generated: '2026-09-10'
method: probed
source: >-
  Live probes of the four Forest Service API surfaces, the Research Data Archive releases page,
  the USDAForestService GitHub organization, and status-page candidate hosts, 2026-09-10.
note: >-
  The Forest Service runs its public APIs the way a research agency runs a data product, not the
  way a vendor runs a platform: surfaces stay up for a decade, versions are expressed in the
  payload or in the service name rather than in the URL, and there is no published deprecation
  policy, SLA, sunset window or status page anywhere in the estate. One API has already been
  retired (Open Forest) and it was retired without any of that machinery — the repository was
  archived and the hostname stopped resolving.
versioning:
  scheme: mixed, per surface — none of it is in the URL path
  surfaces:
    - api: Forest Service Research Data Archive Web Service
      style: dated release notes on the service landing page
      current: v2 (2019-08-02)
      in_url: false
      evidence: https://www.fs.usda.gov/rds/archive/webservice/
    - api: FIADB-API / EVALIDator
      style: version string emitted inside the response citation
      current: >-
        FIADB-API web-application Version 2.0, database FIADB_1.9.5.00 (observed 2026-09-10)
      in_url: false
      evidence: https://apps.fs.usda.gov/fiadb-api/
      note: >-
        The docs page carries a standing banner — "This page is under construction. Additional
        content will be added until all endpoints are fully documented." — so the documented
        surface is explicitly incomplete relative to the deployed one.
    - api: FSGeodata ArcGIS REST services
      style: per-service numeric suffix, plus the Esri product version
      current: currentVersion 11.5
      in_url: true
      evidence: https://apps.fs.usda.gov/arcx/rest/services?f=json
      note: >-
        Service names carry a _01/_02 suffix that functions as the version — EDW_BasicOwnership
        publishes both EDW_BasicOwnership_01 and EDW_BasicOwnership_02 side by side, which is the
        only place in the estate where an old and a new revision of the same resource are served
        concurrently.
deprecation_policy:
  published: false
  sunset_header: false
  deprecation_header: false
  evidence: >-
    No deprecation, sunset or versioning policy is published on the FSGeodata Clearinghouse
    (https://data.fs.usda.gov/geodata/edw/mapServices.php, 200), the FIADB-API docs
    (https://apps.fs.usda.gov/fiadb-api/, 200) or the Research Data Archive service page
    (https://www.fs.usda.gov/rds/archive/webservice/, 200). No RFC 8594 Sunset or Deprecation
    header appeared on any live response we observed.
sla:
  published: false
  note: >-
    No availability target or support commitment is stated. The only operational notice found
    anywhere in the estate is a stale maintenance banner on the Map Services page announcing
    intermittent outages over the weekend of 9-11 July 2021.
status_page:
  published: false
  probes:
    - url: https://status.fs.usda.gov/
      status: 0
      detail: DNS does not resolve.
    - url: https://www.fs.usda.gov/status
      status: 404
    - url: https://apps.fs.usda.gov/status
      status: 403
    - url: https://usfs.statuspage.io/
      status: 200
      detail: >-
        Not a Forest Service page. The subdomain is unclaimed and redirects to
        https://www.atlassian.com/software/statuspage — a soft hit that must not be recorded as a
        status page.
retired_apis:
  - name: U.S. Forest Service Permit Platform (Open Forest)
    status: retired
    contract_published: https://github.com/USDAForestService/fs-open-forest-platform/blob/master/server/src/docs/swagger.json
    contract_shape: Swagger 2.0, 14 paths, 17 operations, 14 definitions, info.title "U.S. Forest Service Permit Platform"
    scope: >-
      Christmas tree permit sales and intake of special-use permit applications (noncommercial
      group use, temporary outfitter and guide). Built with GSA 18F.
    evidence:
      - url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/USDAForestService/fs-open-forest-platform/master/server/src/docs/swagger.json
        status: 200
      - url: https://openforest.fs.usda.gov/
        status: 0
        detail: DNS does not resolve.
      - url: https://fs-intake-api.app.cloud.gov/uptime
        status: 404
        detail: 'cloud.gov: "Requested route does not exist."'
    note: >-
      The repository README carries an explicit archival notice — "This repository has been
      archived and is no longer maintained… should not be used in production systems." The spec
      is a real first-party Forest Service contract, but the platform it describes is
      decommissioned and no host answers for it, so it is deliberately NOT saved into openapi/
      and no OpenAPI pointer is emitted for it. Recording a contract for a service that cannot be
      called would credit the agency with an API it no longer runs.
deprecated_operations: []