U.S. Forest Service

Rapid prototyping to sell firewood permits online

Validating a path to launch a new online service and modernize systems

Rapid prototyping In-person research Usability testing Service mapping Pattern audit Design documentation

USFS needed to scale modern tools to streamline sales, lower costs, and deliver better service to the public

Timber sales are an essential revenue source for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Every year, the agency sells 5.5 million cubic feet of national forest timber to commercial partners and the public.

But, the core IT system for managing sales— the Timber Information Manager (TIM) — was outdated and difficult to scale.

18F partnered with USFS to support a long-term modernization effort for TIM, and we started by validating a path to sell firewood permits online through modular enhancements to TIM. Firewood permits are a type of permit that could only be purchased in-person at remote ranger stations that had limited hours and limited staff.

Starting here allowed us to deliver immediate value to staff and the public while setting a foundation for a broader modernization of the forest product marketplace.

Impact:

  • Collaborative prototyping and service mapping methods led the team to explore technical unknowns, demonstrate the viability of digital access, and effectively advocate for further investment.
  • I identified opportunities to extend the Open Forest Design System to other permitting applications and developed interaction patterns for many uses.
  • Crisp and thorough design documentation preserved learning between phases and accellerated efforts for future teams.
Four screens showing the flow of an online firewood permitting prototype
Screens of a digital firewood prototype for the U.S. Forest Service. Since this was a new online service, a core prototyping goal was to identify and clarify what information needed to be provided to and collected from permit seekers. We also wanted to see how members of the public would respond to integrated services like Login.gov and Pay.gov, and how to set expectations appropriately.

I led prototyping efforts to validate a path to sell firewood permits online and align the team on a strategy

As lead product designer, I rapidly identified needs from permit seekers, frontline staff, law enforcement, and stakeholders to prototype an online firewood permitting flow.

I worked closely with a product manager, researcher, engineer, and senior USFS stakeholders to shape a roadmap that leveraged available infrastructure while integrating modular enhancements.

Bringing paper prototypes to the field guided research sessions and uncovered requirements for the next iteration

Working with the team, I designed a lightweight, four screen flow to facilitate conversation on three key milestones for online firewood permits:

  • Locating a forest and a product: Permit information was often housed deep within individual forest pages. We wanted to explore a service-centered experience where permit seekers could access multiple types of permits (firewood, Christmas trees) from multiple forests with a consistent flow.
  • Completing a sale: We wanted to know what was the minimum amount of information needed to process a sale and issue a permit.
  • Method for accessing permits and tags: We wanted to encourage discussion on how to distribute permits to buyers and issue tags so that they could prove a purchase while harvesting.

I led sketching exercises with the team to narrow in on a V0 approach to bring to the field. Our sessions considered existing firewood permitting regulations, audits of online content, and conversations with stakeholders. This also included auditing the Christmas Tree permit pilot and Open Forest Design System to identify patterns for potential reuse.

Mockups of web pages for selecting a forest and purchasing a permit
Within the first month of the project, I identified our key research questions and developed this lightweight prototype. We printed these pages out and brought them to the field to guide conversations with frontliners and members of the public.
A collage of photos from a research trip to Mt. Hood National Forest.
The team and I visited two ranger stations in Mt. Hood National Forest to observe in-person permit sales and test early stage prototypes. We spoke with frontliners, USFS law enforcement, and members of the public. I used the information given to permit seekers to inform the next iteration of the prototype, including land owner maps, permit regulations, weekly firewood information sheets, and general harvesting advice.

Collaborative mapping sessions aligned us on the systems, data, and actions needed to issue a firewood permit

To synthesize what we'd learned in the field and from stakeholders, I drafted a service blueprint to map the actions, systems, data, and policies involved in issuing a firewood permit.

I then held collaborative mapping sessions with team members and stakeholders to fill in gaps and consolidate our collective knowledge. These live editing sessions also allowed us to validate in real time that we were capturing stakeholder knowledge on system interactions accurately.

The final map was used by the team to clarify constraints and highlight places where we could integrate new tooling to issue permits online.

A service map showing the number of steps needed to buy and issue a permit.
The service blueprint I created to synthesize what we observed and what we had learned about forest policy, existing systems, enforcement, and friction points. This also quickly showed what we needed to learn more about. I led collaborative sessions with Forest Service staff to map together those sections of the map and get a more complete view of the system.

The prototype evolved to consider third-party integrations, physical tags, and Open Forest Design patterns

Using insights from field visits and mapping sessions, my next prototype iteration included:

  • Testing interactions and end-to-end flow: Developed a clickable prototype to go through the whole process of purchasing a permit, and led usability tests to verify we had core functionality and content design right.
  • Leveraged patterns from the Open Forest Design System: Extended the Open Forest design system to a new permitting type and ensured consistency, scalability, and alignment with federal standards and Forest Service branding.
  • Developed a printable load tag concept: Designed a printable permit tag with visual cues for law enforcement and evaluated it with stakeholders for fit with existing enforcement workflows.
  • Shipped with documentation for scale: Captured key learnings, design debt, and research artifacts to empower future teams to build confidently on our work.
A collage of load tag photos and sketches.
Permit holders currently get brightly colored load tags when they buy their permit from a ranger station, which signal to USFS law enforcement that a vehicle has a permit. I developed a printable load tag concept through design studios with the team, and landed on a concept using high contrast patterns.

Additional resources