how we can expand the area of forest with modernization
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We are modernizing the Timber Information Manager application; deploying new technologies (handheld data recorders, tablets, and lasers); expanding the use of geospatial and remote sensing (e.g., Light Detection and Ranging and unmanned aerial systems) for inventory, monitoring, boundary designation, and ...
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What is Forest Products Modernization
The goal of Forest Products Modernization (FPM) is to better align the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service culture, policies, and procedures with current and future forest restoration needs to increase the pace and scale of restoration and improve forest conditions. We are striving for efficiencies (time and cost) in how we manage forests, deliver forest products, and carry out timber sales to increase acres treated and volume produced.
Why Modernize?
About 80 million acres of the lands we manage as an agency are at risk of catastrophic wildfires or abnormal levels of insect and disease impacts. Drinking water, homes, communities, wildlife habitat, historic places, sacred sites, recreation opportunities, and scenic vistas are among the many values at risk.
Our fiscal year 2019 timber harvest and fire risk mitigation goals are to sell 3.7 billion board feet of timber volume
and to treat 3.4 million acres—all while facing increasingly constrained budgets and resources. Our systems served
us well under very different forest and staffing conditions,
but we need to evolve to keep up with changing climate, technology, and markets. The magnitude of the challenges we face today demands that we use every authority, tool, and technology available to improve forest conditions, support rural economies, and deliver excellent customer service while managing workloads and caring for the health and safety of employees.
How We Are Modernizing
This framework outlines a path to better integrate our
forest management program with other U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service programs and provide employees with tools and support to increase active management of National Forest System lands. We are incorporating feedback and ideas from hundreds of employees and partners to identify how we can improve by:
• Investing in People through improving recruitment and retention strategies and increasing training and education opportunities for employees.
• Expanding use of new Technology to increase efficiency. • Improving Business Practices to be more responsive to
employee and customer needs.
• Updating Policy to support modernized practices and processes.
We will achieve this through innovation and reasonable risk-taking, finding efficient ways to deliver forest products, and sharing stewardship of the land with States, Tribes, and industry partners.
Continuous innovation over the long term is critical to
our agency’s ability to improve conditions of forests and grasslands, provide excellent customer service, enhance recreation opportunities, and inspire and empower employees. Forest Products Modernization is not a strategy with an end date or finish line; it must become part of our culture. This strategy calls on every employee to be an advocate for change and innovation, continually seeking new and better ways to approach the day-to-day work
and strengthen relationships with partners to find creative solutions to shared problems.
What We Have Done
Since initiating the FPM effort in June 2017, we have collaboratively reviewed the forest products delivery system. We have collected feedback and ideas from more than 150 partners, including industry, and more than 1,000 agency employees, resulting in more than 100 modernization actions added to our project pipeline.
We solicited ideas from solution teams made up of district, forest, regional, and Washington Office employees and more broadly through a dedicated FPM email address,
a suggestion box on the national SharePoint site, and a series of virtual feedback sessions. A summary of how we
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
used solution team inputs is available at Solution Team Recommendations Review Workshop. Employees who submitted ideas via other means can see how we are using their feedback in a centralized Idea Capture Tool and innovation pipeline.
About two-thirds of the modernization actions generated are either complete or underway (see attachment 1 for a summary of completed actions). These actions are yielding results. Since 2016, we:
• Increased capacity and institutional knowledge by training more than 2,300 employees in 20 forest management-related courses and hiring 300 employees through focused Pathways recruiting events.
• Increased digital technology use for timber cruising to nearly 90 percent by providing digital equipment, software, and training to all regions. Digital technologies, when compared to traditional methods (pen, paper, compass, and traversing), increase data quality and reduce time spent in the field by roughly 30 percent.
• Increased the number of timber sale contracts awarded using designation by prescription (DxP) from 5 to 55. DxP reduces both time spent in the field on sale layout and the cost of tree-marking paint, saving the agency roughly $70 per acre in sale layout costs.
The goal of Forest Products Modernization (FPM) is to better align the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service culture, policies, and procedures with current and future forest restoration needs to increase the pace and scale of restoration and improve forest conditions. We are striving for efficiencies (time and cost) in how we manage forests, deliver forest products, and carry out timber sales to increase acres treated and volume produced.
Why Modernize?
About 80 million acres of the lands we manage as an agency are at risk of catastrophic wildfires or abnormal levels of insect and disease impacts. Drinking water, homes, communities, wildlife habitat, historic places, sacred sites, recreation opportunities, and scenic vistas are among the many values at risk.
Our fiscal year 2019 timber harvest and fire risk mitigation goals are to sell 3.7 billion board feet of timber volume
and to treat 3.4 million acres—all while facing increasingly constrained budgets and resources. Our systems served
us well under very different forest and staffing conditions,
but we need to evolve to keep up with changing climate, technology, and markets. The magnitude of the challenges we face today demands that we use every authority, tool, and technology available to improve forest conditions, support rural economies, and deliver excellent customer service while managing workloads and caring for the health and safety of employees.
How We Are Modernizing
This framework outlines a path to better integrate our
forest management program with other U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service programs and provide employees with tools and support to increase active management of National Forest System lands. We are incorporating feedback and ideas from hundreds of employees and partners to identify how we can improve by:
• Investing in People through improving recruitment and retention strategies and increasing training and education opportunities for employees.
• Expanding use of new Technology to increase efficiency. • Improving Business Practices to be more responsive to
employee and customer needs.
• Updating Policy to support modernized practices and processes.
We will achieve this through innovation and reasonable risk-taking, finding efficient ways to deliver forest products, and sharing stewardship of the land with States, Tribes, and industry partners.
Continuous innovation over the long term is critical to
our agency’s ability to improve conditions of forests and grasslands, provide excellent customer service, enhance recreation opportunities, and inspire and empower employees. Forest Products Modernization is not a strategy with an end date or finish line; it must become part of our culture. This strategy calls on every employee to be an advocate for change and innovation, continually seeking new and better ways to approach the day-to-day work
and strengthen relationships with partners to find creative solutions to shared problems.
What We Have Done
Since initiating the FPM effort in June 2017, we have collaboratively reviewed the forest products delivery system. We have collected feedback and ideas from more than 150 partners, including industry, and more than 1,000 agency employees, resulting in more than 100 modernization actions added to our project pipeline.
We solicited ideas from solution teams made up of district, forest, regional, and Washington Office employees and more broadly through a dedicated FPM email address,
a suggestion box on the national SharePoint site, and a series of virtual feedback sessions. A summary of how we
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
used solution team inputs is available at Solution Team Recommendations Review Workshop. Employees who submitted ideas via other means can see how we are using their feedback in a centralized Idea Capture Tool and innovation pipeline.
About two-thirds of the modernization actions generated are either complete or underway (see attachment 1 for a summary of completed actions). These actions are yielding results. Since 2016, we:
• Increased capacity and institutional knowledge by training more than 2,300 employees in 20 forest management-related courses and hiring 300 employees through focused Pathways recruiting events.
• Increased digital technology use for timber cruising to nearly 90 percent by providing digital equipment, software, and training to all regions. Digital technologies, when compared to traditional methods (pen, paper, compass, and traversing), increase data quality and reduce time spent in the field by roughly 30 percent.
• Increased the number of timber sale contracts awarded using designation by prescription (DxP) from 5 to 55. DxP reduces both time spent in the field on sale layout and the cost of tree-marking paint, saving the agency roughly $70 per acre in sale layout costs.
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