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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Find A Forest And Hit The Trail!

You've saved all the beautiful instagram pictures showing off grid trails, mountains drenched in a purple alpine glow, and smiley faces holding steamy mugs of coffee as they take in the view. You've even bought a fancy new pair of hiking boots, the kind with the ankle support! You are well on your way to taking your first backpacking trip. EXCEPT, where to start?

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Camping

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Adventures

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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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This is For You: A Walk Through Historical Connections to Our National Forests

In discovering her passion for rock climbing and the outdoors, Gabrielle could not help but notice that her experiences as almost always the only black woman within these spaces were very different than her friends and climbing partners. These experiences pushed her to connect with affinity spaces present in the climbing community and become an advocacy leader within them.

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Trees

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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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Making an Impact: 2020 Tree Planting Projects

Each year, we work with the U.S. Forest Service to find the most critical tree-planting projects on our National Forests. Thanks to NFF donors and partners, we have committed to dozens of exciting projects for 2020. Our efforts will span the country – from native species expansion on Georgia’s Chattahooche-Oconee National Forest, to disease restoration on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest – and help restore critical forest cover and wildlife habitat. Below are just a handful of the projects we have planned for 2020, and each takes us a small step closer to our 50 million tree planting goal.

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Green Biz 2020: Key Takeaways from Corporate Sustainability Leaders

For the first time, National Forest Foundation (NFF) staff joined one of the leading sustainability conferences in the nation. The GreenBiz 2020 conference brought together more than 1,400 leaders in sustainability, including leading American corporations, universities and nonprofit organizations in Scottsdale, Arizona for three days to explore the nexus between business and sustainability.

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Hiking and Backpacking

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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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‘Unlikely Hikers’ Explores Siuslaw National Forest

On the Oregon Coast, about twenty minutes inland from the Pacific Ocean, is a trail that could turn almost any indoor kid into an all-caps HIKER. Drift Creek Falls, located in the Siuslaw National Forest (ancestral lands of the Siletz, Tillamook, Salmon River and possibly other tribes), is a three-mile out-and-back trail. Through mossy, lichen-covered, first and second growth forest, it culminates at a 100-foot waterfall in a stunning, basalt gorge.

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The Great Outdoors - It’s in our Roots

One thing that quickly became clear to me as we hiked is that each one of us feels a deep connection to the outdoors. It was in our words, our actions, our stories. As Latinx people, that strong relationship with the outdoors comes directly from our ancestors. We are descendants of fishermen, hunters, farmers, ranchers, lovers of wildlife and the land, true environmentalists.

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Finding Fourteeners…and Ticking Them off Our Stewardship Bucket List

With the Forest Service and nine other outstanding stewardship organizations, the NFF launched the Find Your Fourteener campaign in 2017 to harness our collective expertise to help ensure sustainable access to Fourteeners. The Find Your Fourteener campaign goal is to increase the pace and scale of improvements to sustainable recreation opportunities on Colorado’s Fourteeners. Read on for what’s on our Fourteeners stewardship bucket list in 2019!

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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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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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Meet NFF's 2019 Conservation Connect Fellows

2019 marks the second year of the Conservation Connect Fellowship Program. This year we have 10 Fellows from Northern Arizona University; Portland State University; University of California, Merced; University of Georgia, University of Michigan, and the University of Montana.

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History and Culture

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