This paper presents the first nationwide analysis detailing the scope and scale of labor-intensive forestry contracts performed on National Forest System lands and examines the businesses contracted, location and types of work performed, and distance traveled by businesses between 2001 and 2020. During the study period, 61,698 contracts were awarded to 7,896 businesses, totaling $12,917,907,763, to perform labor-intensive forestry work, with most work being contracted for wildfire-related activities. Businesses were typically located in western states and nonminority owned businesses received the majority of contracts. Of minority-owned businesses, Hispanic American–owned businesses received the most contracts. The median distance that businesses traveled to accomplish work increased significantly through time but differed by business type. Understanding the scope and work of businesses awarded contracts provides insight into the workforce and its relationship to marginalized populations. Strategic investment in this workforce may have widespread impacts on federal, state, and local economies and the livelihoods of forest workers.

All contract data reports with the USFS listed as the contracting agency between federal fiscal years 2001 and 2020 from the System for Award Management (SAM.gov), the federally managed website that consolidates data from the Federal Procurement Data System. All data processing, analyses, and visualization were completed using R v4.1.3 in RStudio v2022.2.3.492 using the dplyr, ggplot2, sf, and FSA packages.

Please see the README document and the accompanying published article: Deak, A., Huber-Stearns, H., Crandall, M., Poudel, K., Davis, E.J., Coughlan, M.R., and Wilmsen, C. 2023. Documenting twenty years of the contracted labor-intensive forestry workforce on National Forest System lands in the United States. Journal of Forestry. Accepted. DOI: 10.1093/jofore/fvad026