American Forest Foundation

AFF encourages the long-term sustainability of America's forests, restores wildlife habitat and develops quality environmental education programs, to assure that Americans today, and in the future, enjoy healthy, growing forests.

Why do we exist?

We exist to fulfill our mission to conserve healthy and thriving forests, provide quality environmental education to our nation's young people, increase wildlife habitat and to help people make informed decisions about their communities and our world. We meet the needs of private forest landowners, conservation and resource professionals, educators, and volunteers through our programs, Forests for Watersheds and Wildlife, the American Tree Farm System, (ATFS) and Project Learning Tree (PLT). Forests are vital to watershed health and wildlife needs. Two-thirds of our country's freshwater supply originates in forests. Protecting the water running through this land, and the wildlife living on it, is critical to meeting our nation's conservation goals. Forests for Watersheds and Wildlife, is the conservation initiative of the American Forest Foundation (AFF) in partnership with ATFS. The American Tree Farm System (ATFS) promotes the sustainable management of forests through education and outreach to private landowners. ATFS covers 26 million acres of private forestland and has 61,000 certified Tree Farmer members who are committed to excellence in forest stewardship. Tree Farmers manage their forestlands for wood, water, wildlife and recreation with assistance from over 6,000 volunteer foresters. Project Learning Tree (PLT) is the environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation. PLT uses the forest as a "window on the world" to increase student's understanding of our complex environment and to help students learn the skills they need to make sound choices about the environment. PLT has a network of more than 300,000 trained educators using six curricula covering the total environment.

What have you accomplished?

Our multi-layered, Shared Streams in Maine project produced a healthier habitat in which Maine Atlantic salmon thrive on several waterfronts. On the Pleasant River, nearly 1,000 feet of eroding road was retired to remove an ongoing source of sediment. One hundred and fifty feet of riparian buffer and upland forest replaced it. A new environmentally sound road replaced a century old road on the Narraguagas River. The Kenduskeag Stream project addressed habitat degradation caused by livestock access to an upper section of the stream. Livestock is now fenced away from the river and provided with an alternative watering source. In 2002, our Shared Streams of Maine project was nationally recognized by the Natural Resources Council of America (NRCS). As the forest fragmentation trend continues and tract size grows smaller, the challenge to encourage landowners to play a vital role in wildlife conservation becomes more important. During the year, seven educational field days provided the catalyst for more than 500 forest landowners who manage approximately 100,000 acres of forestland. Our certified Tree Farmers act as peer-to-peer mentors, motivating neighboring landowners to adopt and replicate their stewardship efforts, and to initiate their own conservation projects. Our environmental education program, Project Learning Tree'sŪ , reached more than 25,000 educators through our professional development workshops across the country. PLT continued its commitment to service-learning projects by distributing almost 100 GreenWorks! grants for community action projects. High school environmental science, physics, and calculus students in Washington, D.C. turned garbage found in the Potomac River Watershed into a "Green-Skate Laboratory." Designed by physics students, this laboratory is used as a physics classroom and community recreation site. An after school program for students in grades 6, 7, and 8 in Raleigh, North Carolina grew food in the school garden to donate to the North Carolina Food Bank. Students implemented a community recycling and hazardous waste collection program at their school. And, students prepared educational activities for nearby elementary school students. Middle and high school students from three schools in Bonita, East Lake, and Rancho del Rey, California re-established native vegetation on their school grounds and a preserve. Native trees, shrubs, and grasses were planted after introduced species were removed. The students then created a newsletter, video, and CD-ROM to educate parents, students, residents, news media, and the local government about the importance of native species.

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