From NAFSR:
NAFSR has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the USDA Forest Service to provide a framework for cooperation on our mutual interests.
Signed by Chief Tom Schultz and NAFSR Chair Bill Avey, this agreement formalizes something NAFSR retirees have done informally for
years: sharing decades of institutional knowledge, technical expertise, and lessons learned with the current generation of Forest Service employees.
As experienced employees retire and exit the agency, as they have done in the last 18 months at an unprecedented rate, the Forest Service loses irreplaceable know-how.
This MOU is intended to facilitate a more structured path for retirees to stay connected, mentor, and support remaining employees – and those new to the agency – as they tackle wildfire, forest health, recreation access, leadership, and supervision with more limited resources than in recent years.
As a next step to put the new MOU into action, the NAFSR Employee Care Team is working with the Forest Service Workforce Development Team to set up a pilot knowledge transfer project to begin in Fall 2026.
The pilot will focus on supervisory skills, pairing retired supervisors with employees attending New Supervisor Training (NST).
Each pair will meet virtually over the course several months, using suggested
topics and discussion guides to support each discussion session. Volunteer retired supervisors would be asked to share their time and experience to help new supervisors navigate their new roles and challenges during the training period.
More details on the pilot and how to participate will be forthcoming to NAFSR members soon!
Meanwhile, please consider this upcoming volunteer opportunity to share your
time, experience, and expertise to assist a new Forest Service supervisor.
We look forward to more opportunities for collaboration between NAFSR and Forest Service!
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I know many retirees I speak to are interested in helping via volunteering in various ways, so hopefully this effort will expand.
Even more powerful would be paid opportunities for retired supervisors to provide mentoring and coaching to these new and developing supervisors.
I think the ACES program provides that opportunity https://www.fs.usda.gov/working-with-us/aces-program
It seems to me that volunteering has advantages as well.. more flexible.. doesn’t cost the FS bucks. Mentoring requires a fit and flexibility might be easier without financial encumbrances. Some FS retirees need the bucks and that could be motivating. For others of us, we’d rather have the flexibility, for whatever reasons. Depending on your filing and tax bracket, it might not be worth the hassle for an hour a week or biweekly. We are all in different financial situations, with different ongoing financial responsibilities.
In my brief period of volunteering giving current employees advice, I got the impression that hearing from me was all well and good, but they wouldn’t have wanted to have been stuck with me as part of a formal agreement. So there’s that.