Sometimes restoration activities can take months or even years to appreciate the results. Tree-planting for example, can take ten years to even look like new trees—or longer. Stream restoration can take several seasons for the first fish to return. Road removal however, can have nearly instant results—at least to the eye.   This past summer and fall, the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust removed 11 miles of unused roads on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and surrounding... (Read more…)

Less than an hour from downtown L.A., Angeles National Forest is truly a “backyard forest.” Within the San Gabriel Mountains, the forest includes nearly 700 miles of trails traversing mountains, canyons, forests and more. Much of the forest’s landscape is chaparral, shaped by a Mediterranean climate of mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers filled with hardy, drought tolerant species. Five wilderness areas offer visitors the chance to escape the congestion of the greater Los... (Read more…)

Vance Russell, the NFF Director of the California Program recently gave introductory remarks before a screening of the 2011 documentary film Green Fire at the University of California-Davis. The father of the National Wilderness System, wildlife management and ecological restoration, Aldo Leopold and his ideas still apply today in landscapes across the country. Below are Vance’s remarks before the film. I have a quote above my desk by Aldo Leopold that is relatively unknown:... (Read more…)