GIVEN HOW POLITICALLY charged the concept of climate change is, I am occasionally asked why American Forests needs to talk about it. Questions include: “Can’t you just focus on things like clean air, water and wildlife habitat?” “Isn’t there still debate about the science of climate change?” “In any event, what does this have to do with America’s forests?”

First, climate change is settled science. While the issue of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change is still the subject of considerable political debate, it is no longer a subject of any real argument within the scientific community. Indeed, there has been an overwhelming consensus among scientists and the leading scientific organizations for years.

While some would like to promote the idea that there should be 100 percent agreement among all scientists in the world and 100 percent certainty on all areas of climate science before we can take action, nothing in science works that way. Science is about probability, not certainty.

Well, the global scientific community is as close to certain as we will ever get about a few things. Specifically, Earth’s climate is changing rapidly, and these changes are caused in significant part by human actions. Scientists are near unanimous on one other point: Catastrophic results are likely to occur without significant human intervention.

In our country alone, all of the principal U.S. organizations governing the main branches of science have released comparable statements, some as far back as the 1990s. These include the American Geophysical Union (earth scientists), the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the American Meteorological Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society.

Second, climate change is killing our forests. And how can an organization whose mission is to advance the conservation of forests not take a position on the greatest threat they face?

I have witnessed the effects of climate change on our nation’s forests firsthand. Just four months after I started at American Forests, I toured a forest that was turned into a vast, blackened landscape by what was then ranked (but no longer) as California’s most destructive wildfire.

But, this is not just a California problem. I have been to many forests consumed by mega-fires since then. Year after blistering-hot-year of “the warmest year on record” has led to perpetual drought conditions in the West, fueling a series of unprecedented wildfire seasons. (The three warmest years on record are 2016, 2015 and 2014 — in that order — with 2017 almost certain to join the list once the final numbers are recorded.)

Fires are just the beginning of climate-elevated stresses on our forests — the rising tide of pests and disease is just as troubling. From Colorado to Canada, vast amounts of forestland have been decimated by mountain pine beetles, an insect that is natural to these landscapes, but whose numbers have been supercharged by warmer winters that are no longer capable of controlling their population. And, the hemlock woolly adelgid now threatens eastern forests as far north as Maine as warming temperatures aid its spread.

An increase in major weather events has also wreaked havoc on both forests and urban tree canopies, from Texas to New England.

American Forests is increasingly focused on climate change not only because of the problems it presents for our forests and community trees, but also because we believe forests and trees can be a major part of the solution. Currently, America’s forests and forest products absorb and store an estimated 14 percent of the carbon we emit every year. That’s a huge number, and it can get even bigger.

Urban trees also save energy and reduce carbon emissions by lowering the energy needed to cool and heat our homes. Those same trees also help control polluted stormwater runoff and help mitigate other impacts of climate change in cities.

Since our founding in 1875, American Forests has been an aggressively nonpartisan organization, advocating for policy and action based on sound science. Our board members span the political spectrum. We routinely work with members of both parties, and we welcome all into our ranks.

That is why we are stepping into climate change action as a collaborator, not merely a doomsayer. As part of this effort, American Forests has moved into a leadership role with the Forest-Climate Working Group. This premier national coalition engages all parts of the forest community, from private forest owners and forest products companies to scientists, academics, government agencies and conservation groups. With these partners, we are developing new strategies and innovations to help our forests capture carbon and withstand an onslaught of new threats.

There is no doubt that climate change is the most pressing environmental issue of our time, but using trees to capture carbon dioxide offers many other societal wins as well. And, ensuring these wins is not only critical for our mission, but essential for the planet.

The post Offshoots: We Need to Talk About Climate Change appeared first on American Forests.

BOB LEVERETT AND DON Bertolette share long histories of working in and with forests and together have brought their knowledge, thirst for scientific rigor and collegial connections to American Forests’ venerable National Champion Tree Program. They are a dynamic duo whose humor wins friends as their expertise influences tree-measurers.

Invited five years ago to help develop protocols and standards for measuring the giants, they leaped in and didn’t stop until they had helped reinforce the credibility of the national register by creating the American Forests Tree-Measuring Guidelines Handbook, an 86-page manual that set new heights (and lengths) for a program now close to celebrating its 80th year.

Though Bob and Don both have a passion for big trees, their paths to their shared work came via different routes through the proverbial woods.

Bob’s history with American Forests dates back to 1993, when the organization co-sponsored the first-ever eastern old-growth conference. He spearheaded the event, which ultimately led to the Ancient Eastern Forest Conference Series.

Educated at Georgia Tech, Bob spent more than a decade in the U.S. Air Force as an engineer, although he smiles and says, “I’m one of those folks whose formal education doesn’t match my longtime love of forests and trees.”

Growing up in the southern Appalachians, Bob regularly explored what was known then as  “virgin forest.” His early exposure in those superlative woodlands followed by a move to New England led to discoveries of old-growth remnants in the Massachusetts Berkshires that set him on a bold, new course. Pursuing his interest in pre-European settlement woodlands, Bob co-founded the Friends of Mohawk Trail State Forest in 1993, and the Eastern Native Tree Society (now the Native Tree Society) in 1996.

Bob also played a prominent role in launching the system of public reserves in Massachusetts that protects late-successional forests that are on the path to becoming old growth. He is the current chair of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation’s Forest Reserve Scientific Advisory Committee.

“Wherever my profession took me,” Bob says, “I sought woodland haunts for spiritual rejuvenation, scientific curiosity and opportunities to search for and commune with big trees.”

He attributes his old-growth avocation and, in particular, interest in big trees, as leading to his volunteer association with American Forests in the 1990s and, ultimately, to helping put the National Register of Champion Trees on a more scientific footing.

“To my engineering mind,” Bob says, “tree measuring required more discipline and methodology than was commonly being applied.”

Don, on the other hand, has a master’s degree in forestry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He and Bob met in 1991, when Don was working on his thesis — identifying remotely sensed ‘signatures’ of old-growth forests from satellite imagery.

“I was seeking anyone who had knowledge of Massachusetts’ old-growth forest stands,” Don says. “My grad committee chair referred me to Bob, and between us we refined eastern old-growth forest characteristics and became more adept in identifying additional old-growth forest.”

Don’s forestry career spanned nearly 40 years, first with the Bureau of Land Management in the forests of eastern Oregon; then with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service in forests from Kentucky to Alaska before retiring from Grand Canyon National Park as restoration forester.

Over this time, his work ranged from tree felling — timber sale marking and coppice silviculture — to growing — timber stand improvement and tree planting. Fighting fires was also part of his job, as well as lighting them for controlled burns.

At Grand Canyon, Don created the GIS maps that delineated where and when fire could be prescribed for re-establishing the natural fire regime that had resulted in the open park-like stands of ponderosa pine that Grand Canyon was famous for. He participated in research that detailed the fire-adapted nature of the forests of the North Kaibab Plateau and the manner in which wildfire hazards could be reduced.

“From the beginning, and through it all,” Don says, “I had an appreciation for what our nation’s forests were capable of, particularly those with minimal disturbance, either natural or man-made.”

Don explains that Bob’s fluency in theoretical mathematics and engineering meshed well with his years of traipsing through the forests of the West and Southeast.

“Where Bob’s geometric and trigonometric fluency has led to incredible leaps and bounds in measurement accuracy, it has been my years as a ‘dirt forester’ that has literally grounded his theoretical formulas,” Don says.

THE NATIONAL CADRE

For the Champion Tree program, what constitutes “big” is a combination of a tree’s girth, height and crown, or canopy, spread. The challenge is making sure it is accurate. To tackle that issue, these two colleagues combined their rich experience and deep-rooted networks to take the solution to the next level.

Don came up with the idea for the National Cadre of Tree Measurers. Drawing from their mutual circle of colleagues in the field, the duo has put together a group from a wide array of professions, some foresters and arborists, others with varied backgrounds, but with a shared fascination with what dimensions tree species are capable of attaining, and mastering the ability to measure them accurately.

Adding to the efforts of state big tree coordinators already in place, the National Cadre certifies tree measurements submitted by the public in nominating champions. The National Champion Tree Program can now be considered a more robust and academically sound source of big tree data.

Both Bob and Don feel that with less than 5 percent of the old-growth pre-settlement forests remaining, we have much to learn from what’s left.

“Size and age do not correlate well scientifically,” Don says, “but they are good indicators for what resilience a forest ecosystem is capable of maintaining.”

Through forests thick and thin — the synergy between Bob and Don inspires them both to continue incessantly on their mission and to draw others in, for the good of science and the trees.

Lea Sloan writes from Washington, D.C., and is American Forests’ vice president of communications.

The post Earthkeepers: Giants in Their Field and The Forest appeared first on American Forests.

A DEVASTATING HURRICANE is a strong reminder that Miami’s trees are an ever changing, living infrastructure growing in an ever-changing, living city.

But trees don’t function like most infrastructure. A fallen streetlight can be replaced, even upgraded to make it better after a storm. A pothole can be patched over. But a large tree that has taken decades to grow can only be replaced by a small tree just beginning its journey. Years of ever-increasing public health benefits, stormwater and air pollution removal services eliminated in one ferocious gust.

It is for this reason that American Forests’ Community ReLeaf program implements a comprehensive and repetitive process for building long-term urban forestry capacity in cities.

With a goal of planting 1 million trees and increasing Miami-Dade County’s tree canopy from 19.9 percent to 30 percent, we have worked for several years with local partners to develop countywide tree canopy assessments, write a restoration master plan and create an interactive online Canopy Planner tool so city leaders can project different scenarios and track their progress. Throughout, we have turned data into action by strategically planting trees in areas of highest need, from school grounds in underserved neighborhoods and vacant lots to parks and a recreation trail.

Then, Hurricane Irma struck.

Irma was the most intense hurricane to make landfall on the U.S. mainland since Katrina. While Houston’s Hurricane Harvey produced epic flooding, Irma’s trademark was its winds, which left massive amounts of debris and a public attitude that quickly soured toward trees.

Yet, with all the social, economic and environmental benefits urban trees provide, research tells us the way to turn a city’s urban forest from a liability into an asset in extreme weather is not to abandon the tree canopy, but rather enhance it with denser clusters, more native species and better maintenance. That requires a sophisticated public-private urban forestry program.

So, we are revisiting work we’d already checked off the list. Usually tree canopy data is good for five years, but we are working alongside the University of Florida and Miami-Dade County, with generous support from Bank of America, to revise our 2016 tree canopy assessment so the data reflects Miami-Dade’s post-hurricane reality.

We also renewed promotion of our Disaster ReLeaf Fund to increase tree planting in both Houston and Miami and are adapting our restoration focus. For example, we planted 60 trees with Bank of America and community volunteers last fall in Serena Lakes Park, not only replacing dozens lost to the hurricane, but also adding new trees to continue the march toward a 30 percent canopy goal. We will add additional plantings with Coca-Cola Foundation, Bacardi and others this year.

Lastly, our messaging is shifting in the wake of the hurricane as we address concerns of a public that is skeptical of trees after seeing the damage they can wreak. Our goal is to help build broader support for a robust and equitable tree canopy that is increasingly critical in a city facing serious threats from increased temperatures and extreme weather.

Ian Leahy writes from Washington, D.C., and is American Forests’ director of urban forest programs.

The post Project Showcase: Getting Back on Track in Miami after Hurricane Irma appeared first on American Forests.

THE LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY National Wildlife Refuge in southern Texas provides habitat for more than 40 percent of all North American butterfly species, 500 species of bird and 1,200 plant species, along with 18 federally listed threatened or endangered species. Looking for areas with biological diversity? The Lower Rio Grande Valley takes the cake.

American Forests has been assisting projects in this region for 20 years, supporting the planting of more than 2 million trees on 4,266 acres — almost two-thirds of all replantation in the area since 1997. This is no small undertaking, as the Lower Rio Grande Valley is an immensely complex and diverse ecosystem, with four different climate types dispersed throughout the area, as well as 11 distinct biological communities.

American Forests’ work in the region has focused on the restoration of Texas thornscrub, which is directly tied to the recovery of the ocelot. Recent droughts, on top of urban and agricultural development, have eliminated much of the ecosystem required to support a successful ocelot population in the U.S., which used to stretch as far north as Louisiana and Alabama, but can now only be found in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

Restoration efforts are of major importance because they not only expand ocelot habitat, but also more than 95 percent of the native vegetation found in the landscape remains under threat.

For the 26th year, the community around the Lower Rio Grande has come together to try and restore some of the lost biodiversity. Last fall, through an event known as “Rio Reforestation,” 350 local volunteers planted more than 10,200 native plants on 17 acres around La Sal del Rey, one of three naturally occurring salt lakes in South Texas. The annual event provides an opportunity for the public to contribute to revitalizing the landscape while learning about the diversity of life found throughout the refuge.

For Kimberly Wahl-Villarreal, plant ecologist for the South Texas Refuge Complex, the tree plantings provide both personal and professional satisfaction. Over the past decade, she has lived in an urban area where she no longer has the opportunity to enjoy the abundant wildlife she would see as a child.

“To see the wildlife benefiting from the sites that we have planted doesn’t just bring me back to more youthful days,” she says, “it also makes me realize that this opportunity is now provided to anyone who visits the refuge, walks the trails and takes the time to notice the wild creatures that inhabit these lands.”

Creation of the wildlife refuge was spurred by a simple idea: The native vegetation and animals that inhabit the area are worthy of protection. People, like Wahl-Villarreal, are working to create a sustainable culture of conservation, so the incredible biodiversity found in places, like the Lower Rio Grande Valley, can be preserved for generations to come. American Forests remains committed to ensuring that it will be.

Dylan Stuntz was American Forests’ fall 2017 communications intern and is a senior at American University, studying communications, law, economics and government.

The post Project Showcase: Restoring Thornscrub Wildlife Habitat appeared first on American Forests.

LIKE THE NATURAL ECOLOGY it supports, communities and businesses rely on healthy, sustainable watersheds for their survival. That is why The Coca-Cola Foundation, the philanthropic arm of The Coca-Cola Company, places a priority on watershed protection, conservation and safe water access.

The Coca-Cola Foundation supports community watershed projects where there is a demonstrated need and the opportunity to make a lasting impact. American Forests is a recent recipient of a grant from The Coca-Cola Foundation that will do just that. With the help of The Coca-Cola Foundation, American Forests just kicked off three projects that will help reduce stormwater runoff, increase carbon sequestration and enhance wildlife habitats in California, Florida and Texas.

Each project area will focus on unique ecosystems that play a major role in supporting the sustainability of the watershed. Projects completed in California will bring tree canopy back to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, an integral source of water for the area. In Florida, where lack of water resources is not always seen as a prominent issue, attention will be on restoring the longleaf pine population. This species is essential to maintaining the recharge level for groundwater.

Coca-Cola associates will also join local community volunteers to help plant trees in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) next year. The tree plantings in the LRGV National Wildlife Refuge at the Sal del Rey site, along with urban “mini-refuge” projects in McAllen, Texas, will help reduce annual runoff in the LRGV and eliminate the need for irrigated water.

Altogether, the projects will replenish an estimated 961 million liters per year and produce aggregate carbon sequestration of 25,600 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over 20 years.

The post Partner Profile: The Coca-Cola Foundation appeared first on American Forests.

FOR RAIN COILLE, deciding to fundraise for American Forests was simple, considering Rain’s namesake.

“Coille is Gaelic for forest,” Rain says. “It’s a name I chose for myself, so my name is literally ‘Rain Forest’.”

Rain is a disabled artist in Arlington, Va., who focuses on the natural world and environment through art.

“I feel that there’s a disconnect from urban life and nature,” Rain says. “So, I try to get people to think about nature as this living thing, instead of just something to look at.”

After witnessing forest fires raging in California and Oregon, along with the series of hurricanes striking the Gulf Coast, Rain viewed the natural disasters as a call to action.

In response, Rain organized a Facebook birthday fundraiser, encouraging family and friends to donate to American Forests. The campaign was run through Facebook’s fundraiser tool and ran for two weeks, raising $150, exceeding the initial goal of $100.

Facebook’s fundraising tool has been around since 2016, and allows individuals to set up donation drives to a nonprofit of their choice. All you need to start one is a Facebook profile and a network of friends that care enough to help out. To start fundraising, you could visit American Forests’ Facebook page and click the “Create Fundraiser” button at the top of the screen, and you’ll be guided from there.

Rain’s fundraiser happened to be running at a very opportunistic time. Thanks to a very special partnership, American Forests was offering to plant two trees for every dollar donated. This meant Rain was able to plant 300 trees with the help of friends and family.

“Someone said that it was selfless of me to ask for tree plantings,” Rain says. “I really don’t feel that it was because whenever we do anything to improve or protect the environment, it’s one of the most important gifts we can give to ourselves.”

The post Donor Profile: Rain Coille appeared first on American Forests.

Emily Barber, Marketing Manager

I’VE ALWAYS BEEN DRAWN to cities — the busy streets, bright colors, endless restaurants and general chaos all fascinate me. But while I love city life and all the excitement that goes along with it, nature is my solace. The city energizes me, but nature calms me. The extrovert in me thrives in cities, but my introverted side is replenished by a walk in the woods. These two sides might seem contradictory, but they found the perfect middle ground when I traveled to New York City to help American Forests and LightStream host a pop-up forest in the middle of Times Square.

One night in October, a very hardworking events team built a forest overnight, starting at 10 p.m. and working until dawn the next day. At 7 a.m., much to the delight of New Yorkers and tourists
alike, a grove of real trees and shrubs stood in the plaza outside the “Good Morning America” studio. City birds flitted in and out of the leaves, relishing their makeshift homes for a day.

Inside the forest, participants found signs with forest facts and even met real-life forest animals. At the end of their journey was a photo booth, where visitors could have their pictures taken, receive a photo strip and sign up to have a tree planted in their name. The pictures
appeared on a Times Square billboard, complete with a forest backdrop.

LightStream, an online lender, plants a tree for each loan they fund. The Forest of Dreams was a representation of each tree and its corresponding dream made possible through LightStream. The forest celebrated the 1,000 acres of trees planted through our partnership and built momentum for LightStream’s commitment to planting an additional 500 acres this year.

Each visitor had a unique reaction. Early in the day, commuter pedestrians slowed down to admire this strange sight. Some were hesitant to come in, but many entered with a coffee in hand and a smile on their face, commenting on how nice it was to have a change in scenery. Later on, tourists made the Forest of Dreams a stop in their sightseeing itineraries. We met visitors from all over the world — from nearby Connecticut all the way to West Africa. Like the rush-hour crowd, some were unsure why we put a forest in Times Square, but once they heard about the cause, they were delighted at the dedication that both American Forests and LightStream have to the environment. We were asked countless times if the forest was permanent or if we’d be taking it anywhere else. I didn’t want anyone to be disappointed that the forest wasn’t permanent, but hopefully this small reminder of life outside the concrete jungle encouraged them to get back to nature.

I was excited to be in New York for my first trip with American Forests, but the real reward was seeing how many people share our passion for protecting and restoring our forests. We shared forest facts with LightStream, which produced signs along the walkways in the Forest of Dreams. One stated that trees in NYC provide $5.60 in benefits for every dollar spent on tree planting and care, including cleaning air and water, reducing energy costs and improving mental well-being. The Forest of Dreams was a great reminder that in order for cities to be the bustling, lively hubs that we expect, we first have to make sure that our forests are clean, healthy and flourishing. Without forests, we don’t have cities either… and I’m not ready to move to Mars.

The post From the Field: New York City appeared first on American Forests.

Eric Sprague, Director of Forest Conservation

SCENIC VISTAS at the end of trails, trout pools in fast-moving streams, song of the wood thrush, and the smell of pines all quickly come to mind when I think about the field of forest conservation. However, I mostly think about people. Family woodland owners, nonprofit staff, foresters, government employees and many others. Forests provide the inspiration, and then people go to work.

This past fall, 115 forest conservationists from the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Parks Canada, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe and several nonprofits came together because they have been inspired by the whitebark pine.

The whitebark pine is an iconic tree species that ranges across a huge swath of the West, including the Northern Rockies, Cascades and Sierra Nevada. Living up to 1,500 years, the pines are a favored food source of grizzly bears and Clark’s nutcrackers, and the high-elevation communities they create are critical for storing snowpack and then slowly releasing a steady flow of water downstream as the snow thaws. However, the tree, and the benefits that it provides, are threatened with extinction by an unprecedented set of threats: disease, pest outbreaks and severe wildfires, all of which are further fueled by climate change.

These threats make the whitebark pine restoration effort one of the most unique and challenging in the country — a key test for how we can help key forest ecosystems adapt to a changing climate.

The National Whitebark Pine Summit in Missoula, Mont., formally kicked off a year-long process for these conservationists to develop a restoration plan for the species. The plan will guide actions and resources to the most important places for saving the whitebark pine.

While more resources will be needed, the effort does have the right people paying attention. For more than 20 years, these dedicated people have solved immense technical challenges associated with developing disease-resistant seedlings, managing too little and too much fire and navigating
bureaucratic challenges of coordinating restoration across state, federal, tribal agencies and private lands. This work often happens with little resources or is squeezed in between other duties and all for a tree and ecosystem that most Americans will never see.

American Forests, Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service were excited to host these dedicated conservationists at the Summit and are ready to get to work with them to develop the National Whitebark Pine Restoration Plan.

On second thought, it may be that people provide the inspiration so that forests can do their work.

The post From the Field: MISSOULA, MONT. appeared first on American Forests.

THIS FIRE SEASON has only amplified the need for Congress to pass a comprehensive wildfire suppression funding fix, so that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Department of Interior (DOI) can not only bank on the funds needed to fight fires, but also implement forest restoration practices that help reduce the risks of these extreme fires.Congress allocates funding to the USFS and DOI in each appropriations cycle through the “rolling 10-year average” model. The costs of each year’s fire suppression efforts are calculated, and the average of the last 10 is then allocated. Averages usually mean that some years will be above average and some years will be below; however, that is no longer the case when it comes to the costs of fighting fires. The USFS and DOI have run short on fire-fighting funds 13 years since 2002. And, each year the 10-year average increases by hundreds of millions of dollars.

As federal budgets remain flat or decrease and the cost of suppression increases, the portion of money available to do the forest restoration, wildlife management, etc. decreases, including funding actions to help prevent fires and reduce the probability of intense fires — like hazardous fuels reduction. In 1995, fire management accounted for 16 percent of the U.S. Forest Service’s budget. Today, it is more than half, and the agency predicts it will be two-thirds by 2021.

The 2017 fire season was one of the worst on record.

• 52,000 individual fires burning more than 8.82 million acres in the southern
  United States, California, Oregon, Montana and more.
• Approximately 2.3 million acres of national forests burned.
• Fires ravaged northern California, destroying neighborhoods and displacing
  people. In fact, 100,000 Californians were displaced and insurance
  claims are climbing past $3.3 billion.

Not only do the rising costs of fire suppression eat up more and more of the Forest Service’s budget, when appropriated funds are not enough, the agency has to “borrow” funds from other program areas to cover the costs. In fiscal year 2017, the USFS spent more than $2.4 billion in firefighting costs. It had to transfer nearly $600 million from other accounts to cover the shortfall. Much of the Forest Service’s on-the-ground work is dictated by the seasons, meaning work that was ceased in the early spring because funds had to be transferred aren’t able to start up until late autumn.

There is a solution.

The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act (H.R. 2862 and S. 1842) is a comprehensive fix that addresses the rising costs of firefighting, minimizes the need for “borrowing” funds and allows access to emergency funding to pay for firefighting beyond the amount allocated.

To send a letter to your Congressional members in support of a comprehensive fire funding fix, visit americanforests.org/TakeAction.

Rebecca Turner writes from Washington, D.C., and is American Forests’ chief strategy officer.

The post Action Center: Fire Funding Fix appeared first on American Forests.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE WINNER: “ROOTS” by Tommie Guesman

“It shows me something I realized in a botany class, life wants to live.”
— CAROLYN D. ON “ROOTS”

“Forest Reflections” by Randy Richard

“Wow!!! Absolutely STUNNING…I’m in Awe!!!  ”
— ROBYN V. ON “FOREST REFLECTIONS”

“Buttermilk Falls” by Sarah Wagner

“Love this photo, looks almost unreal. Love the muted colors and the stratification of the rocks. As I stare at this photo, I can hear the sound of the falls. Peaceful, I want to be there.”
— JOYCE W. ON “BUTTERMILK FALLS”

“Beautiful with the colors of the water against the rocks with the leaves, fabulous photo. This would be a beautiful puzzle to do.”
— DENISE M. ON “BUTTERMILK FALLS”

“Curious Cub” by Peggy Yaegar

“Little Bear is so expressive! Human emotion even.”
— MARY H. ON “CURIOUS CUB”

“Peek a Boo!”
— FRANCES F. ON “CURIOUS CUB”

The post Last Look: Forests in Focus People’s Choice Nominees appeared first on American Forests.