About Us
The National Forest Association is at the heart of making sure people’s relationship with the forest doesn’t end in disaster.
Our forests are within recreational driving distance of 10% of the nation’s population. With more than 25 million people closer than four hours, our National Forest has more visitors every year than both Yellowstone and Yosemite combined. These are the most populated and recreated in 671,000 acres in the National Forest entire system.
Over the past 30 years, the use of national forests has increased 700% but funding for the San Bernardino National Forest has declined—almost half within the last few years. The National Forest Association works to bridge that gap with conservation programs and education that promotes stewardship that adds value to the visitor experience. The goal is to help visitors value the forest itself.
It takes the efforts of more than 1,000 trained volunteers plus the staff of both the National Forest Association and the Forest Service to serve the needs of visitors. The Forest Association is at the heart of making sure our love affair with the forest doesn’t mean we love it to death. Our recreation programs teach respect for the forest and the forest environment, stewardship, and deliver hands-on fun.
The Big Bear Discovery Center connects the forest and people through its visitor center facilities and activities. Get your permits, passes, maps, interpretive tours and programs here—not to mention shopping at the Adventure Outpost or a snack at the View Café.
The Big Bear Discovery Center attracts more than 160,000 visitors every year with exhibits, weekly programs, eco-tours, and special events. Another 80,000 people are provided with information and help by telephone. The Big Bear Discovery Center Amphitheater hosts outdoor concerts, theater productions, and private cultural and corporate events as well as nighttime interpretive programs.
One of our key efforts is Forest Care, a hands-on effort to help ensure we create forest-friendly communities by providing landowners the incentives, advice, and direction they need to properly manage the portion of the forest that is literally in their own back yard.
Why is this important?
About 40,000 people make their permanent homes in the forest and over holiday and summer weekends the resident and visitor populations can explode to more than 100,000. Teaching stewardship isn’t enough; we want to help residents become the caretakers our forest requires. Forest Care helps property owners thin their portion of the forest to a condition that helps prevent disease, infestation, and resists fire. To find out how, click here.
Our Forest Care program is a $4 million outreach effort to increase fire-resistance around homes and businesses while thinning the forest to healthy densities. Through Forest Care, property owners are reimbursed for up to 75% of the cost.
A forest visit used to mean camping and hiking. Today’s sophisticated multi-terrain technology has created exciting opportunities for visiting parts of the forest few people get to see. To help Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) enthusiasts recreate safely and protect the public lands they visit, the National Forest Association’s OHV Program fields more than 300 OHV Patrol Volunteers and OHV Education Outreach Volunteers who contribute 20,000 hours every year to teaching visitors trail ethics and stewardship, maintaining and patrolling trails, as well as special projects. The Forest Associations OHV Program promotes safety, stewardship, and responsible off-highway travel on public lands.
Education by and for kids—it’s a unique and highly successful nationwide model for teaching kids about the forest. At Children’s Forest, the new Exploration Trail offers a 4.5-mile kid-designed and community-constructed experience of our mountain environment. The Children’s Forest Interpretive Trail is a hands-on nature experience designed by and for kids. The Children’s Forest Visitor Information Center is staffed by trained youth volunteers.
When more sophisticated methods of fire spotting came into practice in the 1970s, the practice of staffing a tower with a fire spotter who scoured the horizon ended and the towers fell into disrepair. The National Forest Association has created an educational opportunity by restoring the lookout towers within the San Bernardino National Forest and staffing most of them with a force of 300 Lookout Hosts who not only spot fires but educate more than 15,000 visitors per year.
2003, wildfire ravaged over 92,000 acres of the San Bernardino National Forest. Literally thousands of trees and shrubs need to be planted to help heal this fragile ecosystem. Through the Seedlings of Hope Program, Pine, Oak and native shrubs will be planted in the National Forest. We need your help!