Project: 2018-2019 Kirtland’s Warbler Habitat Restoration in Michigan
Trees Planted: 49,500
Timeframe: Spring of 2019
Tree Species: Jack pine
Location: Still working on
Summary: When human settlement and commercial timber harvest in the 1970s and 1980s altered
natural forest cycles in northern Michigan, home to the endangered Kirtland’s warbler, the bird’s numbers
plummeted. Conservation efforts over several decades have expanded the warbler’s population from approximately
400 to more than 4,000 birds. Conservation success stories take a very long time to develop so this rare
population rebound is exciting. Thanks to you, a species was brought back from the brink of extinction and
conversations have started around delisting it.
Project: Georgia Longleaf Pine Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Habitat Restoration
Trees Planted: 15,000
Timeframe: Spring of 2019
Tree Species: Longleaf Pine
Location: Chattahoochee National Forest
Summary: The longleaf pine ecosystem is an incredibly diverse supporter of wildlife, featuring
hundreds of unique plant and animal species. The gopher tortoise on its own provides habitat for more than 360
species by digging tunnels in the sandy loam distinctive to these forests. It and the red-cockaded woodpecker
are two landmark species central to recovery efforts.
The longleaf pine habitat that is crucial to the survival of the tortoise and the woodpecker once spanned across more than 90 million acres. Extensive logging and the abandonment of Native American wildfire management practices began to diminish longleaf pine forests. Today less than 5 percent of that ecosystem still exists and, as a result, many wildlife species are in danger of extinction.
American Forests is working with the Longleaf Alliance to address multiple issues in this crucial southeast habitat. Your support helped plant nearly 15,000 trees in this critical wildlife habitat.
Project: 2020 Oregon Whitewater Fire
Trees Planted: 5,000
Tree Species: Douglas-fir, Noble fir, White Pine, Western Hemlock and Red Cedar
Summary: The Whitewater Fire devastated Willamette National Forest in Oregon in 2017, burning
more than 11,000 acres and causing severe damage to the ecosystem. The area is near the North Santiam Watershed
located along the north east boundary of the adjacent to the Northern Willamette Valley, home to approximately
750,000 people. This is a highly productive watershed that is important for people and natural resources. The
area provides an abundance of recreation opportunities concentrated along the North Santiam River including
hiking trails, camping facilities, and swimming opportunities. The watershed also provides habitat for a wide
range of species including the endangered Spring Chinook Salmon and Northern Spotted Owl. For these reasons,
support is critically needed to start the restoration process. Your support will help plant 15,000 Douglas-fir,
Noble fir, White Pine, Western Hemlock and Red Cedar trees which will help bring this critical area back to
life.
Project: 2020 Chippewa Blowdown Restoration
Trees Planted: 10,000
Location: Black Duck, Deer River, and Walker Ranger Districts
Tree Species: red pine, white pine, jack pine, white spruce
Timeframe: May of 2020
UPDATE: Planting has been pushed back to Spring of 2021
Summary: Chippewa National Forest is a shared home to many diverse inhabitants. The protected
lands of the native Ojibwe tribe and the juxtaposed recreational areas share more than 300 species of plants and
animals, including the largest breeding population of bald eagles.
The forest is now under threat from a number of different sources. Insects and disease are ravaging conifer thickets, climate change is affecting the resilience of old-growth stands, and increasingly powerful storms are levelling entire groves.
The good news is that the soil is fertile and the native tree species are easily cultivated — meaning that each dollar invested goes that much further. Because of this, American Forests is partnering with the U.S. Forest Service to make a big commitment towards carbon sequestration: This year, we are planting 450,000 trees in Chippewa National Forest. The impact of this project will extend far beyond Chippewa. Not only will the forests work to purify the lakes and streams nearby, which include the headwaters of the Mississippi River, they will also be hard at work purifying the atmosphere.
Project: 2020 Ouachita National Forest Shortleaf Pine Planting
Trees Planted: 5,000
Location: 34.716000, -93.702000
Tree Species: Shortleaf pine
Timeframe: January of 2020 (completed)
Summary: Century-old photographs of the Ouachita National Forest, a 1.8-million-acre reserve in
Arkansas and Oklahoma, offer a glimpse of a different world. Back then, the Ouachita (pronounced “wosh-i-taw”)
was a parklike place of dappled sun and shade, with stately shortleaf pines rising from a low understory of
wildflowers and bluestem grass.
But these forests began to fade, first falling victim to loggers in the 1800s, then later to a program of fire suppression, which let vigorous hardwood trees crowd out the pines. By the 1970s, there were only relic populations of shortleafs left. Some of the Ouachita’s wildlife, like buffalo and elk, permanently vanished. Others, like the red-cockaded woodpecker, were barely hanging on.
Now, a multi-decade initiative is bringing back 250,000 acres of shortleaf pine in the Ouachita National Forest, pairing tree planting with other restoration tactics like thinning dense stands, replacing loblolly pine plantations with planted shortleaf and setting controlled burns to mimic natural fire. As part of this initiative, American Forests is planting 215,000 shortleaf pine seedlings in 2020. Studies show that this gargantuan effort is working. By 2006, red-cockaded woodpeckers had increased to 88 from their low in 1990, when only 32 birds were left in the forest. Many other rare or declining species, from bobwhite quail to the Diana fritillary butterfly, proved to be significantly more abundant in restored sections of the forest. Thank you for being part of this story by supporting tree planting in Ouachita National Forest! While the bison won’t be coming back anytime soon, the return of towering pines, rare wildlife and life-giving fire are making the Ouachita worthy of those vintage photographs. Here, at least, it pays to be old-fashioned.
