Celebrating Arbor Day

Today, new life begins as trees are planted nationwide in celebration of Arbor Day. As a lifelong champion for outdoor spaces and as your new Chief, I recognize and appreciate the relevance and importance trees bring to people and communities.

As I shared in my leadership philosophy, one of my focuses is on active forest management-essentially how we as an agency can best steward healthy, diverse and productive forests today and into the future. On Arbor Day, we are reminded that planting trees as part of reforestation efforts is a critical conservation component. Planting trees helps forests and communities recover from wildfire, hurricanes and other disturbances, as well as improving our health and well-being and benefiting wildlife, water and soil.

In October 2020, during President Trump's first term, he signed Executive Order 13955, establishing the Trillion Trees Interagency Council. The council was formed to promote federal tree-growing and reforestation efforts. Since 2020, this work has continued with the U.S. Chapter of 1 Trillion Trees and the World Economic Forum. Both work toward the goal of global reforestation to conserve, restore and grow 1 trillion trees globally by 2030.

In support of these larger efforts, I've been inspired to see partners supporting our mission who have been steadfast for generations. We currently have agreements for a variety of projects to address seedling production, wildfire reforestation and recovery, and data and analysis tools to support decision making. These partnership agreements are with nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations, forest sector leaders and other organizations that join us to identify mutual solutions to complex land management challenges.

Finally, our partnership with members of the public is invaluable. Identifying ways for them to engage in and support the work we do, such as through the Forest Service Plant-A-Tree program, allows them to feel more closely connected to their public lands.

I'm proud to share the Forest Service planted approximately 20 million trees in fiscal year 2024, with over 5 million trees planted in partnership with our congressionally chartered partner, the National Forest Foundation.

We can accomplish so much more with the support of our partners and the public. Happy Arbor Day and here's to many more! Thank you for all that you do on behalf of our precious lands.

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