US Forest Service Assists with Fire Monitoring in Zambia

As a U.S. Forest Service fire applications specialist, managing wildfire, monitoring ecosystem response and teaching others how to do so has been Tonja Opperman’s job for years. She is so good at it that recently the Forest Service International Programs invited her to teach fire monitoring in Zambia’s Kafue National Park. As a lead with the Forest Service’s Wildland Fire Management Research Development and Application Unit, Opperman partnered with The Nature Conservancy and taught Kafue park employees techniques for fireline and post-burn monitoring, use of equipment, ignition pattern techniques and fire-briefing standards during classroom exercises before going out to the field to conduct live-firing exercises...more

And you thought they had a budget shortfall.

You Congressmen looking for a place to cut budgets should look at the FS Int'l Programs.  Let the State Dept. handle international relations and tell Smokey to stay home.  The Republicans in the House have recommended $6 million for this program, $2 million more than Obama requested!