Section Contents
- Mission Statement
- Organizational Structure
- Our Focus on Existing Priorities
- Our Focus on New Priorities
- The President’s Management Initiatives
- Management Controls, Systems, and Compliance with Laws or Regulations
- Followup to the Inspector General’s Recommendations
- Forest Service’s Financial Highlights for 2003
- Forest Service’s Performance Highlights for 2003
- 2003 Forest Service Performance Indicators and Trends
- Validation, Verification, and Limitations of Data Sources
Management's Discussion and Analysis
Organizational Structure
In order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Forest Service program delivery, the agency requested (in 2002) and received approval in 2003 from USDA to reorganize into six deputy areas, each reporting directly to the Office of the Chief.
With this approval, the deputy areas are now Budget and Finance (B&F); Business Operations; Programs, Legislation, and Communication (PL&C); Research and Development (R&D); National Forest System (NFS); and State and Private Forestry (S&PF).
In the later sections of this Performance and Accountability Report pertaining to the financial statements and notes, the discussion revolves around “segments,” rather than deputy areas. Deputy areas are administrative groupings while segments are constructs used to assess net costs. The segments are the NFS, S&PF, R&D, Fire, and Working Capital Fund (WCF). Some of the segment names are the same as those used for deputy areas, but the terms are not synonymous.
This administrative reorganization:
- Established the National Fire Program Staff.
- Established a Chief of Staff.
- Changed the reporting relationship of the Office of Communication to report to PL&C.
- Changed the reporting relationship of the Office of Civil Rights.
- Established the Budget and Finance Deputy Area.
- Established the Conservation Education Staff.
- Established the Urban and Community Forestry Staff.
- Merged the Forest Management Staff and the Range Management Staff.
- Merged the Wildlife, Fish, and Rare Plants Staff and the Watershed and Air Management Staff.
This improved organizational structure enables the Forest Service to be more agile and to adapt its program delivery to meet the natural resources focus and initiatives of the 21st century.
Beyond the Washington Office and reporting directly to the Office of the Chief are:
- Six forest and range experimental stations
- The Forest Products Lab in Madison, WI
- S&PF in the Northeastern Area.
- International Institute of Tropical Forestry at the University of Puerto Rico, Agricultural Experimental Station.
- Nine NFS regions.
USDA Forest Service Organization Chart - (PDF | 77k)