Transforming IT Operations to Support Wildfire Response and Field Readiness
The USDA Forest Service needed to modernize its fragmented monitoring tools to support over 150 mission-critical applications used for wildfire tracking, emergency response, and field procurement. ECCO Select, an established government contractor, led the rollout of a full-stack observability platform using Datadog and Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure. The solution introduced RUM, APM, automated workflows, and standardized deployments. As a result, the Forest Service reduced deployment times, improved incident response, and gained unified visibility across its hybrid environment. The observability platform now helps teams collaborate more effectively and make data-driven decisions about application health and investment.
Modernizing Observability Across Critical Infrastructure
At the Forest Service, dependable infrastructure helps safeguard the public by supporting systems responsible for activities including tracking wildfires and coordinating emergency response. From detecting threats across remote landscapes to getting supplies where they’re needed fast, these capabilities depend on applications that must perform without fail. Yet for years, the tools used to monitor them lagged behind the mission they were meant to support. With more than 1,000 virtual machines and over 150 mission-critical applications, the Forest Service faced mounting pressure to modernize its observability strategy.
Monitoring was fragmented across siloed systems that lacked depth and scalability, which made it difficult to detect outages or diagnose slowdowns. Forest Service sub-organizations were also at different stages of modernization, with some teams moving to the cloud faster than others. At the same time, the agency was shifting to containerized workloads and microservices on AWS, creating an even greater need for flexible, cloud-native observability. Existing tools didn’t support user experience monitoring or distributed tracing and offered no unified view across hybrid environments. The Forest Service needed a FedRAMP-authorized observability platform that could meet strict federal security requirements. It also had to handle cloud-native transformation and deliver clear operational insights.
Deploying a Unified, Scalable Observability Platform
To help lead this effort, the Forest Service turned to the USDA Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC), which acts as a shared services provider across the department and the entire federal landscape. DISC recommended ECCO Select to guide the modernization effort. ECCO Select, in turn, chose Datadog as the core observability platform because of its FedRAMP authorization, deep AWS integrations, and continually growing feature set and product suite.
Chris Montgomery, a dedicated DevOps engineer with an observability focus from ECCO Select, served as an embedded resource to lead the rollout. One of his first tasks was to ensure Datadog could flex to meet the needs of a sprawling federal agency with legacy systems and quickly evolving cloud environments. “We focused on building Datadog workflows that could scale with the Forest Service, support rapid changes, and provide consistency no matter where the workload lived,” said Montgomery. The solution integrated tightly with AWS services including Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS), and AWS Fargate. Amazon EC2 supported compute for legacy workloads, while Amazon ECS and AWS Fargate helped teams adopt containers and serverless architecture without increasing infrastructure overhead.
With Datadog layered across these environments, Forest Service teams gained visibility before, during, and after cloud migration. Datadog RUM offered insight into user behavior and geolocation. Datadog APM, infrastructure monitoring, synthetic monitoring, and log management revealed backend performance patterns and application health.
“Pairing Datadog with AWS meant we could finally get a complete picture, from infrastructure to end-user behavior.”
Chris Montgomery
Site Reliability Engineer & Observability SME, ECCO Select
Standardizing the monitoring deployment process with Terraform made it possible to provision monitors, dashboards, and configurations in a consistent way, which also surfaced gaps in reliability. “The code itself became a guiding light,” said Montgomery. “It forced conversations about service-level objectives and what maturity should look like.”
ECCO Select also connected Datadog with the Forest Service’s IT service management (ITSM) platform to automate ticketing workflows. This cut out manual alert routing and helped speed up issue resolution.
“The integrations between Datadog and AWS meant we weren’t reinventing the wheel. We could focus on helping the Forest Service get results instead of managing workarounds.”
Chris Condon
Director of Enterprise Observability, ECCO Select
The observability strategy was built to serve Forest Service sub-organizations with different levels of cloud adoption. Some teams had mostly migrated to the cloud. Others still operated on premises. Datadog’s flexibility allowed ECCO Select to build integrations and dashboards that fit each team—while still maintaining a consistent, single-pane-of-glass view.
Delivering Faster, More Transparent Application Insights
Because of this unified, scalable approach to observability, the Forest Service cut MTTR by 60 percent—from 50 minutes to just 20. Integrating Datadog with the Forest Service’s ITSM platform eliminated delays caused by manual alert routing.
“We used to spend hours figuring out where to route an alert. Now Datadog talks to our ITSM, and the ticket goes straight to the right team.”
Chris Montgomery
Site Reliability Engineer & Observability SME, ECCO Select
The solution also improved MTTD backend server errors by 85 percent, so the team can surface issues faster and act sooner. APM deployment time dropped by 75 percent, thanks to automation and standardized workflows. Today, Datadog monitors more than 150 mission-critical applications. Forest Service teams can view activity across Amazon EC2, Amazon ECS, and AWS Fargate in a single dashboard. They can detect anomalies—like unexpected traffic from outside the continental U.S.— and adjust resources in real time, and expand coverage as needed. These capabilities are essential for applications used in wildfire tracking, responder check-ins, and emergency procurement.
Detailed usage data from Datadog RUM helps Forest Service leaders make informed decisions about application funding. They can see which tools are most visited and which are underused. That visibility helps reduce waste and redirect investment to where it matters most. Datadog also improved collaboration. By giving development and operations teams access to the same dashboards and performance data, it encouraged faster releases and better alignment.
“We brought teams together around a shared view of performance using Datadog and AWS. Now they can deliver stronger services to the people who rely on these applications every day.”
Lindsey Murphy
Vice President of Strategic Development, ECCO Select
Together, AWS, Datadog, and ECCO Select helped the Forest Service build an observability strategy that reflects the complexity of federal IT. The solution delivers transparency, improves reliability, and supports applications that impact lives every day.
Learn more about Datadog for Government at datadog.com/gov.
