On Colorado’s Grand Mesa,…
#Water, #ForestManagement, #Rivers, #Watershed, #Headwaters, #ForestRestoration, #Restoration, #Timber, #GrandMesaUncompahgreAndGunnisonNationalForests

Shared stewardship is shared responsibility

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The Town of Frisco will manage the extensive summer and winter trail system under a special use permit under the Frisco Backyard decision. (Forest Service photo by Sam Massman) The White River National Forest’s recently approved Frisco Backyard Project uses a shared stewardship approach to…
#ForestRestoration

Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration

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Partners from rural areas in Colorado and New Mexico gather in a field near Chama, New Mexico, during a field trip about the Rio Chama restoration project. The work is across the Santa Fe, Carson, Rio Grande, and San Juan national forests and connected lands. The partnership works on the…
#Collaboration, #CollaborativeForestLandscapeRestorationProgram, #Restoration, #Partnerships, #EcosystemServices, #Landscapes, #ForestRestoration, #SharedStewardship, #ClimateResilience, #RuralCommunities

Meet the National Forest Foundation, official partner of the Forest Service

Image shows a man and a woman in hard hats standing at one end of a wooden bridge in a forest, looking at building plans.
Editors’ note: This is a guest article from the National Forest Foundation. The NFF’s Jeff Malik visits the Rainbow Campground on a trail project with Forest Service staff on the Mt. Hood National Forest. (National Forest Foundation photo by Maggie Kirkland) We believe in a world where caring…
#NationalForestFoundation, #Partnerships, #Partners, #Recreation, #AquaticRestoration, #ForestRestoration, #Restoration, #Resilience, #WildfireCrisis

Community roots, lasting impact

A person sitting on a fallen tree in a forest behind purple wildflowers, with a clipboard recording data.
The Salmon-Challis National Forest is no stranger to wildfire. Its rugged terrain spans 4.3 million acres across Central Idaho with much of the land affected by fires over the past few decades.The need to accelerate reforestation has only grown. The small yet dedicated forest silviculture crew took on the main responsibility for that work. But that changed three years ago when the Salmon-Challis…
#SalmonChallisNationalForest, #Wildfire, #Idaho, #Silviculture, #SharedStewardship, #PostFireRecovery, #Timber, #Reforestation, #WildfireRecovery, #ForestRestoration, #Partnerships, #ForestHealth, #NaturalResourceManagement

Forest Service workshop champions importance of restoring peatland

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Where peatland restoration is successful, rewetting conditions lead to recolonization by plants that are staples of a healthy wetland ecosystem, such as Sphagnum mosses, sedges, heath plants, tamarack and black spruce. (USDA Forest Service photo by Erik Lilleskov) MINNESOTA — Ever heard of a…
#EcologicalRestoration, #ForestRestoration, #HabitatRestoration, #InfrastructureInvestmentAndJobsAct, #WildfireCrisisStrategy, #WildfireCrisis, #Restoration