Organization planning celebration and fundraiser, including guided hike to top of several iconic White Mountain peaks, to support the National Forest Foundation’s restoration effort on White Mountain National Forest.

The National Forest Foundation (NFF) in conjunction with Northeast Mountaineering, LLC. (NEM) is planning the first annual Sum.it for the Forest hiking fundraiser on August 19, 2017. The event will offer participants an opportunity to experience the White Mountains at one of three locations while raising funds for the NFF’s restoration and stewardship campaign on the Forest. 

Participants may choose to hike Mount Willard, Tuckerman Ravine, or the summit of Mount Washington via the Lion’s Head Trail. All of the hikes will be accompanied by a professional mountain guide and participants will join friends, family and NFF and Forest Service staff at the Theater in the Woods in Intervale, NH for food, drinks, pictures, a raffle, music, and a feature film at a post-hike celebration.  

Participants are allowed to register for free at www.4theforest.com and will be given a Fundly account and fundraising resources to personally raise money for restoration projects on the White Mountain National Forest. There will be prize incentives for the highest fundraisers.

The NFF has been active in the White Mountains since 2011, when it included the Forest in its national Treasured Landscapes, Unforgettable Experiences conservation initiative. Since that time, the NFF has worked with the Forest Service and local partners to restore iconic trails like the Lost Pond Trail, Avalon Trail, Flume Brook Trail, and 19 Mile Brook Trail. 

The Sum.it for the Forest will be the first on-site fundraising event of this type organized by the NFF in the White Mountains.  

“We are really excited to engage the vibrant White Mountain hiking and climbing community through this event and hope that it will support restoration efforts and increased stewardship participation on the White Mountain National Forest,” said Mark Shelley, the NFF’s eastern field program director.  

This event is all about the White Mountain National Forest and giving back to the resource that has given so much to the community. It is a way to say thank you.

Brett Fitzgerald, co-founder of Northeast Mountaineering

The NFF has been restoring trails damaged by Hurricane Irene and expanding access to sustainable recreation opportunities in the White Mountains since 2011 as part of their national Treasured Landscapes, Unforgettable Experiences conservation initiative. The NFF recently expanded its efforts in the region by hiring Mount Washington Valley-native Austen Bernier as a community engagement coordinator on the White Mountains. In the past six years, the NFF and local partners have restored the Flume Brook Trail, Greeley Ponds Trail, Nancy Pond Trail, Avalon Trail, 19 Mile Brook Trail, Livermore Rd, Davis Path, the Lost Pond Trail, and rebuilt the second bridge (from the bottom) on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail.  

View from Nancy Pond Trail on the White Mountain National Forest.

Funds raised through the 2017 Sum.it for the Forest will directly support the NFF’s current projects on the White Mountains: trail maintenance and invasive species removal along Crawford Path, renovation of the Sabbaday Falls and Glen Ellis Falls recreational sites, and the reconstruction of the bridge on Boott Spur Link in Tuckerman Ravine.

For more information about the event, please visit: www.4theforest.com.

Click here for more information about the NFF’s work on the White Mountain National Forest.

National Forest Foundation