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HIGHLIGHTSFebruary 2018

• Visitor & Host Spotlight: Visitor Joseph Bechara and Host Dr. Arvind A.R. Bhuta, Certified Ecologist & GIS Professional, National Forests in Alabama

• Culture: Winter Olympics

• Culture: St. Patrick’s Day

• Community Solutions Program Fellows

• The First Chief of the US Forest Service: Gifford Pinchot

• Fun Facts: International Day of Forests

• On the Horizon: US Holidays and Special Occasions

For more information on the International Visitor Program, please contact Brenda Dean:

(email) bdean@fs.fed.us (tel) +1-202-644-4600

VISITOR & HOST SPOTLIGHT: Visitor Joseph Bechara, Community Solutions Program Fellow, GIS & Remote Sensing Specialist from Beirut, Lebanon

Host Dr. Arvind A.R. Bhuta, Certified Ecologist & GIS Professional, National Forests in Alabama

Visitor Joseph Bechara

Tell us a bit about yourself and your CSP Fellowship.I am a GIS Engineer and Forestry Engineer and have been working since 2011 with the Lebanon Reforestation Initiative (LRI), which is a USAID-funded project im-plemented by the US Forest Service. I am managing a com-munity-based fire prevention project aiming to engage local communities in the protection of their forests. My communi-ty engagement work consists of supporting local commu-nities in setting action plans for fire prevention and then following up on the implementation with them. After I graduated from university with my double major (GIS/Forestry), I decided to pursue a career in the development field and to focus on income generating activities that can make a social impact.

The Community Solutions Program (CSP) is a professional leadership develop-ment program for community leaders worldwide. I learned about CSP through the Facebook page of the US Embassy in Beirut. I was interested in the program since it is a combination of educational courses and a practicum in an American organization. Community Solutions Fellows complete a four-month fellowship from August to December with a US nonprofit organization or local govern-ment agency. The Community Leadership Institute provided an integrated leadership curriculum and individualized coaching throughout the fellowship. The goal is for Fellows to return home to apply their new skills through a com-munity action project.

Joseph at the Tuskegee National ForestPhoto Credit: Arvind Bhuta

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Tell us more about your project.I was hosted by the Forest Service office in Mont-gomery, Alabama. My main role was to assist the ecologist, the soil scientist, and the prescribed burn-ing team with GIS tasks. It was challenging to move from one project to another, but it was instructive. The most rewarding part was to learn about the USFS organizational structure. The most remark-able part was to learn about the balance between scientific and research tasks and the practical tasks conducted in the field.

What was surprising about living in the United States?I was surprised to see the wide cultural diversity in each geographical zone.

How has your experience changed you or how have you drawn on your experi-ence?I can say that I am not the same person returning to Leb-anon. I learned a lot during my stay in the US and through the course I took online that enabled me to improve my self-awareness and my self-knowledge. In fact, in my day-to-day activity in Lebanon I barely have time to focus on personal development but the CSP program was very useful on this side. Although I am currently in the phase of reverse cultural shock after returning home, I real-ized that I have acquired an ability to quickly adapt my emotional and psychological stability to new cultures and practices.

Do you have any advice for others?My advice for other people who will have the chance to do an exchange program is to delete all the expectations they have ahead of their arrival to the United States and come with the explorer mood to enjoy what they discover.

What was most rewarding about the experience?The most rewarding part was the people I met and the good connections I made with them. I have

gained a lot of friends in the United States who I would like to see again one day. It was an incredi-ble experience that I would like to repeat anytime I have the chance or the opportunity.

Host Arvind Bhuta

Tell us a bit about yourself and your work. I’m a first-generation, American-born Asian Amer-ican whose parents immigrated to this country from the Philippines (my mother) and India (my father). My parents met in New York City, NY, where I was born, and we, along with my younger broth-

er, moved to Montgomery, Alabama before I started Kindergarten. Instead of caving into what my parents thought would be the right career path for me, I struggled through a lot of failures and successes to find my own way in college and ended up in the fields of biology, geography, and environmental science at Auburn University. All three disciplines are highly intercon-nected and interdisciplinary in their own way, which made

them very appealing to me. Furthermore, getting to explore the outdoors and understanding the com-plexity that nature offers didn’t happen for me until my later years in college. I learned a lot and went on to pursue my graduate degrees at Virginia Tech, where I luckily met my wife, a fellow geographer. During and after graduate school, I took the path of least resistance in finding employment opportu-nities, which included internships with the US EPA and the US Army Corps of Engineers, a postdoctoral fellowship at Clemson University, creating my own geospatial and environmental consulting company, and eventually, luckily for me, I ended up qualifying for a competitive position in the US Forest Service, an agency that I always had dreamed of serving in.

I am currently the Ecologist for the National For-ests in Alabama at the Forest Supervisor’s Office, Natural Resources and Planning Program. Prior to

Arvind, Joseph and Others at the Auburn University vs University of Georgia Football Game. Photo credit: Arvind Bhuta

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my current position, I was a Forester/Biometrician at the Pacific Northwest’s Regional Office in Port-land, OR. I have also had the opportunity to live all over the southeast, from Mississippi to Everglades National Park and up north to southwestern Virginia and Washington D.C. I am honored to serve as the Ecologist for Alabama’s National Forests in a state that is the most biodiverse east of the Mississippi. I supervise one employee and manage programs for ecology, soil, water, non-native invasive species, bot-any (non-threatened and endangered species only), and the green initiative (sus-tainable operations). My ad-ditional duties include serving as liaison with the Research Stations on the Research Natural Areas located on our Forests and if the need arises, organizing and implementing the burn area emergency re-sponse teams on our Forests. I also serve at the national level as an executive com-mittee member for the Asian Pacific American Employee Association (APAEA), one of the many employee associa-tions officially recognized by the US Forest Service.

Why did you want to host an international CSP Fellow?My interest in hosting an international CSP fellow was because I felt that the missions, goals, and work of the US Forest Service’s National Forest Systems, International Programs, the Department of State, and the IREX Community Solutions Program were closely aligned with each other. Furthermore, learning more about Joseph Bechara’s interests, backgrounds, and skills and the organization he worked for in Lebanon, the Lebanese Reforestation Initiative, was really appealing to me. I felt that the opportunity to work together on a variety of topics that were intertwined between natural resources, GIS, and remote sensing would be beneficial for both of us, as well as who we work for. Hosting a fellow also made me feel that we were “capturing” the essence of “applying knowledge globally” and

“excelling as a high-performing agency” as men-tioned in the USDA Forest Service’s 2015-2020 Strategic Plan.

What were the most rewarding aspects of this exchange program?The most rewarding aspects of working with Jo-seph was the opportunity to engage with another like-minded geospatial peer who also understands the natural world and was eager to use their knowl-edge in solving complex issues using scientifically

and statistically robust anal-ysis. Also getting to interact with Joseph and learning more about him and his coun-try was very enlightening and refreshing.

Has your experience changed you?The experience has been very formative for me and even some of my fellow employees here at the National Forests in Alabama. It has provided us with new opportunities that we did not know we had. In addition to working with interns and volunteers, having international visitors, such as

the Community Solutions Fellows, allows us to show the public and those within our agency that we not only have value locally, regionally, and nationally, but also internationally as well.

How did you prepare for hosting an international visitor?Preparation for hosting Joseph for me was not difficult at all. It essentially was as simple as discuss-ing the opportunity with my supervisor and getting approval, making sure we had desk space available for Joseph to work at, and creating a profile for him so we could get him computer privileges to work with us. The International Visitor Program took care of some other administrative details. In the grand scheme of things, everything was smooth and easy to accomplish.

Joseph and Arvind in Atlanta. Photo credit: Friendly tourist.

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Aside from me, I had many other fellow employees at the office that were willing to help Joseph with things. I really appreciate their help with making Joseph feel welcomed and I think everyone at our office was very accommodating. In addition to preparing him for the workplace, I also served as his cultural mentor and enjoyed showing him around Montgomery, Alabama and other places from Alabama to Washington, D.C. We got to explore different foods that he had not had before and the history of Montgomery. We also got to attend an Auburn University college football game and check out many areas for tourism and those that were of cultural significance. The reason we went from Alabama to Washington D.C. was because we took a road trip together to get Joseph to D.C. for the end of his CSP program and the closing reception. How do you think the Forest Service benefits from international professional exchanges?International professional exchanges are of great benefit to the Forest Service and are essential in car-rying out our mission and keeping with our Strategic Plan, specifically in excelling as a high-performing agency and applying knowledge globally. These ex-changes allow our agency to see that not only do we have the opportunity to care for the land and serve people at the local level, but also internationally. It is very rewarding to know that the work we do with others at the international level has value and that we are working forward to cultivating deeper ties, bonds, and better relationships with others who value their natural resources in their countries. What did you gain personally from the experience?I think I personally gained a new friend and a great collaborative partner to potentially work on future projects with one day. It was great to create a new friendship with someone and it feels like the world is just a little smaller for me now that I have a friend in Lebanon who I can talk to on Facebook and hope-fully see in person one day again in the future.

Do you have any advice for future hosts or visitors?Always make sure to interview the visitor to see if what they do aligns with the work your program is doing. It will make for a better fit and could help to guarantee success not only for your program but

also for your visitor. Make it a team effort too and include others who might be interested in wanting to help with hosting and also, so you have others you can discuss matters with in terms of whether or not hosting makes sense.

Is there anything else you would like to share?I am very happy that International Programs was able to connect me with Joseph and that we at the National Forests in Alabama were able to host Joseph. It was truly a great experience that many of us will remember and I hope others in other Na-tional Forests consider similar opportunities like the Community Solutions Fellowship program (or even the program itself) in the future.

Please see the full article on the Community Solu-tions Program on pages 6-7.

CULTURE:WINTER OLYMPICS FOR THE TROPICS

The Winter Olympics are taking place this year in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from February 9-25. Traditionally, the Winter Olym-pics are dominated by northern countries with cold climates and mountainous terrain that provide the snow and gravity-influenced training grounds for skiing, sled-ding, and skating. But the 2018 Olympics will also continue a trend of featuring athletes representing unlikely competitor coun-tries, increasing the global reach of the ceremonies. Creating buzz this year is the Nigerian women’s bobsled team, who will be the first athletes to compete at the Winter Olympics under the Nigerian flag. Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga were born in the United States but are of Nigerian heritage and are able to compete in the sport because Nigeria has a Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. Their story enhances the spirit of the Olympics as a competition between athletes and not countries.

Image Credit:www.wikipedia.org

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Other past Winter Olympics competitors from tropi-cal countries, however, may owe their unlikely feats, directly or indirectly, to international exchange opportunities that introduced them to cold weath-er climates. Prawat Nagvajara became the first Winter Olympian representing Thailand when he qualified for the cross-country ski races for the 2002 and 2006 Olympics. Prawat had never seen snow until he was a freshman at Northeastern University in Boston. Later in life, when he was a professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, he became inspired to train as a cross-country skier.1 Arturo Kinch, from Costa Rica, competed in cross-coun-try skiing in the 1980, 1984, 1988, 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics. His introduction to snow and skiing came when he studied abroad at Rockmont College in Colorado on a soccer scholarship.2 Rusiate Rogoyawa, a Fijian who skied in the 1988 and 1994 Olympics, is said to have learned how to ski while studying electrical engineering in Oslo, Norway.3

Regardless of the circumstances through which ath-letes of more tropical countries come to compete in the Winter Olympics, they do have another com-mon attribute. These athletes serve as ambassadors of their sports and the Olympic ideals to their coun-tries and continents, and will surely inspire others to be the “firsts” from their countries.

Fun Fact: The US Forest Service has some connec-tions to the Winter Olympics. Many of the ski areas

1 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/08/sports/olympics-team-thailand-starts-and-ends-with-skier.html2 http://www.ccu.edu/athletics/halloffame/3 Woodward, Bob. (1986, May). South Seas Skier. Backpacker, 12.

across the United States are located on national forest lands. Many of these ski areas have been the home bases where US Olympian skiers developed their talents and competed. The Forest Service re-cently featured Olympic gold medalist Julia Mancu-so in a promotional video highlighting Squaw Valley, site of the upcoming World Cup skiing events, in the Tahoe National Forest. Check it out here: https://vimeo.com/205247788.

CULTURE:ORIGINS OF ST. PATRICK’S DAY

St. Patrick’s Day evokes thoughts of parades, sham-rocks, rainbows, and a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow with leprechauns. While the holiday’s sym-bols and connection to the color green are familiar, did you know that St. Patrick’s Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (in Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig)4, which is traditionally celebrated on March 17, has been cele-brated for over 1,000 years as a religious holiday to commemorate the death of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland who lived during the fifth century and brought Christianity to Ireland?5

Around the 10th century, the Irish started to cele-brate the Roman Catholic feast day on March 175. The very first recorded St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in the United States in 1762 when Irish soldiers who were serving the English military paraded through New York City to celebrate their

4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day 5 http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/history-of-st-patricks-day

Photo Credit: www.owia.org

Source: Pixabay/Creative Commons CC0

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cultural heritage and reconnect with their fellow countrymen6. Today, the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade is the largest in the United States and the oldest civilian parade in the World. Between 2 and 3 million people come to watch the 1.5-mile parade in Manhattan, while thousands more attend parades in other cities such as Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia5.

In Ireland, during the Potato Famine, also called the Great Hunger, a fungus called Phytophthora infes-tans spread through the potato crops for a seven year period lasting from 1845 to 1852. This was detrimental to the population who relied heavily on these crops for sustenance. Before the famine ended, starvation and related causes claimed the lives of over one million people. Another million Irish people immigrated to other countries to escape the plight7. Most of the Irish who came to the United States were poor and uneducated, but because of their large numbers they became an im-portant voice and political power and voting block, overcoming decades of significant prejudice and discrimination. St. Patrick’s Day parades now reflect and recognize Irish-American pride and political influence5.

Today, St. Patrick’s Day is a boost for tourism and cultural pride in Ireland and elsewhere. One of the most well-known and beloved traditions is in Chicago where the Chicago River is dyed green. People also wear green on St. Patrick’s Day because according to folklore, one becomes invisible to leprechauns, an elf-like creature, who would pinch anyone they could see. School children usually wear green on St. Patrick’s Day to prevent their class-mates from pinching them as a silly prank. Many people also wear a shamrock on March 17, which is

6 https://www.nycstpatricksparade.org/about/7 http://www.history.com/topics/irish-potato-famine

one of Ireland’s most famous symbols. It is associ-ated with good luck. Don’t forget to wear green on March 17 so you don’t get pinched yourself!

2017 USFS –IREX COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS PROGRAM COLLABORATION

The Community Solutions Program (CSP) is a US Department of State funded professional leadership development exchange program for community leaders worldwide. The International Visitor Program worked closely with IREX, the international education and development orga-nization that implements CSP, to place three CSP Fellows with the US Forest Service in 2017. US Forest Service Washington Office staff also contributed technical expertise to the CSP Program orientation roundta-ble discussions and a webinar panel discussion on community outreach.

Of the 100 Fellows selected from over 2000 ap-plicants for the 2017 program, twenty-five were specifically focused on environmental issues. CSP Fellows spend August through December working alongside mentors in host organizations and con-vene in Washington, DC for two 1-week leadership training conferences at the beginning and end of their program. IREX and IVP will begin outreach in February to Forest Service host units who can pro-vide training in the applicants’ areas of interest. For more information about the Community Solutions Program please visit: https://www.irex.org/project/community-solutions. Contact internationalvisitor-program@fs.fed.us if you would like to be included in CSP host outreach in March 2018.

After welcoming the three 2017 US Forest Service CSP fellows, multiple programs and networks inter-sected. You have already read about one CSP Fellow, Joseph Bechara, but please read on to learn more about the global connections made with the other two CSP Fellows:

Image from choosechicago.com

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CSP FELLOW FLORENCE MDODI – TANZANIA

Mdodi is a Community Engagement Officer and Social Worker for Ifakara Environmental and Com-munity Development Organization in Morogoro, Tanzania. His interest in sustainable land manage-ment led to his placement with Dr. Alan Watson, social science researcher with the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute in Missoula, Mon-tana. Mdodi is serving as a Research Associate and assisting the Institute on a study and, potentially publishable, manuscript about sustainability and threats to sustainability of Federal Lands adjacent to the Crow Reservation in Montana.

As a part of his program, Mdodi had the opportunity to engage with two International Visitor Program participants from China who are studying the United States Wild & Scenic River systems as they hope to inform the development of a similar designation and protection system in China. Dr. Watson’s team and colleagues arranged for Mdodi and the Chinese fellows, who are hosted by the International Pro-grams and the Pacific Northwest Region of the For-est Service, to join them on several field trips, which included a monitoring trip of the Salmon and Selway rivers and exploration of other federally managed lands. Read Mdodi’s IREX profile here: https://www.irex.org/people/florence-mdodi

CSP FELLOW JOSEPH SIBA-DOPAVOGUI – GUINEAJoseph is a geologist who works with Association Mines Sans Pauvetre (AMSP) in Conakry, Guinea. His organization promotes sustainable mining practices and seeks community engagement in environmental and social impacts assessment processes. Joseph had the opportunity to work with the Minerals & Geology Management division of the National Forest System at their training office in Denver, Colorado. Joseph learned about USFS regulations and policies, permit-ting processes, environmental assessment processes, and formal and informal public engagement.

Joseph also had the opportunity to participate in the 2nd Annual International Seminar on Mining spon-sored by the USFS International Programs Office. This 2-week seminar engaged 24 participants from 16 countries in field visits, discussions, and action plan-ning around sustainable mining practices. Joseph and his fellow participants visited commercial mining op-erations and federal lands to learn about leased sites and mine proposal reviews in southern Arizona. The group discussed economic, social and environmental impacts of mining, looked at artisanal and small-scale mining in developing countries, and explored public consultation and conflict management approaches. After the seminar, Joseph spent additional time with USFS geologists in Arizona on the Tonto National For-est in Phoenix and the Coronado National in Tucson. Click here to learn about current USFS activities in Guinea: Community Forest Management in Guinea’s Serengbara Village, by Destina Samani, USFS West Africa Regional Advisor.

The Middle Fork of the Flathead River is one of several Wild & Scenic Rivers Mdodi had opportunity to visit in Montana and Idaho. This particular river forms the boundary between Glacier National Park and the Flathead National Forest, bringing many management challenges with that shared responsibility. Accompanying Mdodi on this float trip were ZhangDuan (Duan) and HuangHe (Kevin), graduate students from China and Colter Pence and Chris Prew of the Flathead National Forest. Leopold Institute photo.

Joseph doing a country presentation during the 2017 International Seminar on Mining in Tucson, AZ. Photo Credit: AJ Doty

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THE FIRST CHIEF OF THE US FOREST SERVICE: GIFFORD PINCHOT

In the 113-year history of the US Forest Service, eighteen differ-ent Chiefs have been tasked with guiding the agency through various eras and challeng-es, but perhaps none was more influential than the first Chief Gifford Pinchot.

Originally from Connecticut, Pinchot expressed

an early appreciation for the outdoors and traveled to Europe to study forestry at the National School of Waters and Forests in Nancy, France as there were no forestry schools in the U.S. at the time.8 He gained important skills and knowledge through this inter-national experience in France and Germany, but he argued that environmental conditions in America required American expertise. This experience later inspired him to found the Yale School of Forestry for Americans who were interested in studying forestry, a program which still exists today.9 He further profes-sionalized the field of forestry by founding the Society of American Foresters, which met for the first time in 1900 at his home in Washington, D.C. Pinchot developed many of the land management concepts that we continue to use today, such as “public lands,” or the idea that these lands belong to everyone in the nation and should not be privately owned.10 He also popularized the idea of “conser-vation,” bringing it into the national conversation to such an extent that it became an accepted national

8 https://www.doi.gov/blog/gifford-pinchot-legacy-conservation9 http://environment.yale.edu/news/article/first-forester-the-conservation-legacy-of-gif-ford-pinchot/

10 http://environment.yale.edu/news/article/first-forester-the-conservation-legacy-of-gif-ford-pinchot/

goal.11 He adopted a utilitarian approach to land management decisions, coining the phrase “the greatest good for the greatest number in the long run”12 to emphasize that foresters are trained to think about the benefit for everyone in society in long-time horizons.

Pinchot, who came to be known as “The Father of American Forestry,” served as Chief of the US Forest Service from 1905 to 1910.13 He and President Theo-dore Roosevelt shared a passion for the outdoors and did a great deal to increase land conservation in the United States. He is remembered as an effective lead-er and a savvy politician who knew the importance of utilizing the press in articulating his vision and garnering public support for his initiatives.14 During his tenure, the number of national forests grew from 60 to 150, ultimately covering 172 million acres. 15

Pinchot went on to serve two terms as governor of Pennsylvania before passing away in 1946.16 His family’s home, called Grey Towers, which is located in Milford, Pennsylvania is now a national historic site that can still be visited today.17 The estate continues to offer public programs and conservation education. His legacy is also remembered in a national forest in Washington state and a state park in Pennsylvania, both of which bear his name. 18

11 https://foresthistory.org/research-explore/us-forest-service-history/people/chiefs/gifford-pinchot-1865-1946/12 https://www.fs.fed.us/greatestgood/press/mediakit/facts/pinchot.shtml13 Williams, Gerald W. “Chiefs of the Forest Service.” The USDA Forest Service: the First Century, USDA Forest Service, 2000, pp. 14.14 http://environment.yale.edu/news/article/first-forester-the-conservation-legacy-of-gif-ford-pinchot/15 Williams, p. 14.16 https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/greytowers/aboutgreytowers/history/?cid=stel-prd382450217 https://www.fs.usda.gov/greytowers18 https://www.doi.gov/blog/gifford-pinchot-legacy-conservation

Figure 1 Gifford Pinchot. http://environment.yale.edu/news/article/first-forester-the-con-

servation-legacy-of-gifford-pinchot/

“The greatest good for the greatest number in the long run”

-Gifford Pinchot

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FUN FACTS:INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FORESTS

March 21, as declared by the United Nations (UN) Gen-eral Assembly, will be observed as the International Day of Forests. This day is celebrated annually to raise aware-ness on the importance of forests and their vital role in poverty eradication, environmental sustainability and food security. Nations, local governments, organizations and individuals participate by organizing local, national and international activities related to trees and for-

ests, such as tree-planting campaigns. This year, the US Forest Service Office of International Programs (IP) will celebrate by engaging Washington, DC public school students in an “Environmental Expo” and by hosting Peggy Notebaert of the Chicago Nature Museum who will give a talk on youth engagement and environmental aware-ness. IP will also showcase artwork created by urban youth from all around the world depicting their views of nature in their backyards

• The UN adopted this resolution in 2012.• The theme for 2018 is Forests and Sustainable Cities.• Forests and trees store carbon, which help mitigate the impacts of climate change in, and around urban

areas.• Urban green spaces, including forests, encourage active and healthy lifestyles, improve mental health, pre-

vent disease, and provide a place for people to socialize. • Trees reduce noise pollution, as they shield homes from nearby roads and industrial areas. • Forests cover one third of the Earth’s land mass, performing vital functions around the world.• Around 1.6 billion people – including more than 2,000 indigenous cultures – depend on forests for their live-

lihoods, medicines, fuels, food and shelter.• Forests are the most biologically diverse ecosystems on land, home to more than 80% of the terrestrial spe-

cies of animals, plants and insects.

INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY FELLOWS VIDEO – CHECK IT OUT!

2016 International Forestry Fellows Program (IFFP) participant Pia Sundvall and her hosts on the Superior National Forest are featured in this short video about their IFFP exchange: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDn-HQGKnoT0. This video was made by our very own International Visitor Program team member, Kristin Corcoran. For additional in-formation on IFFP, please reach out to us at internationalvisitorprogram@fs.fed.us. Enjoy the video!

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ON THE HORIZON US Holidays and Special Occasions Friday, February 2: Groundhog Day

Wednesday, February 14: St. Valentine’s Day

Monday, February 19: President’s Day (Federal Government closed)

Sunday, March 11: Daylight Saving Time (change clocks forward 1 hour)

Saturday, March 17: St. Patrick’s Day

Tuesday, March 20: First Day of Spring

Wednesday, March 21: International Day of Forests

Sunday, April 22: Earth Day

If you are a visitor to the US, ask your American hosts, friends and colleagues how they celebrate these holidays.

Hosts, we encourage you to use this opportunity to share an aspect of American culture with your visitor(s)!

The US Forest Service International Visitor Program is on Face-book! Please visit: www.facebook.com/USFSIVP.