Environmental Justice and the Forest Service

Hosted by the National Forest Foundation

In January of this year, President Obama issued a proclamation recognizing the 20^thanniversary of the Executive Order on Environmental Justice (Clinton 1994), which provides the Forest Service with extraordinary opportunities to contribute to healthy communities. The origins of the executive order lie in reducing the potentially disproportionate negative impacts of Federal programs on minority and low-income communities. The President said, “By effectively implementing environmental laws, we can improve quality of life and expand economic opportunity in overburdened communities”. He challenges Federal agencies to identify, aid, and empower low-income and minority communities.

Please join us May 8, 2014 for a peer learning session about what the Executive Order on environmental justice means for the Forest Service. The session will address:

• What environmental justice is
• Why environmental justice is important and relevant to the Forest Service NEPA process
• Available resources and tools to help in considering environmental justice issues in projects
• Examples of how to gather environmental justice information to help inform decisions

 Our speakers are:

• Lis Grinspoon, Region 6 Social Scientist
• Julie Schaefers, Region 2 Social Scientist

 This is one of a series of peer learning sessions for the Forest Service Partnership Network, sponsored by the National Partnership Office and offered in cooperation with the National Forest Foundation.