VERMONT - Bringing an Old Fashioned
Holiday to the Nation

Green Mountain National Forest

U. S. Department of Agriculture
FOREST SERVICE

About Us - Meet the Forest Service

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service is a Federal agency that manages public lands in national forests and grasslands. The Forest Service is also the largest forestry research organization in the world, and provides technical and financial assistance to state and private forestry agencies. Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief of the Forest Service, summed up the purpose of the Forest Service--"to provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people in the long run." When and why was the Forest Service established?

Congress established the Forest Service in 1905 to provide quality water and timber for the Nation's benefit. Over the years, the public has expanded the list of what they want from national forests and grasslands. Congress responded by directing the Forest Service to manage national forests for additional multiple uses and benefits and for the sustained yield of renewable resources such as water, forage, wildlife, wood, and recreation. Multiple use means managing resources under the best combination of uses to benefit the American people while ensuring the productivity of the land and protecting the quality of the environment.

National forests are America's great outdoors. They encompass 193 million acres (aprox. 78 million hectares) of land, which is an area equivalent to the size of Texas. National forests provide opportunities for recreation in open spaces and natural environments. With more and more people living in urban areas, national forests are becoming more important and valuable to Americans. People enjoy a wide variety of activities on national forests, including backpacking in remote, unroaded wilderness areas, mastering an all-terrain vehicle over a challenging trail, enjoying the views along a scenic byway, or fishing in a great trout stream, to mention just a few.

The job of Forest Service managers is to help people share and enjoy the forest, while conserving the environment for generations yet to come. Some activities are compatible. Some are not. You, as a concerned citizen, play a key role. By expressing your views to Forest Service managers, you will help them balance all of these uses and make decisions in the best interest of the forest and the public.

The Forest Service motto, "Caring for the Land and Serving People," captures the spirit of our mission, which we accomplish through five main activities:

• Protection and management of natural resources on National Forest System lands.
• Research on all aspects of forestry, rangeland management, and forest resource utilization.
• Community assistance and cooperation with State and local governments, forest industries, and private landowners to help protect and manage non-Federal forest and associated range and watershed lands to improve conditions in rural areas.
• Achieving and supporting an effective workforce that reflects the full range of diversity of the American people.
• International assistance in formulating policy and coordinating U.S. support for the protection and sound management of the world's forest resources.

The Forest Service is commemorating the Green Mountain National Forest's 75th anniversary with a number of events and projects. Our centerpiece event in celebration is the selection of the Green Mountain National Forest to provide the 2007 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, known as the "People's Tree."

Every year National Forests from around the country send nominations for their forest to provide the capitol tree. An executive Forest Service team determines which forest will provide the capitol tree, giving priority to forests celebrating special events or anniversaries or forests in states celebrating momentous occasions. Because the Green Mountain National Forest is celebrating 75 years of caring for the land and serving people, and because of the outstanding state-wide support for providing the Capitol Christmas Tree, the Green Mountain National Forest was selected and honored to provide this gift.

The 2007 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree will be the third Capitol Christmas Tree provided by the Green Mountain National Forest and the 42nd time a tree has been provided by the Forest Service to the U.S. Capitol.