23 May Pacific Northwest Region RA Update

Hello everyone, it’s Tana again! I am a few months into my Resource Assistant term working on climate change adaptation and mitigation for the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Region (Oregon and Washington). I have learned so much about how the Forest Service plans for future climate conditions and assesses risks to forests and grasslands. So far, I’ve gotten to work on compiling ecosystem services data from all of the National Forests in our region and review documents to find intersections between climate change plans and Tribal relations potential.

Even though I work remotely, I am still so grateful to have gone to our Resource Assistant Program Orientation in person. Even though it was back in February, I was so glad I got to meet other Resource Assistants. I still talk to quite a few of them daily on Teams, and the Resource Assistants are always helping each other out with finding resources for projects, reviewing documents, networking, sharing helpful trainings or conferences, and much more. It was great that we got to build a community that still exists even though we work far away from each other.

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about working remotely full-time, but the support from the other Resource Assistants and my friends here in San Francisco definitely make me feel better about it.