Three kinds of work across 193 million acres
The NFF partners with communities across America's National Forests to create lasting change on the ground. In 2025 that meant $102.5 million invested in the forests, waters and trails that make public lands treasured places.
Wildfire resilience
Over 60 million acres of National Forests are at high risk of severe wildfire. Fire is a natural part of many forests, but after years of built-up fuels, heat waves and droughts, fires burn hotter, faster and more destructively than before. The NFF works to change that with treatments that lower the risk before a fire starts.
- Clearing hazardous fuels: carefully thinning brush, small trees and other material that feeds wildfires.
- Putting the wood to use: taking it to wood banks and mills that support rural communities. Through Wood for Life, small timber becomes firewood for Indigenous communities that heat their homes with it.
- Working across boundaries: bringing federal, state, Tribal and private partners together, because fire doesn't stop at a property line.
Current work includes the Flagstaff Watershed and Infrastructure Protection Project on the Coconino National Forest, the Pine Phlats project near Libby, Montana, the Resilient Flathead Forests Program, and the North Big Bear Landscape Restoration Project across 13,000 acres of the San Bernardino Mountains.
35,507 acres treated in 2025
Land and watershed restoration
Healthy forests mean clean water for one in three Americans. Decades of severe wildfire, invasive species and overuse have left many landscapes unable to do that work. The NFF repairs and heals them.
- Clean water: repairing streams, reconnecting floodplains and restoring wetlands so National Forests stay a reliable source of water.
- Reforestation: the NFF leads the largest reforestation effort on National Forests, planting millions of native trees every year and supporting the seed supply for the years ahead.
- Habitat: removing barriers to fish migration, improving pollinator habitat and creating corridors for species on the move.
Projects range from the Rio Guadalupe headwaters on the Santa Fe National Forest and Indian Creek in Bears Ears National Monument to culvert replacements across Wisconsin's Chequamegon–Nicolet National Forest and the Mulberry River in Arkansas.
7 million trees planted and 22,457 acres reforested in 2025
Recreation
National Forests belong to all of us. The NFF takes care of the trails, campgrounds and infrastructure that keep them safe and open to more than 170 million visitors a year.
That means rebuilding the trail to Hanging Lake, making Arizona's Highline Trail safe again, protecting Colorado's 14ers from the pressure of thousands of hikers, and seven years of reopening trails in the Columbia River Gorge after the Eagle Creek Fire.
1,918 miles of trail work in 2025
Stories from the forests
The people behind the work, in their own places.
Southern California
Field rangers who connect communities to forests
A field ranger program that brings diverse communities into the forests of Southern California.
Coconino National Forest, Arizona
Water for millions, starting near Flagstaff
Restoration near Flagstaff lowers wildfire risk for local communities and protects the water supply for millions downstream.
Our forests need us today
Your donation powers work on the ground, from wildfire recovery to watershed restoration.