File Code:	1300	Date:	February 15, 2008	
		
Subject:	 Climate Change   	
		
To:	National Leadership Team (NLT)   	

Responding to the challenges presented by climate change is one of the most urgent tasks facing the Forest Service.  The Executive Leadership Team has approved the 16 recommendations for immediate action in 2008 that were discussed on November 28 at the NLT meeting. (See enclosure.)  
The facts of climate change and the implications for forest management have become increasingly clear, thanks to the work of many scientists, including the Forest Service scientists who shared in the Nobel Prize for their work.  As a science-based organization, we need to be aware of this information and to consider it any time we make a decision regarding resource management, technical assistance, business operations, or any other aspect of our mission.  The immediate, high-priority actions are intended to help us insure that this happens in the normal course of program management and in the ongoing pursuit of our strategic goals and objectives. 
One of our high-priority actions is the establishment of a Climate Council, which will include Associate Deputy Chiefs and the External Affairs Officer.  I have asked Dave Cleaves and Fred Norbury to co-chair the Council.  Among other things, they will have the task of preparing our agency strategy for action for 2009 and beyond.  I expect all units to cooperate fully with the Climate Council in the preparation of this strategy, and with the Council’s work to guide the completion of the action items and resolve any issues that may arise with respect to reallocation of resources.  I also expect the Climate Council to help us coordinate our communication, nationally and internationally, on how responding to climate change is an essential part of our efforts to support sustainable management for American forests, public and private. 
I want to acknowledge all the efforts to respond to the challenges of climate change that are already occurring in the field.  In particular, I appreciate the work that the IREMCG has done in describing some of the high priority actions that need to be accomplished in the near term, and I expect the individuals assigned responsibility for related actions to take advantage of the work that the IREMCG has done.

I believe history will judge the leaders of our age by how well we respond to climate change.  We have leaders at every level of the Forest Service who have already recognized the seriousness of the climate challenge and the urgent need for action, and they are already acting. It is time to reinforce these individual leaders with a coordinated, agency-wide response to climate change. I ask for your help in bringing that about.

	
/s/ Abigail R. Kimbell	
ABIGAIL R. KIMBELL	
Chief	
   
Enclosure