Students at Chicago’s Mark Sheridan Math & Science Academy sampled—and enjoyed—nutritious food prepared by Chef Lovely Jackson as part of a Chefs Move to Schools event on April 5th.

Chicago is fortunate to have a bevy of talented chefs and also to be the hometown for the Healthy Schools Campaign, a national organization that advocates for policies and practices that allow students, teachers and staff to learn and work in a healthy school environment. Read more »

Warren Heilman is riveted by numbers, especially those that tell the story of how weather affects wildfires.

Heilman is a U.S. Forest Service meteorologist who conducts studies at the Northern Research Stations’ East Lansing, Mich. office. His work on how weather impacts fire behavior helps firefighters and fire managers better understand how fires spread across the landscape.

His research leads him down seemingly endless lists of questions for which answers are sometimes elusive. Read more »

The USDA Forest Service Woody Biomass Utilization Team promotes and guides the removal of woody biomass from national forests. Removal of woody biomass from forests provides a variety of critical benefits for rural economies from wood to energy projects to overall ecosystem health. Woody biomass is used in bioenergy facilities that use commercially proven technologies to produce thermal, electrical or liquid/gaseous bioenergy.

Because climate change is having profound and significant impacts on the nation’s forests and rangelands, demands for renewable energy and bio-based biofuels products is increasing exponentially. Forests also play an important role in sequestering carbon, thereby reducing the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Read more »

California Earth Team volunteers plant some of the 250 species of native trees and shrubs planned for a 2,000-sq.-foot demonstration garden in Mariposa County. The garden will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and is expected to host thousands of visitors.

Earth Team volunteers have helped transform a neglected area at a county fairground into an attraction experts say will help boost tourism and the local economy in Mariposa, Calif.

Earth Team is the name given to USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service volunteers. They work side by side with NRCS employees on conservation projects to improve their local environment. Read more »