March 21, 2019 marks an important day – International Day of Forests. The day raises awareness of the importance of all types of forests across the world, for the benefit of current and future generations. Today we’re celebrating the important role that forest play worldwide, and highlighting the important contributions of our partners at Blount International.

From the water we drink to the air we breathe, forests are a life-sustaining ecosystem worldwide that we all depend on. More than 1 billion people worldwide depend on our forests for their livelihoods. Forests are also critical reserves of biodiversity - providing habitat for many thousands of species across the globe.

Worldwide, our forests face a number of challenges. From natural disasters to large-scale deforestation, these important life-giving resources need our help. On our National Forests, wildfires, insects and disease have been so prevalent that more than one million acres need reforestation.

Fortunately, we have help from companies like Blount to support our forests. Blount International manufactures equipment for the forestry, agriculture and construction industries. Blount recognizes that healthy forests are an integral component to their business and has been a partner of the National Forest Foundation (NFF) since 2014.

Domestically, Blount has been a leading partner of the NFF’s tree-planting efforts. With support from Blount, we’ve been able to plant millions of trees across the National Forest system, breathing new life into these forest ecosystems. And as these trees grow, they’ll help ensure that our forest are healthy and continue to provide the many benefits we depend on.

In addition to supporting our publicly owned National Forests here at home, Blount has gone above and beyond by supporting forest conservation abroad where it has an operational footprint and tie to local communities.

In 2017, Blount supported participants from Southeast Asia for an international seminar on protected area management, encouraging participants to incorporate learned practices into forest conservation abroad. In 2018, Blount supported our graduate student research into forest management and conservation issues in Southeast Asia.

And this year, Blount is expanding their support to develop sustainable agroforestry practices in Brazil through a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service International Programs. This support helps improve worldwide learning about we can best manage and conserve our forests worldwide.

Join NFF and Blount International in celebrating International Day of Forests!