Utilize your Scientific Expertise
The process of monitoring the proposed actions and plans of the U.S Forest Service is one that requires input from many disciplines including law, science, media, education and outreach. In our efforts to ensure that the Forest Service is not advocating policies that are detrimental to the ecological integrity of Sierra Nevada forests nor damaging to the health and viability of wildlife species dependent o those forests, we are constantly in search of scientists who are willing to play a more active role in our efforts.
The primary manner in which the U.S. Forest Service proposes management prescriptions on our National Forests is through the creation of plans which are typically developed as Environmental Assessments or Environmental Impact Statements. From time to time the product of these plans and proposals can fail to take into account all of the best available science related either to the impacts of a proposal or to the science used to buttress the primary objectives. This is where independent scientific analysis is critical. We utilize scientific experts in a myriad of fields and disciplines to analyze the projects and plans that the Forest Service proposes. When a project fails to call upon the best available science, ignores the impacts to ecological health, or minimizes the cumulative effects of the prescribed treatments or actions on the surrounding forest ecosystems, the expert input and testimony from scientists can often be a determining factor in curtailing the proposal or defeating the project altogether.
If you are a scientist in the fields of fire ecology, hydrology, air quality, aquatic ecosystems, wildlife biology, soils, or any other forest ecology field and would like to play a more active role in ensuring that our National Forests are being managed in a way that is consistent with the best available science, then we encourage you to join our Sierra Scientist Network. This group plays a critical role in our efforts to protect and restore the forests of the Sierra Nevada, and we often call upon its members to review Forest Service proposals that are particularly detrimental to forest health, and to submit their scientific expertise on behalf of our forests and their long-tern vitality and viability.
To join our Sierra Scientist Network please contact:
Susan Britting, Director
Sierra Forest Legacy
(530) 295-8210