The Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Forest Service manages a variety of public lands, with an overarching mission to provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people.

While many perceive the Forest Service to only be involved with forested lands, this is a misconception.  They are also the managers of grasslands in the Midwest, glacial areas in Alaska, and even collaborate in working with ski resorts that sit within National Forest boundaries.  The X-Stream team’s partnership with the US Forest Service focuses on rivers and their significance in the overall health of ecosystems. 

The US Forest Service owns over a quarter of all the land in the state of Oregon.  This includes multiple national forests, recreation areas, and even a volcanic monument.  It also encompasses over 1,200 miles of wild rivers.  Most residents of the state of Oregon encounter a river in their everyday lives, for they are in our backyards and they often serve as our playgrounds.  Our team’s goal in partnering with the Forest Service was to inform the Oregon community about overall stream health and how their personal actions affect the rivers around them. 

Due to the close proximity of neighborhoods to rivers there is a real community need to inform and educate our youth about important river issues.  By embarking on this project our team has committed to educating Lane County students on topics of stream ecology including ideal salmon habitat, the various forces of erosion, importance of microorganisms, and the general history of the rivers that surround them.  By relating the knowledge they already have of scientific processes to the impacts they can have on rivers, we hope to motivate them to be environmentally conscious individuals.  By reaching out to the younger generations our team hopes to inspire the community to move from simple awareness of river issues to being a proactive society which strives for a healthy balance with the surrounding environment.