Conservation

During the 2003 fires in California, more than 740,000 acres and 3,600 homes burned. Almost 70% of the land was privately owned.

The National Forest Association is at the heart of making sure our relationship with the forest doesn’t end in disaster. Over the past 30 years, the use of national forests has increased 700% but funding for the San Bernardino National Forest has declined—40% in the past four years alone. The National Forest Association works to bridge that gap with conservation programs and education that promotes stewardship that adds value to the visitor experience. The goal is to help visitors value the forest itself.

One of our key efforts is Forest Care, a hands-on effort to help ensure we create forest-friendly communities by providing landowners the incentives, advice, and direction they need to properly manage the portion of the forest that is literally in their own back yard.

Why is this important?

About 40,000 people make their permanent homes in the forest and over holiday and summer weekends the resident and visitor populations can explode to more than 100,000.

Teaching stewardship isn’t enough; we want to help residents become the caretakers our forest requires. Forest Care helps property owners thin their portion of the forest to a condition that helps prevent disease, infestation, and resists fire. To find out how, click here.