U.S. Forest Service

Capitol Christmas Tree, Choose Outdoors, Environmental Journalism, Joy To America, National Forests, Public Land, U.S. Forest Service / 06.11.2020

On November 5, 2020 members of the United States Forest Service successfully harvested the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree in the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre Gunnison National Forests of Colorado. Despite the tumult of the global COVID-19 Pandemic and a contentious presidential election these dedicated men and women in partnership with corporate sponsors, small private businesses, local government agencies and nonprofit organizations coordinated the complicated task of extracting an 55-foot tall 82- year-old Engleman Spruce Tree for safe transport by truck to Washington D.C. Taken from the GMUG, the ancestral...

National Forests, The Pathways Project, U.S. Forest Service, Video / 01.01.2020

What’s your pathway into the outdoors? Through much of 2019 The Joy Trip Project asked this question. Michela Williams is a young employee of the U.S. Forest Service with a newly discovered passion for the natural world near where she lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia. In this video she shares the path she took to begin a career in environmental conservation and become a role model for others to follow. In the coming year together we will continue to explore the many pathways that connect people and the...

Adventure Activism, Charitable Giving, Commentary, Environmental Protection, Ice Age Trail, Kids in Nature, Madison, National Forests, National Parks, Outdoors For All, Public Land, The Pathways Project, U.S. Forest Service, Urban Parks, Walking, Wisconsin / 03.06.2019

Much of the joy in my life I owe to the generosity of strangers. The advent of social media has merely expanded my capacity for building relationships with people I hardly know. For as long as I can remember I’ve enjoyed the benefits of an existence vulnerable to the whims of fate. With a vague notion of what the future lay in store, I’ve pretty much trusted in the naive belief that everything will just work out for the best. Many of my adventures have been made possible...

America's Forests, Capitol Christmas Tree, Choose Outdoors, Commentary, Environmental Journalism, PBS, U.S. Forest Service, Yoga / 15.10.2018

The call sheet posted a meeting time of 9:00 AM. After 10 days on the road I was already run pretty ragged. With only four hours of sleep the night before after a long day, the alarm on my iPhone toned at 7AM with the words of “Bring Me To Life” by Evanescence (circa 2003). As I lay there staring up at the ceiling I thought about all that the next 12 hours had in store. Inwardly I cringed as I imagined what lay ahead. I have 12...

Capitol Christmas Tree, Charitable Giving, Joy To America, Special Events, U.S. Forest Service / 02.10.2017

Every year the U.S. Forest Service is charged with delivering an 80-foot evergreen tree to the American people to serve as the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. Chosen from a national forest somewhere in country the tree, commonly called the People's Tree is a symbol of our great national heritage of environmental conservation and preservation. For the past three years it has been my piviledge and honor to accompany the People's tree from the site of its harvest across the country to where it is delivered to the grounds of...