Animals and Plants
Effective beginning 06/04/2025: This website, and all linked websites under the control of the agency is under review and content may change.
Want to learn and see more nature from different places?
The USDA Forest Service, Prince William Network and partners bring nature learning to you through our series of webcasts, webinars, and online education resources. No matter where you are in the world, visit our LIVE programs for exciting, on-site learning about bats, butterflies, climate change, wetlands, and more! Go to fsnaturelive.org for more information.
Stuck at home? Explore these great places to NatureWatch in National Forests across the United States online and plan your future travels. View the Naturewatch site and check out what it's all about.
Attention all bird watchers! Check out this free, interactive digital platform that combines multiple types of migration data for bird species found in the United States and Canada and explicitly draw connections made by individual birds across the hemisphere. The Bird Migration Explorer is a living platform that will be updated with new migratory bird data as it becomes available. To learn how to navigate the Bird Migration Explorer watch this 7:35 minute YouTube video.
The Explorer is also available in Spanish / El Explorer también está disponible en Español.
Additional Resources
Forest Service Research and Development: The Research and Development arm of the Forest Service, a component of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, works at the forefront of science to improve the health and use of our Nation's forests and grasslands. Research has been part of the Forest Service mission since the agency's inception in 1905.
Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute: The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute (ALWRI), administered by the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS), is an interagency national research facility. They are the only federal research program in the United States dedicated to the development and exchange of knowledge critical for stewarding the ~112-million acre U.S. National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) and similarly protected wild lands.
Forest Health Protection: Part of the State and Private Forestry Deputy Area of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, Forest Health Protection has over 250 specialists in the areas of forest entomology, forest pathology, invasive plants, pesticide use, survey and monitoring, suppression and control, assessment and applied sciences, and other forest health-related services.