Forest Focus

Put your seatbelt on and hold on tight. In this episode, we ride along with the Joaquin Jeepers, a 4x4 club based out of Stockton, California, and an official partner with the Stanislaus National Forest, on their adopted trail, Slick Rock. The club shares their outdoor ethics, how they care for their trail, their relationship with the Forest Service and their passion in keeping OHV trails open to offroad enthusists. This episode is also available as a videocast, which can be watched here: https://usda-fs.wistia.com/medias/j3o1eke8ux

This is the fifth and final installment of a miniseries about amphibian conservation and determination called For the Frogs. In each episode, we will meet to one native amphibian that can be found in California's national forests. These creatures are important to ecological health and can deepen our connections with public lands, but they are also in a state of decline. Fortunately, a village of specialists are devoted to conserving these species. The stories of their resolute conservation efforts, pursued through obstacles and setbacks, provides portraits of determination that we can pocket and apply to our own personal experiences with adversity. This time, we meet the mountain yellow-legged frog and tag along during a reintroduction of this endangered species to the Angeles National Forest. Transcript and show notes available here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r5/home/?cid=FSEPRD1217273

This is the fourth installment of a miniseries about amphibian conservation and determination called For the Frogs. In each episode, we will meet to one native amphibian that can be found in California's national forests. These creatures are important to ecological health and can deepen our connections with public lands, but they are also in a state of decline. Fortunately, a village of specialists are devoted to conserving these species. The stories of their resolute conservation efforts, pursued through obstacles and setbacks, provides portraits of determination that we can pocket and apply to our own personal experiences with adversity. This time, we meet the Yosemite toad and leap into long-term monitoring, a process of investigation that tracks changes in frog populations. Transcript and show notes available here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r5/home/?cid=FSEPRD1208464 

In our 50th episode we turn back towards Nature's Benefits and cut further into Timber and Wood Products by discussing Wood Innovations and Biomass Utilization with a program specialist from the Pacific Southwest Regional Office. We talk grants, mass timber, forward-thinking projects, tribal initiatives, urban forestry and more with guests from the Angeles National Forest and a sawmill owner in Los Angeles. Pacific Southwest Region's Wood and Biomass Utilization Program National USDA Forest Service Wood Innovations For tons more information (Forest Focus Ep. 50 Homepage)

We're taking a wilderness walk in recognition of this anniversary year of the 1964 Wilderness Act, which created the National Wilderness Preservation System. But long before the Wilderness Act, and long before we were even using the word "wilderness", these lands were used and stewarded by Indigenous communities. So, designated wilderness areas are both Tribal homelands and places for recreation. Taking a walk in these lands is an opportunity to think about wilderness means to us, which can help us connect to nature and each other. Show Notes Available HERE. Transcript Available HERE.

This is the third installment of a miniseries about amphibian conservation and determination called For the Frogs. In each episode, we will meet to one native amphibian that can be found in California's national forests. These creatures are important to ecological health and can deepen our connections with public lands, but they are also in a state of decline. Fortunately, a village of specialists are devoted to conserving these species. The stories of their resolute conservation efforts, pursued through obstacles and setbacks, provides portraits of determination that we can pocket and apply to our own personal experiences with adversity. This time, we meet the California red-legged frog and hop into wetland construction. Transcript Available HERE Show Notes Availalbe HERE

This is the second installment of a miniseries about amphibian conservation and determination called For the Frogs. In each episode, we will meet to one native amphibian that can be found in California's national forests. These creatures are important to ecological health and can deepen our connections with public lands, but they are also in a state of decline. Fortunately, a village of specialists are devoted to conserving these species. The stories of their resolute conservation efforts, pursued through obstacles and setbacks, provides portraits of determination that we can pocket and apply to our own personal experiences with adversity. This time, we meet the Cascades frog and learn about a collaborative effort that led to the restoration of an important meadow.  Transcript availalbe HERE Show notes available HERE

This is the first installment of a miniseries about amphibian conservation and determination. We're calling the miniseries For the Frogs. In each episode, we will meet to one native amphibian that can be found in California's national forests. These creatures are important to ecological health, and once we get to know them, they can deepen our connections with public lands. But each of these species is in a state of decline due to overlapping threats, including pathogens, introduced predators, habitat loss, drought and wildfire. Fortunately, there is a village of specialists devoted to conserving these species despite the colossal challenge of the threat supergroup. The stories of their resolute conservation efforts, pursued through obstacles and setbacks, provides portraits of determination that we can pocket and apply to our own personal experiences with adversity. For a transcript, click here.

In this episode, we learn how to snow groom trails. Uh, wait, scratch that, we try to learn. We travel to the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in March to meet up with Jeremiah Tabor, a Recreation Technician, and speak to him about his job, seasonal tasks, and how do you get that corduroy look in groomed trails. 

There are portals within many national forests that offer entry into realms of the most curious forms of biodiversity. These underground chambers and hallways are called lava tubes or caves. In these landscapes below the ground, tiny creatures creep in the shadows in costumes of faded hues. Their pallor is paired with neighboring life forms that sparkle when hit by a flashlight, as if dusted with glitter. And these subterranean spaces are also archives that contain records of our Paleolithic and climatic past. To explore within, a readiness for crawling will be required. Fortunately, we have an experienced caver to show us the way.   For a transcript please visit the episode website.

The gray wolf (Canis lupus) became extirpated, or locally extinct, in California in the 1920s. But this large member of the dog family was once a native species in California that ranged widely here and throughout much of the United States. In recent years, gray wolves have been returning to California. Their slow comeback is a natural progression of population growth happening in others western states. Wildlife specialists with the USDA Forest Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are working together to monitor and conserve this recovering species by looking for signs of their whereabouts with boots on the ground, satellite collars, and DNA analysis.

The Pacific Southwest Research Station is part of the Forest Service's research and development organization. R&D employs more than 500 scientists as well as several hundred technical and support personnel located at 67 sites throughout the U.S. In this episode, we focus on three employees to share who they are and what they do at the station.

When it comes to getting perspective on forest health, sky-high observations are a big help in California. With over 30 million acres of forested land throughout the state, there is a lot of ground to cover. So, each summer, Forest Service aerial tree survey specialists spend several weeks in the aircraft gathering observations on tree mortality in lands of all ownerships.

[Croak. Ribbit. Croak. Ribbit.] This is the anthem of Frog Fridays. This May-time wildlife survey is held within a stream on the Tahoe National Forest, where foothill yellow-legged frogs lay their eggs. Each outing is part training exercise, part data collection for future habitat restoration and part protection mission. And it is where we will literally get our feet wet in wildlife conservation.

Species are designated as endangered when their population is in significant decline, which often means documentation of these species in their natural habitat is increasingly challenging. Perhaps as difficult as landing on a conclusive verbal description of how they look. But knowing where endangered species, like the fisher, are in the landscape and how many of them are there, is essential for their conservation and recovery.

National Forests are locations where we can listen to a concert of wildlife sounds. The caws, croaks, howls, growls and squeaks we might hear are gems of information about wildlife and their habitat. The USDA Forest Service and partners work together to conserve and restore land that wildlife species need to survive but to avoid unintended negative impacts of wildlife, it is essential to know what species are in a forest and where they are located.

This is the audio version of our first Videocast from one of the four Cone Camps held in 2023. The camps are built around a day in the classroom and a day in the field. Participants network and learn from industry experts from American Forests, USDA Forest Service, CAL FIRE, and the California Cone Corps. On the agenda: cone phenology, monitoring and collection techniques, seed needs, cone collection planning, contracting and coordinating with agencies, reporting crop sighting, field logistics, safety and more. [Video version]

In the episode we learn the valuable connection between beavers and meadows. In a meadow, the squish of mud and splash of a slightly flooded landscape are signs of health. It can be easy to overlook meadows with national forests, perhaps simply because our attention is more often drawn to things that fill a space - a lake, a mountain, a grove of trees - rather than what appears to be merely open space.

Have you ever wondered why some trees — in certain locations, a lot of trees — are brown and dying? The connection between bark beetles, drought and tree mortality is a topic of this episode and how researchers are looking into making trees less attractive...to bark beetles, not tree huggers.

In this episode, we'll meet Forest Service conservation geneticist Dr. Jessica Wright within a post-fire landscape on the Plumas National Forest. In collaboration with others out there with her, Jessica is planting three very different tree species - ponderosa pine, incense cedar, and valley oak, within an experimental plot as part of a study on assisted migration. With this climate adaptation option, seeds are collected from a warmer habitat taken to a nursery for analysis or to grow into seedlings and then planted in a cooler habitat.