The U.S. Forest Service (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture) is constantly involved with forest and U.S. federal land management under the USDA and Dept. of the Interior, and with reporting about recent and ongoing projects and future policy goals.
To remain informed about the fine work of the US Forest Service, please visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/sc/policy-initiatives
Climate Change Policy and Initiatives
This page is intended to provide resources on recent climate change policies and related Forest Service activities.
Recent Executive Direction
- The Administration recently hosted the White House Summit on Building Climate Resilient Communities. This Summit, which included representatives from more than 25 states, territories, and Tribal Nations, underscores the Administration’s commitment to solutions that will both dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and better manage climate threats, and recognizes the importance of locally tailored, community-driven strategies. In conjunction with the Summit, the Administration released the National Climate Resilience Framework, a vision for a climate resilient Nation designed to guide and align climate resilience investments and activities by the federal government and its partners.
- On April 20, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration Announced New Steps for Climate Resilience and Forest Conservation, releasing the first ever nationwide definition of, and inventory for, mature and old growth forest, a reforestation report, the Climate Risk Viewer, and the Advance Notice for Proposed Rulemaking.
- On June 23, 2022, Department of Agriculture, Secretary Tom Vilsack released the Secretary’s Memorandum on Climate Resilience and Carbon Stewardship of America’s National Forests and Grasslands (the ‘Memo’).
- On April 22, 2022, President Biden released Executive Order 14072: Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies with direction to inventory mature and old- growth forests, accelerate reforestation, create and sustain jobs in the sustainable forest product sector, and develop policies to institutionalize these actions.
- On January 27, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14008: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, which included the America the Beautiful initiative to conserve thirty percent of lands and waters by 2030. Following the Order, the Department and the Forest Service took additional action issuing:
The Forest Service is responding to the direction in the executive orders and Secretarial Memo with data-informed tools, strategies, policy recommendations, and systems for accountability for fire and climate resilience, climate adaptation, reforestation, ecosystem and watershed restoration, ecosystem services, mature and old growth forests, and carbon stewardship, as well as related investments in community engagement, partnerships, collaboration, and equity. The actions support much of the work already underway at the agency to address the climate crisis, including implementation of the Forest Service Climate Adaptation Plan, and will add focus to explicitly identifying climate risks and adaptive responses.
Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
To supplement and support our work responding to the Executive Orders and Secretarial Memo, the Forest Service published and Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register on April 21, 2023 asking for public input on how the agency should adapt current policies to protect, conserve, and manage national forests and grasslands for climate resilience. The public comment period ended on July 20, 2023, and comments are now being reviewed.
On October 31, 2023, the Forest Service hosted a virtual public session to provide updates on our progress reviewing comments received. A recording of that session is available online.
The ANPR is consistent with and intended to support implementation of Secretary Vilsack’s Memo 1077-044, Climate Resilience and Carbon Stewardship of America’s National Forests and Grasslands, and the USDA Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy and Climate Adaptation Plan.
Climate Change Information and Resources
The following resources can help provide background information and context to those seeking to provide comments to the ANPR. This is not an exhaustive list but provides links to numerous climate adaptation-related literature sources and reviews, assessments, and tools (below).
- Science and Reference Appendix
- Glossary of Terms
- Forest Service Climate Risk Viewer
- Forest Service Climate Risk Viewer Fact Sheet
- Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments (About)
- Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments Across the Nation StoryMap
- Compendium of Adaptation Approaches
- Tribal Adaptation Menu
- USDA-USFS Climate Change Resource Center
- Forest adaptation resources: Climate change tools and approaches for land manager
- Adaptation Strategies and Approaches for Managing Fire in a Changing Climate, Sample et al., 2022
- Adapting Western North American Forests to Climate Change and Wildfires: 10 Common Questions, Prichard et al., 2021
- Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment—Chapter 6 Forests (2018)
- U.S. Forest Service Climate Change Research and Development
- U.S. Forest Service Publications
Additional recent related policies include EO 13985 Advancing Racial Equity & Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government, EO 12898 Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, and EO 14057 Catalyzing America’s Clean Energy Industries and Jobs through Federal Sustainability.