Over 75 attendees gathered for the 2024 Council of Western State Foresters (CWSF) and Western Forestry Leadership Coalition (WFLC) Fall Meeting on November 5-7, 2024, in Missoula, MT.
Attendees included representatives from 15 western states, Palau, and Guam, along with representatives from western regions of the USDA Forest Service and the Washington Office. Partners in attendance included the National Association of State Foresters and the Wildland Fire Leadership Council.
John Crockett, USDA Forest Service Deputy Chief of State, Private, and Tribal Forestry, and Sonya Germann, Bureau of Land Management Montana/Dakotas State Director, provided keynote remarks and highlighted the importance of partnerships.
The meeting included an interactive session hosted by USDA Forest Service Research & Development (R&D) on wildland fire, wildlife ecology, forest inventory and monitoring, forest products, and forest resilience. R&D team members showcased applied science research relevant to WFLC and its members. Explore some of the featured resources below.
During the Fall Meeting, CWSF/WFLC members heard from CWSF/WFLC committee chairs about their respective committees’ accomplishments from 2024 and proposed activities for 2025. See the November Newsletter for committee accomplishments, leadership, and upcoming meeting dates.
Thanks to the Montana Department of Natural Resources & Conservation (DNRC) for hosting our group on a tour of the DNRC campus to visit the seedling nursery, helicopter hangar, and equipment development center. It gave WFLC members a first-hand look at how DNRC is effectively leveraging their own investments along with key programs and funding, such as the Forest Service Federal Excess Personal Property Program, and state nursery and seed orchard funding, to serve the needs of communities across the state.
Save the Date for the 2025 CWSF/WFLC Spring Meeting, May 13-15 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and for the 2025 CWSF/WFLC Fall Meeting, November 4-6 in Arizona.
