From Forest to Fridge
As one of the major birthplaces of our food supply, National Forests play a vital role in both feeding people and keeping the wheels of our agriculture industry running. We’re the home to baby cows, but we’re also the destination for truck drivers, and for bulls that are sometimes shipped over halfway across the country. We’re the place cattle come from, before they’re sold on the open market and shipped both domestically and internationally to grocery stores and high end restaurants the world over. And we’re part of the reason that people are willing to pay a premium, because at the end of the day they know and they trust that we’re out here with our cattle permitee partners, working together to make both the range and the forest a better place.
But for every person in the field there are legions more working diligently behind the scenes, each of us playing a role in the feeding of America. Some of us keep the fleet and the trucks running, others set-up and maintain the radios and many more work to make sure that we keep our cattle happy, we keep the land safe and that we keep our people fed.
Because this is who we are. We’re the United States Forest Service.
And we’re taking care to take care of it for you. (link)
Living the Shield: Horsemanship
There’s no experience that compares to the great American road trip. From the wide open spaces of the Oregon Outback to the snow capped peaks of Northern Washington, our Region is home to some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. But a good road trip is always about more than just the scenery; a good road trip is about the people.
And on my road trip I met a lot of really good people. People like the Frontliners in Oregon who are eager to expand upon and improve the ways in which we provide customer service. People like the small business owners that I visited with in Washington who appreciate and see the value in telling our stories, and people like the Park Service, Forest Service and Border Patrol employees who introduced me to the finer points of packing and good horsemanship.
The people and places that make up our vast Region make for the greatest of road trips, and no matter which route you take or which place you visit, I think you’ll find that all of our National Forests truly are magnificent, and they help to create the experiences that define who we are as Americans.
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Living the Shield: Timber Management
Looking for lilies probably isn’t the first thing people think of when it comes to logging our National Forests, but for employees on the Ochoco National Forest sometimes it’s the littlest things that can make the biggest of differences.
Travel along as we accompany an interdisciplinary timber crew, meet the people who set up our timber sales and learn about the loggers who help to make the whole thing happen.
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