1

global leaflet

passed the North American Wetlands Conservation Act to protect waterfowl habitat.

Today, the focus of conservation is on all

migratory and resident birds. More than 300

species breed in Canada and the United

States and winter in Latin America and the

Caribbean. In 2000, recognizing that many

species were in serious decline, Congress

passed the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act authorizing grants to protect

bird habitats, both at home and abroad.

The act is based on a bird’s-eye view of

conservation. International and property

boundaries mean nothing to migratory birds,

which are equally at home in places near

and far. To give them the habitats they need,

we must work across borders and boundaries ourselves, assessing conservation

needs across entire migratory ranges and

collaborating where the needs are greatest. 

A bird’s-eye view of conservation pervades such efforts as the North American

Bird Conservation Initiative. Based on

regional partnerships, the initiative fosters

bird conservation on a landscape scale.

Other important initiatives include the

Waterbird Conservation for the Americas

Plan; the Shorebird Conservation Plans 

in Canada, Mexico, and the United States;

and the North American Waterfowl 

Management Plan.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture

(USDA) Forest Service takes a bird’s-eye

view of conservation through its Wings

Across the Americas program. The agency

has long worked with partners to maintain

and restore bird habitats on private as well

as public land, both at home and abroad,

and to pioneer research on birds throughout the Americas. The Wings Across the

Americas program supports these efforts

while keeping the agency as a whole

focused on integrated all-bird conservation

on a national and international level. In

March 2005, at the annual Wings Across the

Americas Awards Ceremony, the Associate

Chief of the USDA Forest Service recognized

outstanding work in bird conservation

involving agency employees and partners.

LIKE THE KIRTLAND’S WARBLER

AND OTHER MIGRATORY BIRDS, 

THIS HUMMINGBIRD DEPENDS

ON SOUND HABITAT CONDITIONS.

A Bird’s-Eye View of Conservation

by Jim Chu and Dan Logan

WHAT’S INSIDE? 

A CENTURY 

OF INTERNA TIONAL

ENGAGEMENT

◆ International Perspective: 

A Global Role for the USDA Forest Service . . . . . . 2

◆ The Incident Command System: 

Smoothing the Way for Emergency Relief . . . . . . . 3

◆ Ecosystem Management’s International Trail . . . . . 4

◆ Global Connections 

Are Changing Forest Inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

◆ News Bits from Around the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

◆ Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

No. 5, May 2005: 

A Century of International Engagement

Jim Chu is a biological scientist for the USDA Forest

Service, International Programs, Sedro Woolly, WA; 

and Dan Logan is a wildlife biologist for the USDA Forest

Service, Chugach National Forest, Cordova Ranger 

District, Cordova, AK. 

little yellow-and-blue bird symbolizes environmental progress:

the Kirtland’s warbler. Once on

the brink of extinction, the endangered

warbler is coming back due to an aggressive program to restore its summer

breeding habitat in northern Michigan. Yet

the bird is still doomed should its winter

habitat in the Bahamas decline. Like hundreds of other bird species in the United

States, the Kirtland’s warbler spends much

of the year on wintering grounds abroad.

Birds have long been of special concern.

In the early 20th century, migratory ducks

and geese were in severe decline through

overhunting for the market. In 1918, Canada

and the United States signed the Migratory

Bird Treaty Act restricting the hunting and

sale of migratory birds. The act was later

strengthened and expanded to include Japan,

Mexico, and Russia. In 1989, Congress

News from International Programs of the USDA Forest Service

continued on p.7...

U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 

A
2

Dale Bosworth is the Chief of the USDA Forest Service,

Washington Office, Washington, DC.

he USDA Forest Service was

founded a century ago, with the

birth of conservationism in the

United States. However, it is worth remembering that much of our conservation

heritage comes from abroad. One might

even say that conservation in the United

States was grafted onto American roots

from mother trees in Europe (see the text

boxes below and on pages 4 and 5). 

Spain declared the first forest reserves

in what is now the United States. Foreign

immigrants became many of our early

forestry leaders, including Bernhard Fernow and Raphael Zon. And foreign training

shaped the views of the USDA Forest Service’s founding father and first Chief,

Gifford Pinchot.

Over the years, international exchanges

have strengthened our commitment to 

conservation, improving our management

tools and deepening our ecological 

understanding. A wonderful example is our

forest inventory system, which owes much

to innovations abroad (see the article by

Rob Hendricks on page 5). Through the

Montreal Process, we are working with

international partners to develop the tools

we need to track our progress toward 

sustainable forest management. 

Sustainable forest management itself, as

a set of principles circumscribing our longterm goals, came out of international

collaboration culminating in the 1992 Earth

Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Stimulated by the summit, we formulated a holistic

policy of ecosystem management, a concept

that originated overseas (see the article by

Hal Salwasser on page 4).

A Global Role for the USDA Forest Service

by Dale Bosworth

International Perspective 

Some of the ecological challenges we

face are on an international scale, particularly when it comes to birds. Many

neotropical migratory birds are in steep

decline, primarily due to habitat loss.

Improving their habitat in your local neighborhood for part of the year does no good if

the habitat they need for the rest of the

year is vanishing in far-off places. 

Fortunately, the USDA Forest Service

and others are now taking a “bird’s-eye

view” of the situation: Through international partnerships, we are working across

borders and boundaries to assess bird conservation needs across entire migratory

ranges and to collaborate where the needs

are greatest (see the article by Jim Chu and

Dan Logan on page 1). 

For more than a hundred years, we have

benefited from foreign contributions to

conservation. One way that we are giving

something back is through the Incident

Command System for emergency response

(see the article by Deanne Shulman and

Bob Mutch on page 3). I am extremely

proud of our role in the Incident Command

System, and I am very pleased that we are

using it when disaster strikes to help people in other countries, too.

Gifford Pinchot envisioned conservation

as a way to end war by eliminating the

need to plunder the resources of other

countries. Today, the USDA Forest Service

is following in his footsteps. In the Middle

East, for example, we are bringing Israelis

and Palestinians together to solve their

biggest natural resource challenge: water.

In some small way, our international 

programs are building peace and understanding in the world, and I am very proud

of that.

Gifford Pinchot: The International Connection

by Edgar B. Brannon, Jr. 

Eddie Brannon is the recently retired Director of the Grey Towers National Historic Landmark, USDA Forest

Service, Milford, PA.

The first Chief of the USDA Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot, devoted his early career to forestry and conservation. In 1889, when he first decided to study forestry, there was no place in America to do so. Pinchot traveled

to Europe, where he was mentored by the Prussian Dietrich Brandis, one of the world’s best known foresters. 

Brandis helped Pinchot get into the French national forestry school. He also traveled with Pinchot and other students through German, French, and Swiss forests. Pinchot spent a month studying the municipal forest of Zurich,

Switzerland, where he was deeply impressed by the forest’s multiple-use management for wood and wildlife,

hiking, and hunting. What he learned laid the groundwork for his vision of a national forest system in America. 

In 1902, as an emissary for President Theodore Roosevelt, he traveled to the Philippines to help bolster 

its bureau of forestry. On his return, he had a major hand in writing the Philippine Forest Act.

More than 40 years later, Pinchot drew upon all that he had learned in other countries 

to stress the role that conservation can play in world peace. He urged the formation 

of an Inter-American Conservation Commission to give “each nation access to the raw 

materials it needs, without recourse to war.” 

T
3

Deanne Shulman is an emergency management specialist

for Disaster Mitigation Programs, USDA Forest Service,

International Programs, Washington Office, Washington,

DC; and Bob Mutch, formerly Program Manager for the

Disaster Assistance Support Program of the USDA Forest

Service, is a fire management consultant in Missoula, MT.

magine that you are fighting a

wildfire. The wind suddenly

changes, blowing fire in a new

direction. You try to radio the news, but

you can’t get through because the unit

you’re calling uses another radio frequency.

Precious minutes are lost as you struggle to

establish communication.

On a fire, operational effectiveness

depends on organizational efficiency, and

that’s the reason for the Incident Command

System. Historically, firefighting responsibility has been shared in the United States

among Federal, State, and local organizations, each with its own structure and

terminology. For decades, incident information was incomplete, unreliable, and

poorly communicated. Radio systems were

I

USDA FOREST SERVICE 

The Incident Command System: Smoothing the Way for Emergency Relief 

by Deanne Shulman and Bob Mutch incompatible, lines of authority unclear,

and incident objectives inadequate. 

In the early 1970s, an interagency task

force in California devised and field-tested

a standard, reliable emergency management system that is flexible and cost

effective. Ever since, the USDA Forest 

Service has used the Incident Command

System to respond to every type of disaster,

ranging from floods, to hurricanes, to 

terrorist attacks. In February 2003, recognizing its special advantages, the U.S.

Government placed the Incident Command

System at the core of its National Incident

Management System.

In 1985, the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance dispatched USDA Forest

Service emergency management personnel

to assist with earthquake recovery in Mexico City. Today, the same office funds a

Disaster Assistance Support Program run

by the USDA Forest Service’s International

Programs Staff. The program utilizes disaster assistance response teams modeled on

similar teams under the Incident Command

THE INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM

IS AS USEFUL TODAY TO COORDINATE

EMERGENCY RESPONSE IN SUDAN

(LEFT) AS IT WAS DECADES AGO WHEN

IT WAS DEVELOPED TO FIGHT WILDFIRES

(TOP) IN THE UNITED STATES. 

USDA FOREST SERVICE

System. In 2004, USDA Forest Service 

specialists joined a disaster assistance

response team in Sudan’s Darfur region to

provide humanitarian relief (see story on

page 6). 

The Incident Command System’s advantages are internationally acknowledged. In

October 2003, the International Wildland

Fire Summit in Australia called on all countries to adopt a common fire management

standard based on the Incident Command

System. In April 2004, the Antalya Declaration on Cooperation in Wildland Fire

Management in the Balkans, Eastern

Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia

echoed that call. 

Some countries have already adopted

the Incident Command System, including

Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Elsewhere, interest is growing. Specialists from

the USDA Forest Service have taught

courses on the Incident Command System

in Brazil, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Mexico,

Mongolia, and Taiwan. The Government of

India and the Association of Southeast

Asian Nations have also asked the USDA

Forest Service for help in integrating the

Incident Command System into their systems for disaster response. Their overseas

experience gives trainers a new perspective

on disaster response, improving their performance at home.

From humble origins in California, the

Incident Command System has spread

around the world, bridging divides between

organizations in responding to emergencies of every type. With decades of

experience, the USDA Forest Service is

helping to fulfill the promise of the Incident

Command System by facilitating its adoption wherever desired.
4

Hal Salwasser, former Director of the Pacific Southwest

Research Station and former Regional Forester for the

Northern Region, USDA Forest Service, is Dean of the College of Forestry at Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR.

he web of life: We all learned

about it in school. All life is interconnected. The things around us

in nature, living and dead, share complex

interdependencies at multiple scales, yielding detectable wholes that are greater 

than their parts. We call them ecological

systems—or ecosystems, for short. In

recent decades, ecosystem-based research

has come to deeply influence public forest

management in the United States. 

For most of the 20th century, land 

managers looked at forests in the same

way as farmers look at cropfields. Focused

on a few species that were key for timber

harvest, managers overlooked the

functioning whole.

The seeds of change were planted overseas. In 1935, the British ecologist A.G.

Tansley first articulated the ecosystem concept. In the 1940s, the American forester

and wildlife biologist Aldo Leopold

contributed the notion of a land ethic. 

By the 1970s, American ecologists were

exploring ecosystems through the International Biosphere Program. 

Public pressure contributed to the

change by inspiring new laws. The Multiple

Use–Sustained Yield Act of 1960 broadened

the USDA Forest Service’s focus from 

timber to multiple products and uses. The

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

explicitly called on public land managers

“to enrich the understanding of the 

ecological systems.” 

Yet, an ecosystem-based approach 

to management took decades to emerge.

Inside the USDA Forest Service, pressures

were building to diversify the values for

which forests were being managed. However, the Federal administration and

Congress often pushed the agency to focus

increasingly on commodity production.

In the 1980s, disputes broke out over the

focus on resource extraction and over the

silvicultural techniques used to support it.

By the early 1990s, national forest management was in crisis.

Again, the impetus for change came

from abroad. In February 1992, under the

auspices of the United Nations Food and

Agriculture Organization, the North American Forest Commission met in Cancun,

Mexico, where the United States presented

New Perspectives as an ecosystem-based

approach to forestry. Having borrowed

from Canadian efforts to diversify forestry,

New Perspectives was well received by the

Canadian and Mexican delegations.

The USDA Forest Service built on that

success at the Earth Summit in June 1992

in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where the United

States announced ecosystem management

as a new policy for sustaining the multiple

values and uses of the national forests and

grasslands. A holistic land management

policy had finally emerged. 

Delegates to the 1992 Earth Summit

adopted sustainable forest management, 

a set of principles and aspirations that

complement ecosystem management. Sustainable forest management articulates

long-term outcomes, whereas ecosystem

management describes how to achieve

them. The United States is committed 

to sustainable forest management through

the Montreal Process.

The two most important management

philosophies guiding natural resource management in the United States—sustainable

forest management and ecosystem management—had international origins. After

beginning in an international setting, 

the journey took many twists and turns. 

No doubt, it will continue.

THOUGH IT TOOK DECADES

OF DEBATE FOR THE UNITED

STATES TO FORMALLY MAKE

ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT

A GUIDING PHILOSOPHY, 

THE USDA FOREST SERVICE

NOW APPLIES IT AT HOME

AND OVERSEAS. 

Ecosystem Management’s International Trail

by Hal Salwasser

T

USDA FOREST SERVICE

USDA FOREST SERVICE

First Forest Reserves:

The Spanish Connection

In the 19th century, Puerto Rico’s forest resources

were dwindling due to population pressure and

land conversion. Spain took steps to protect the

remaining forests by prohibiting the sale of wood

except for naval use and by planting trees to conserve watersheds. Then, in 1876—a full 15 years

before the first forest reserves were set aside in the

United States—King Alfonso XII of Spain established forest reserves in Puerto Rico. 

The Treaty of 1898 ceded Puerto Rico to the United

States. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt

established the Luquillo Forest Reserve, renamed

the Caribbean National Forest in 1935. Today, the

Caribbean National Forest is home to the endangered Puerto Rican parrot, the emerald-hued

hummingbird, and other unique animals and plants.
5

Rob Hendricks is a senior policy analyst for the USDA

Forest Service, International Programs, Washington

Office, Washington, DC.

n 1607, when English settlers

landed in what they called 

Virginia, they were astounded by

the trees. Forests in England were mostly

gone, whereas the forests of Virginia seemed

endless. Captain John Smith’s descriptions 

of the size and majesty of Virginia’s trees

reflect the awe that America’s forests

invariably inspired.

At first, the main purpose for describing

America’s forests was to generate interest

back home in exploiting them. Later depictions were more rigorous. For example,

Captains Meriwether Lewis and William

Clark carefully described the northwestern

forests they traversed in 1805, contributing

immeasurably to science. Nonetheless, the

resources they discovered stimulated a rising interest in their exploitation. 

By the end of the 19th century, the limits

of the forest resource in the United States

finally became visible. In 1880, Franklin B.

Hough prepared the first countrywide forest

inventory. He documented the troubling

loss of about a quarter of the original forest

estate, mostly in the East and Midwest. 

Such information swelled the ranks of

the forest conservation movement, eventually giving rise to the USDA Forest Service.

From its inception in 1905, the agency has

sought to measure the extent, health, productivity, and quality of forests in the United

States as a basis for their conservative use. 

Early inventories by R.S. Kellogg,

Raphael Zon, and other USDA Forest Service employees, though impressive for their

time, lacked statistical rigor. New ideas

often came from overseas. In the early

1920s, Scandinavian countries started

using statistical methods in countrywide

forest inventories. In 1925, a Canadian volume, Statistical Methods in Forest

Investigative Work, clarified concepts of statistical error and how to correct for it. In

the 1930s, the USDA Forest Service adopted improved statistical methods from Great

Britain and more efficient measuring techniques from Austria, later building on the

European advances to improve measurement and sampling techniques.

New techniques resulted in major

efficiencies. In 1937, 120,000 line plots were

needed to adequately sample the Lake States

alone, the same number needed today for

the entire United States. Without gains in

efficiency, thanks to the infusion of international ideas, today’s inventories might be

prohibitively costly.

The exchange of ideas between the USDA

Forest Service and collaborators in other

parts of the world is now continuous. Regular communication with the United Nations

Food and Agriculture Organization and contributions to its global Forest Resource

Assessment have led to a common forest

inventory terminology and common measurement protocols. USDA Forest Service

specialists in forest inventory are working

with Canada, Chile, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Mexico to establish state-of-the-art

countrywide forest inventories.

The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de

Janeiro, Brazil, broadened the scope of forest inventory by committing the world to

sustainable forest management. Through

THE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS

BETWEEN THE USDA 

FOREST SERVICE AND

OVERSEAS COLLABORATORS

ON IMPROVING THE

INVENTORY OF LANDSCAPES,

INCLUDING ITS BIODIVERSITY,

IS AN ONGOING PROCESS.

Global Connections Are Changing Forest Inventory

by Rob Hendricks

I

USDA FOREST SERVICE 

USDA FOREST SERVICE 

Raphael Zon: 

The Russian Connection

Born and raised in Czarist Russia, Raphael Zon

emigrated in 1898 to New York, where he studied

forest engineering at the New York State College

of Forestry. In 1901, Zon joined the USDA Bureau

of Forestry, later renamed the USDA Forest Service. He was a close friend and associate of Gifford

Pinchot, the first USDA Forest Service Chief. 

To give forest management a scientific basis, Zon

advocated a system of research stations in various disciplines, the first of which was established

in Flagstaff, AZ, in 1908. Twenty years later, Zon’s

vision was fulfilled when Congress enacted a

system of research stations nationwide. Zon was

also responsible for linking each forest supervisor

with a trained researcher—an idea that produced

a culture of close ties between forest managers

and researchers in the USDA Forest Service. 

As Director of the Lake States Region Forest

Experiment Station, Zon established seed studies

and replanting guidelines to help reforest lands

ravaged by decades of rapacious logging. In the

mid-1930s, following the horrific Dust Bowl on

the Great Plains, Zon was instrumental in New

Deal efforts to curtail wind erosion by planting

shelter belts of trees reaching from North Dakota

to Texas. 

Until his retirement in 1944, Zon strove for a

broad vision and a social basis for the USDA

Forest Service. At the 1939 World’s Fair in New

York, he was one of 600 foreign-born citizens

recognized for his remarkable contributions to

American democracy. 

continued on p.7...
6

Brazil: Partnership for Sustainable Forest Management

The Amazon forest covers an area the size

of the United States. Its amazing biodiversity is a jewel in the crown of the world’s

forest ecosystems. Sadly, 18 percent of it is

gone; each year, the Amazon rainforest

loses an area the size of New Jersey, mainly

to ranching and slash-and-burn agriculture,

especially soybean production. Brazil is

now the world’s leading soybean exporter. 

In September 2004, USDA Forest Service

Chief Dale Bosworth saw large areas of

deforestation firsthand. At the invitation of

the U.S. Agency for International Development, he traveled to the Brazilian Amazon,

where he also witnessed efforts to stop

deforestation by making sustainable

forestry economically competitive with

agriculture and ranching. 

For 8 years, the USDA Forest Service has

worked with the Brazilian Government, the

U.S. Agency for International Development,

and other partners to train Brazilians in

reduced-impact harvesting techniques, which

minimize environmental damage while

maintaining or even increasing profitability. 

After touring the training center, Chief

Bosworth visited one of the largest certified

timber management operations in South

America. His trip underscored the USDA

Forest Service’s commitment to supporting

sustainable forest management worldwide.

Sudan: Alleviating the Suffering

For two decades, the people of Sudan have

suffered from war and war-related famines

and epidemics. More than 2 million people

have perished—nearly 8 percent of the

country’s population. Another 4 million have

been displaced, with almost half a million

fleeing to neighboring countries. In recent

months, the suffering has concentrated 

in the region of Darfur.

In June 2004, former U.S. Secretary 

of State Colin Powell visited Sudan with

Andrew Natsios, Administrator of the U.S.

Agency for International Development, and

other Government representatives. They

helped the Government of Sudan outline

three priorities: allowing humanitarian relief

to reach Darfur; reining in the militias; and

opening negotiations with the opposition. 

The United States is still monitoring the

region and providing humanitarian assistance. The U.S. Agency for International

Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster

Assistance sent specialists from the USDA

Forest Service’s Disaster Assistance Support

Program to Sudan to provide assessments

and logistical and administrative support.

South Asia: Coping With Disaster

On December 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.0

earthquake shook the waters off the coast

of northern Sumatra in Indonesia. The quake

sent waves in every direction, triggering

deadly tsunamis in parts of South and

Southeast Asia, as well as East Africa. 

The waves killed more than 150,000 people

and left millions more without homes.

Immediately, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Foreign

Disaster Assistance set up a Disaster Assistance Response Team for the region. Within

hours of the disaster, a relief specialist from

the USDA Forest Service and another from

the U.S. Department of the Interior (USDI)

Bureau of Land Management arrived in Sri

Lanka. Mobilized through the USDA Forest

Service’s Disaster Assistance Support 

Program, they were among the first relief

specialists from the U.S. Government 

to arrive on the scene.

Immediately following the tsunamis,

additional employees from the USDA Forest

Service and the USDI Bureau of Land Management were deployed to Sri Lanka and

Thailand, and some were assigned to the

Response Management Team set up by the

U.S. Agency for International Development

(in Washington, DC). On January 10, 2005,

they were personally thanked by President

Bush in an address to U.S. Agency for 

International Development employees 

concerning the Tsunami response. 

News Bits From Around The World

USDA FOREST SERVICE CHIEF

DALE BOSWORTH, ON HIS RECENT

TRIP TO BRAZIL, SAW HOW

REDUCED-IMPACT LOGGING

TECHNIQUES MINIMIZE ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE WHILE

MAINTAINING, OR SOMETIMES

INCREASING, PROFITABILITY.

USDA FOREST SERVICE
7

Visit these Web sites for more information related to articles in this issue:

http://www.fs.fed.us/global/topic/migratory.htm - USDA Forest Service International Programs’ 

information on migratory bird conservation 

http://www.nabci-us.org - North American Bird Conservation Initiative

http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/chugach/cordova/initiative.html - Copper River International Migratory 

Bird Initiative

http://www.ducks.org - Ducks Unlimited

http://www.fs.fed.us/global/aboutus/dasp/welcome.htm - Disaster Assistance Support Program 

of the USDA Forest Service International Programs Staff

http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/ disaster_assistance - U.S. Agency 

for International Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance

http://www.blm.gov - USDI Bureau of Land Management

http://www.un.org/geninfo/bp/enviro.html - 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment 

and Development Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

http://www.mpci.org/home_e.html - Montreal Process Criteria and Indicators

...continued from p.1

One initiative based on a bird’s-eye view

is the Copper River International Migratory

Bird Initiative, sponsored by Ducks Unlimited and the USDA Forest Service’s Chugach

National Forest, Pacific Northwest Research

Station, and International Programs Staff.

Millions of migratory birds depend on Alaska’s Copper River Delta, as well as far-away

places in Canada, Mexico, Panama, and the

lower 48 States—where their habitats are

threatened. The Copper River initiative

looks for trouble spots and seeks solutions

through conservation partnerships. 

And what of the Kirtland’s warbler?

USDA Forest Service researchers are working with colleagues in the Bahamas to

learn its island habitat needs. Kirtland’s

warblers and other migratory birds are like

winged ambassadors: By connecting farflung lands, they have much to teach us

about working together. 

the Montreal Process, 12 countries containing 90 percent of the world’s temperate and

boreal forests have formulated common

criteria and indicators of sustainable forest

management. Specialists from the United

States and other countries are now developing inventory standards for measuring

the criteria and indicators. Ultimately, all 12

countries will have the reliable data they

need to set national policies for sustainable

forest management.

From early subjective accounts, often

inspired by greed, forest inventory has

become a science-based tool for conserving

the world’s forests. Through international

connections, we are crafting tools for

assessing the forest resource in all of its

dimensions—social, economic, and ecological—for the benefit of generations to come.

...continued from p.5
8

21st International Seminar on

Forest and Natural Resources

Administration and Management 

August 21 – September 8, 2005

Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina, and the District 

of Columbia, USA

Jointly offered by Colorado State University

and USDA Forest Service International Programs, this seminar is designed for senior

natural resource management professionals.

The 19-day program focuses on strategies

and methods to develop, manage, and conserve natural resources for the sustained

delivery of goods and services to meet the

full range of human needs. For application

details, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/global/is/

isfam/welcome.htm or write to Ann Keith,

College of Natural Resources, Colorado State

University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1401, USA,

or e-mail at ifs@cnr.colostate.edu.

2005 International Seminar 

on Protected Area Management 

August 3-20, 2005

Missoula, Montana, USA

This seminar—jointly offered by the University of Montana, University of Idaho,

Colorado State University, and USDA Forest

Service International Programs—is geared

for senior-level managers and policymakers

working in protected areas. The program

examines and stimulates debate on management strategies, policies, and innovative

institutional arrangements to address the

conservation and use of the world’s most

special places. For application details, visit

http://www.fs.fed.us/global/is/ispam/

welcome.htm or write to Wayne Freimund,

School of Forestry, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA, or e-mail 

at wayne@forestry.umt.edu.

2005 International Seminar 

on Watershed Management 

June 14-30, 2005

Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA

Jointly offered by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and the USDA Forest

Service International Programs, this seminar is geared towards senior-level natural

resource professionals. The course examines the needs and challenges facing

watershed managers and focuses on strategies and methods to manage and conserve

watershed resources sustainably. For application details, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/

global/is/watershed/welcome.htm or write

to Dr. Wes Halverson, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, College of Natural

Resources, Stevens Point, WI 54481-389,

USA, or e-mail at Wes.Halverson@uwsp.edu. 

Bulletin Board

The Global Leaflet presents highlights of policy, research, technical

cooperation, development, and conservation activities in which the

USDA Forest Service is involved worldwide. Its purpose is to demonstrate the breadth and importance of international collaboration on

natural resource management issues and to share information within

the USDA Forest Service and with our partners in the United States and

around the world.

International Programs is dedicated to applying the wealth of skills

within the USDA Forest Service to foster sustainable forest management

globally. We encourage linking the agency’s researchers, foresters,

wildlife biologists, hydrologists, policymakers, and disaster specialists

with partners overseas to work on assignments in the areas of technical

cooperation, policy assistance, and disaster coordination. Our focus is

on key natural resource problems and issues in countries with significant forest resources and important forest-related trade with the United

States. International cooperation results in improved sustainable

natural resource practices in partner countries, develops the skills of

USDA Forest Service personnel, and brings back knowledge and

innovative technologies to the United States.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in

all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national

origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation,

or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.)

Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should

contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of

Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence

Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964

(voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Secretary of Agriculture: Mike Johanns

Chief of the USDA Forest Service: Dale N. Bosworth

International Programs

USDA Forest Service

1099 14th St. NW, Suite 5500W

Washington, DC 20005-3402

Web site: http://www.fs.fed.us/global

Director: Val Mezainis 

Phone: (202) 205-1650

Art Director: Woody Machalek

Editor: Hutch Brown

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

FOREST SERVICE

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

2005 International Field Course

on Wildlands and Protected Area

Management

July 5 – August 7, 2005

Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

Co-hosted by the Center for Protected Area

Management and Training at Colorado

State University and USDA Forest Service

International Programs, this course, held in

Spanish, presents key concepts and methods of protected area management while

emphasizing field-based practical exercises.

For application details, visit http://www.fs.

fed.us/global/is/field_course/welcome.ht

m or write to Ryan Finchum, Colorado

State University, Center for Protected Area

Management and Training, Fort Collins, CO

80523-1480, USA, or e-mail at

finchum@cnr.colostate.edu.