National Forest Foundation

NFF Blog

Welcome to the National Forest Foundation blog. Explore the various articles to learn more about our forests and places to play.

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The National Forest System

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“Every Kid Outdoors” Provides Fourth Grade Students Free Access to Outdoor Adventures

Fourth grade may look a little different this year but our National Forests are always here for students to adventure and learn in. If you’re a parent looking for a weekend getaway, a teacher investigating outdoor activities for your students, or even a fourth grader trying to find something to do — because we all know kids are basically tech support nowadays — look no further than the Every Kid Outdoors Program.

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Camping

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The Perfect Playlist For Your National Forest Adventures

We’ve all been there, trying so hard to remember every single item on your packing list for your National Forest visit that you forget the tunes. Or maybe you want to dissociate and lay in the middle of your floor with headphones in, pretending there’s National Forest dirt beneath your feet. No matter which camp you’re in, we have the mix for you.

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Five Things I Wish I Knew Before My First Outdoor Adventure With Kids

Hi there, Brooke Murray here! Before the kids came along, I always knew I wanted to share my adventurous lifestyle with my family. Getting outside with my two children in Colorado is part of our daily routine — sunshine or snow. We love to ski, hike, bike, climb, and most especially camp together. Despite hours of research and preparation, I seem to learn the most by trial and error. I’m excited to share a little of what I have learned with you today!

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Adventures

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Five Things I Wish I Knew Before My First Outdoor Adventure With Kids

Hi there, Brooke Murray here! Before the kids came along, I always knew I wanted to share my adventurous lifestyle with my family. Getting outside with my two children in Colorado is part of our daily routine — sunshine or snow. We love to ski, hike, bike, climb, and most especially camp together. Despite hours of research and preparation, I seem to learn the most by trial and error. I’m excited to share a little of what I have learned with you today!

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Unforgettable Experiences: Timberline Lodge Ski Area

With the immense, snow-capped Mount Hood resting in the distance, Timberline Lodge Ski Area is the only place in North America where visitors can ski and snowboard all 12 months of the year. Timberline Lodge offers picture-perfect views, more vertical feet of skiing than anywhere in the Pacific Northwest, and an opportunity to embrace the natural world around you.

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Unforgettable Experiences: Route of the Hiawatha

Once a Milwaukee Railroad train route from Chicago to West Coast markets, the Route of the Hiawatha trail stretches 15 miles through the Bitterroot Mountains between Idaho and Montana. The route features nine tunnels and more than seven high steel trestle bridges up to 230 feet high for magnificent views of the surrounding mountain range.

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Trees

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Tree Planting During the Coronavirus Pandemic: Challenges and Impacts to 2020 Projects

As if the logistical challenges of planting millions of trees were not enough, add into the mix a global public health crisis, unlike anything the world has seen in generations. The Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has taken an immense toll on the lives and well-being of many and created unprecedented challenges to on-the-ground forestry and conservation efforts, our 50 Million For Our Forests campaign included.

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30 Things You Should Know About Tree Planting

Forests play a critical part to keep our environment healthy. But our forests need us more than ever – more than 1 million acres of National Forests are in need of reforestation. To bring awareness to this incredible need and the NFF’s 50 Million for our Forests campaign, we are excited to share a fact about reforestation every day of April to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day.

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Hiking and Backpacking

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The Venture Out Project Helps LGBTQ+ People Experience The Outdoors

At the National Forest Foundation, we believe everyone should have the opportunity to experience our National Forests, especially communities who have historically had limited access to them. The NFF sat down (virtually) with Oliver Reitz, the Administrative Coordinator at the Venture Out Project, to discuss the organization’s work leading outdoor adventures with LGBTQ+ individuals.

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Cutthroat Trail Construction Begins

​In mid-July, a cross-disciplinary group from the San Juan National Forest hiked a stretch of what will soon be known as the Cutthroat Trail, a roughly 5.5-mile trail situated above the East Fork of Hermosa Creek. This new multiple-use trail will be the first on the San Juan National Forest designed for E-bikes, but will also be accessible to hikers, horseback riders, and mountain bikers wanting to explore the Hermosa area.

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Five Trails to Explore in the Carson National Forest

Trails are part of the human experience and history in New Mexico. Some trails have a rich history, like the ancient trade route the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro that connected Mexico City to villages around Santa Fe. The Carson National Forest encompasses a landscape etched by at least a thousand years of permanent human settlements, and every trail is part of that history and has a story. We can still hike on trails radiating out from thousand-year-old Taos Pueblo, Picuris Pueblo and Puebloan ruins.

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Cabins and Lookout Towers

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A Hike Through History on the Angeles National Forest

Traveling through Big Santa Anita Canyon is like stepping back in time to the “Great Hiking Era.” As you walk along the paths trees and bushes give way to historic camps and cabins built from the 1890s to 1930s to ensure that the residents of the growing city would have a place to find peace in nature.

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Top Ten Cabins on the Tongass National Forest

Are you planning that once-in-a-lifetime trip to Alaska? We’ve got the insider scoop on the best places to experience the wilderness of Alaska. Our largest National Forest in the country, the Tongass, includes more than 100 cabins available to rent. At 17 million acres, you’ll truly feel secluded. Our local experts at the U.S. Forest Service in Alaska gave us their favorite and top recommendations for cabins on the Tongass.

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Collaboration

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Meet NFF's 2020 Conservation Connect Fellows

2020 marks the second year of the Conservation Connect Fellowship Program. This year we have 9 Fellows from the University of Montana; California State University-Los Angles; Vermont Law School; Yale, and the University of Michigan.

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Unlikely Partnerships Help Improve Forest Resiliency

The North Central Washington Forest Health Collaborative (the Collaborative) brings together stakeholders in the Upper Columbia region ranging from government agencies to local tribes, non-profit conservation groups and timber industry; all with the purpose of collaborating to improve forest resiliency. The Collaborative operates on consensus, and while the process can be slow, when agreement is achieved the results are tremendous.

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Growing Towards A New Style of Land Management in Alaska

The Tongass Transition Collaborative, supported by a Community Capacity and Land Stewardship grant from the National Forest Foundation, was created to ensure stakeholders are involved as the Tongass implements the Transition. Members include native corporations, local and national nonprofit organizations, and local businesses.

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History and Culture

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