our story
About
Friends of the Forest Service is working to foster collaboration, trust, and practical solutions that enhance forest and community resilience and well-being. We envision a future where our forests thrive through inclusive and collaborative stewardship, ensuring clean water, ecological health, cultural vitality, and economic prosperity for all communities, while supporting a resilient and effective U.S. Forest Service.
What Sets Us Apart
People-First Approach
Everything we do is built around collaboration and relationships. When we work together we strengthen our impact, our communities, and the future of our forests.
action oriented
FFS focuses specifically on the U.S. Forest Service and its partners, and prioritizes collaborative problem solving to develop and implement durable and practical actions that lead to tangible change.
bipartisan
Our forests transcend political boundaries, and so should our solutions. We bridge divides and work across perspectives to deliver practical, place-based solutions rooted where it matters most.
Meet meryl
Founder and Executive Director Meryl Harrell brings a deep knowledge of the U.S. Forest Service and its partners, along with more than 20 years of natural resource leadership, to Friends of the Forest Service. Meryl is a collaborative leader and forest policy expert with a proven track record of bringing people together to create meaningful change. Her approach is rooted in bringing people together to find common ground, and working across silos to create systemic change for the well-being of the land and the communities we serve.
During her two terms of service at USDA, most recently serving as the Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment (NRE), Meryl led work on issues including wildfire resilience, Tribal co-stewardship, land management planning, outdoor recreation, watershed health, and increasing access to Forest Service lands, programs and resources. She also served as the Executive Director of the Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards (SAWS), a workforce development and wilderness stewardship non-profit organization providing boots-on-the-ground support on public lands, and as a consultant working with government, philanthropic, industry and non-profit partners to steward America’s lands and waters.
