Moroccan Delegation Visits the National Forests in Florida

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Fire Management Officer Mike Drayton, left, escorts Driss Misbah, a regional forester in northern Morocco during a prescribe fire demonstration on the Ocala National Forest. Photo Credit: Susan Blake, Public Affairs Specialist, National Forests in Florida

Fire experts from the Ocala National Forest and instructors from the Prescribed Fire Training Center (PFTC) hosted a delegation of natural resource specialists from the Moroccan Government. The three-day long program in Florida focused on fire management techniques and the Moroccan delegation observed actual prescribed burns.

?We?ve been cooperating with a Moroccan government agency called the High Commission, an agency akin to the Forest Service as they manage forests and watersheds across the country,? said Middle East and North African Program Specialist, Natasha Marwah, of the USDA Forest Service. ?For the past five years, we?ve been providing technical assistance to them on forest conservation and health, rangeland and watershed management, and most recently, fire management.?

National Fire Operations Manager Fouad Assali, left, of the Moroccan High Commission and Driss Misbah, a regional forester in northern Morocco observe a prescribed burn on the Ocala National Forest. Photo Credit: Susan Blake, Public Affairs Specialist, National Forests in Florida

Funded by the State Department, the program stemmed from an initial fire assessment visit the USDA Forest Service conducted in December 2011.

?The U.S. and Moroccan Governments signed a free trade agreement in 2006, which resulted in funding for environmental cooperation,? said Marwah.? ?We decided to focus part of that cooperation on wildfire management and bring our Moroccan counterparts to the US to examine our fire management systems.?

Escorted by Forest Service personnel and an interpreter, the Moroccans were able to ask questions of Ocala firefighters and PFTC instructors. After their visit in Florida they headed to Boise, Idaho, for another week of fire training techniques out west.

National Fire Operations Manager Fouad Assali, left, of the Moroccan High Commission and Driss Misbah, a regional forester in northern Morocco observe a prescribed burn on the Ocala National Forest. Photo Credit: Susan Blake, Public Affairs Specialist, National Forests in Florida

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Source: http://blogs.usda.gov/2012/03/23/moroccan-delegation-visits-the-national-forests-in-florida/

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