Posts tagged “Eastern Forests”

In the Eastern United States, National Forests are almost myths. People have heard of National Forests, but they don’t really know where they are or how they work. Until not too long ago, I was one such person. Growing up in Michigan, my family went on maybe a dozen camping trips with our pop-up camper at state campgrounds. I had never camped in a tent in the middle of the wilderness. I never doubted that I could, I just never had the opportunity to prove it to myself. This... (Read more…)

Here in Montana, when you mention the East to a born-and-bred Montanan, it often conjures images of skyscrapers, bumper-to-bumper traffic, and throngs of people.  This isn’t the East I know.  My East is filled with spectacular wildlands, places where you can drive for ages on dirt roads, spend a day exploring backwoods waterfalls, and look out over an endless expanse of rolling, snow-covered hills, where there is a beautiful blur between the natural and the cultural, the... (Read more…)

If you’re looking for a National Forest to get your feet wet in, stop through Ocala National Forest. Less than an hour and a half north of Orlando, Florida, Ocala National Forest has more than 600 lakes, rivers and springs to explore. In addition to water opportunities, the Ocala has hiking and horse trails, campgrounds and more. Plus, as cold weather settles in up north, the Ocala makes for a great winter getaway. Longleaf pine forests once covered 90 million acres of the... (Read more…)

Around the country, National Forests are protecting more than trees. Historical places, grasslands, geological formations and more are scattered across the country. In the Chatthoochee-Oconee National Forest in northern Georgia, petroglyphs at Track Rock Gap provide visitors with a sense of mystery and a window into the past. More than one hundred symbols cover six table-sized soapstone boulders in the gap between Thuderstruck Mountain and Buzzard Roost Ridge. Native... (Read more…)

The largest home in America is also home to the early beginnings of American Forestry. Today, the general public is welcomed into National Forests across the U.S. – our shared public estate. However, this wasn’t always the case. Large tracts of forest land were once the moniker of the rich and famous, serving as private, exclusive playgrounds. But, it turns out that these private estates were also an important component of early American forestry.  And, in the case of... (Read more…)

Dear Blog Readers, I am thrilled to be greeting you as the NFF’s new Conservation Awards Associate, a post I took on March 1st here in Missoula.  I currently lead dual lives, one at NFF and the other at the University of Montana where I am currently finishing my MS in Environmental Studies.  My research has focused on Wilderness stewardship partnerships between non-governmental organizations and federal land management agencies, drawing me deep into the world of... (Read more…)