Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving." I believe the Forest Service is moving in the right direction and, I want to keep it going that way. I need your help. We are going to continue caring for the land and serving the people. However, as I stated in my first message to the National Leadership Team, my initial focus is going to be on people – you, the Forest Service employees.

As the fifteenth Chief of the Forest Service, I am committed to work force diversity and to ensuring the protection of civil rights, including equal employment opportunity for all employees and customers of the Forest Service programs and services. No employee or applicant will be unlawfully denied employment opportunity because of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, political belief, sexual orientation, or marital or familial status.

I believe that diversity not only refers to ethnicity, gender, or culture, but there is also a diversity of thought. It is healthy for us to have professional differences of opinion and these should be shared, but always in a climate of openness, mutual respect and trust. As Forest Service employees, it is our responsibility to ensure that discrimination and harassment do not exist in the employment experience and the work environment. Anything less is simply unacceptable. We must treat each other and the public with respect and professionalism. This is how we want to be treated and is the foundation for good customer service.

No one in the Forest Service can be successful working alone; however, if we work together, all of us can succeed. I look forward to your cooperation in helping me carry out the Agency's responsibilities in the area of civil rights.

Dale N. Bosworth
Chief of the USDA Forest Service