Working with corporate partners like Verizon grows our tree planting campaign and helps us spread awareness about the need for reforestation on National Forests. Thanks to Verizon’s generous efforts, 100,000 new trees will be planted on our National Forests in 2022. In Oregon, Verizon will plant 25,000 trees to help the Willamette National Forest recover from severe wildfires and improve wildlife habitat. Across the country in Georgia, Verizon will plant 75,000 trees on the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests to restore native plant communities and help the forests recover from insects and disease outbreaks. To learn more about the process to restore forests, check out this link.
These 100,000 trees can sequester up to 50,000 metric tons of CO2 in their lifetime. That is equivalent to over 17,000 tons of waste recycled instead of landfilled. Beyond the climate mitigation and carbon impact, these trees also contribute to enhancing watershed health, wildlife habitat, and air quality, among many other benefits.
Groups of Longleaf Pines Growing at Nursery
National Forest and Grassland visits surged in 2020, receiving 168 million visits in just one year, and that number continues to increase. All the while, uncharacteristically severe wildfires in the West, hurricanes, and floods in the East continue to press on, pummeling these public lands. Forest Service personnel, including firefighters, have been working hard to protect our National Forests from the heavy impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as high-intensity wildfires. Last year, Verizon employees wrote E-thank-you notes to express appreciation for the dedication and hard work of wildfire firefighters. In 2022, Verizon employees will write messages of support and gratitude to acknowledge the hard work of all Forest Service employees, including courageous wildfire firefighters. To see some of these thank-you notes, head over to Forest Gratitude.
The NFF is grateful to Verizon and the company’s employees for their support to the Forest Service personnel, including wildfire firefighters, as well as their commitment to reforestation!
Chattahoochee-Oconee Tree Planting Site. Photo by the U.S. Forest Service.
“We are excited to continue working with the National Forest Foundation as one of our nonprofit strategic partners to protect our country’s National Forests. We also greatly value the opportunity that the NFF offers to our employees to show their support, encouragement, and gratitude to the U.S. Forest Service staff who have been tirelessly working on these public lands throughout the pandemic to ensure our National Forests are sustained for now and in the future.”
If you are a Verizon employee, we encourage you to join in on this effort! Sign up through the Citizen Verizon Volunteers Portal to get involved today.
Cover photo by the U.S. Forest Service.
--------
As you can see, planting trees is a vital and cherished part of our work on National Forests nationwide. Planting trees is a team effort at NFF from field managers to finance officers to our communicators and more. Your unrestricted gift helps ensure the entire NFF team is strong, focused, and ready to get trees in the ground. Please give today by simply clicking here. Thank you!
