American Forest Foundation Blog

Ecosystem Markets Key to Future of America's Forests

My family has owned woodlands in Wisconsin for three generations.

I spent my childhood surrounded by 200 acres of forests of maple, ash, oak and walnut trees, playing and learning in the woods.  I love it in Wisconsin.

The American Forest Foundation (AFF) is co-hosting the 4th annual Ecosystem Markets Conference here this week because we think that environmental markets are key to the future of America's forests (and Wisconsin is the home of Aldo Leopold!).

On the Front Line of Fires

I’m trying to get work done in the crunch time before our National Tree Farmer Convention and have to pause to reflect on the amazing corps of volunteers that ATFS relies on.  This is even more apparent to me in the recent days with fires burning across the country.

Ecosystem Services in Aldo Leopold’s Landscape

Wednesday kicks off the Ecosystem Markets Conference in Madison, Wisconsin.  The annual conference is hosted by AFF and World Resources Institute.  Brent M. Haglund, president of Sand County Foundation, discusses the important role that ecosystem markets play in private landowner conservation efforts.

First in the Nation: Maryland Requires Students to be Environmentally Literate

On Tuesday, Maryland became the first state in the nation to require students be environmentally literate in order to graduate from high school. 

“I am thrilled about the environmental literacy requirement for students to be able to graduate in Maryland,” said Dr. Sarah Haines, Director of the Center for Science & Mathematics Education in the Department of Biological Sciences at Towson University, and Maryland Project Learning Tree State Coordinator. 

Hundreds of Groups Urge Natural Resource Investment

It’s usually next to impossible to get folks in Washington to agree on anything.  And yet, when it comes to protecting our natural resources, you can bet that there is little to argue about.  On June 21, the American Forest Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, the Land Trust Alliance and more than 350 other organizations released a letter to the Obama Administration and Congress  to protect conservation programs in the federal budget.