While I work with the timber crew on most days, occasionally I get to shadow a specialist and see a different facet of Forest Service work. One day in June, I went with the district's resident wildlife biologist Emlyn Smith as she did her rounds for...

I arrive at the USFS work center in Bentley Louisiana, within the Catahoula District of Kisatchie National Forest. The site surrounded by a seed orchard which provides seedlings to the district for planting after timber harvests. In the early morning, purple martins swoop and dive...