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...

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...

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 speciali...

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 Lo...

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....

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 specialis...

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 specialis...

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 spe...

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...

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...

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 t...

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...

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 collect...

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 s...

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 opt...

Springtime is defined as an early or flourishing stage of development, and after a wildfire damage the landscape, we sometimes see teams of people replanting trees within the burn scar during the early part of the year. Jamie Hinrichs helps explain reforestation efforts in a very special place in the forest.

In this episode, we return once again to our series on Nature's Benefits. Today, we will focus on a benefit you can't see. Well, you can see the effects of it... it's a bit hard to explain. Luckily for me, we have Lara Buluc back to handle the reins, along with experts to talk about: Carbon.

In this episode, we learn about tree disease and how it affects forest health from Jamie Hinrichs. Jamie was featured in Episode 29 - Trails and Transformation when she took us to the Inyo National Forest backcountry to hear from a California Conservation Corps trail crew. Expect to hear more from Jamie and her adventures into the forest in future episodes in what we will start calling an occasion...

In this episode, we focus on another nature's benefits: recreation. This continues our series on the many benefits forests provide so let's take a long hike and chat about how we understand outdoor activities. The diverse landscapes and climates in California's 18 National Forests provide many outdoor recreation opportunities to nearly 24 million people annually including: hiking, camping, picnick...

In this episode, we meet up with a backcountry trail crew on the Inyo National Forest. California Conservation Corps members and the United States Forest Service staff tell us what it takes to live and work on the trail. As we shall soon learn, the combination of partnership, funding from the Great American Outdoors Act, the true grit brings transformation for the trail and the crew.