Doing Business With the USDA Forest Service

USDA Forest ServiceP.O. Box 96090Washington, DC 20090-6090 (202) 205-8333 1905 Dale Bosworth About 30,000 The Forest Service manages and protects public lands, called the National Forest System, in 155 national forests and 20 grasslands, a total of 191 million acres throughout 44 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It is the largest forestry research organization in the world and provides technical and financial assistance to state and private forestry agencies. It is also involved in international forestry, helping to form policy and coordinate U.S. support for the world's forest resources. The Forest Service is part of the Agriculture Department. It has four office levels: the ranger district (there are 600 of them), national forest, region (there are nine of them) and the national level or Washington office. $4.8 billion $4.6 billionA breakdown of the fiscal 2004 budget request by appropriation can be found at .The fiscal 2004 budget request includes an increase of $144.4 million for the Forest Service's portion of the National Fire Plan, a 10-year strategy for protecting communities and property from the effects of catastrophic wildfire. The total budget request (both Forest Service and the Interior Department) for the fire plan is more than $2.2 billion. Amazing! Everything I needed to know about the Forest Service, I found in one place on its Web page (). I love it when it's this easy. Extra kudos to the Forest Service for spelling out its fiscal 2004 budget. How nice not to have to translate that White House document for info. For information on doing business, the agency Web site recommends you try for specific Forest Service contracts. For work by location, try .XXXSPLITXXX- Chief information officer January 2001 Cambridge, Md. Silver Spring, Md. Married to Sheila Jessie Jackson; two children: son Harrison, 16; daughter Kiana, 6 Golf "It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life," by Lance Armstrong "The Road Less Traveled," by M. Scott Peck Bachelor of science degree in business administration and health administration from Towson University. Jackson: Land management planning, environmental analysis and wildlife management are heavily dependent upon geospatial data. Because the Forest Service is a large, geographically dispersed agency with very remote locations, communications to remote sites and remote systems management are critically important to our organizational success and efficiency. Wildland fire management tactical support requires technologies such as wireless LANs [and] radio communications that support voice and data and automated weather information.Jackson: The Forest Service has a long history in incident command support for activities such as fire, earthquakes, floods, etc. Based on that vast experience, the agency has been called on to provide incident command training to local fire departments and to provide support for unique incidences, such as the Sept. 11 activities in New York and Washington, the Columbia space shuttle recovery and international disasters. Our law enforcement duties have increased, especially along U.S. borders and around critical infrastructure, such as hydroelectric facilities on national forests. Jackson: Companies that have displayed a partnership mentality in previous business relationships, have a good track record in past performance, including meeting and exceeding service-level agreements.Jackson: I can see the increased use of technology to automate more manual processes. At a high level, we will manage data with a goal of delivering near real-time information and continue to leverage security technology using industry standards, greater integration with states and other federal agencies with our tactical radio systems and expanded use of wireless data.