Your Impact
Project summaries for your donations to “where it’s needed most” are shared here. These donations are received by the national office over the course of the year and are distributed to various locations in the national forest system to be used the following year.
Timeline example: Donations are received in 2022, used for projects implemented in 2023, and reports are available in 2024 after the project is complete. The Federal Government Fiscal Year is October 1-September 30.
Donations that are made directly to a national forest are not reported here. Those donations are managed by the national forest and will be utilized when there is a reforestation need there and when enough donations can be pooled to put towards a project. There may not be a need or enough funds available to implement projects every year.
Fiscal Year 2025 (and more to come!)
Crew installing shade cards on planted seedlings (USDA Forest Service Photo)
Project Name: Sixmile Planting
Location: Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, Wyoming
Tree Species: Engelmann spruce, lodgepole pine, Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine
Area Reforested: 460 acres, 140,043 seedlings
Implementation Date: September & October 2025
Plant-A-Tree Donations: $ 137,032
Summary: In 2020, the Mullen Fire burned over 176,000 acres near Laramie, WY. These units are on a broad timbered ridge above the North Platte River and were on track to be certified as naturally regenerated before the fire destroyed the regeneration and any remaining seed source.
The Sixmile Planting project planted a mix of lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine, Engelmann spruce and Douglas-fir seedlings over 460 acres. This planting project will establish live timber stands within the Mullen Fire area and meet National Forest Management Act, REPLANT Act, and Forest Plan stocking requirements.
Worker preparing Payette NF for the planting of seedlings (USDA Forest Service Photo)
Project Name: Payette National Forest Woodhead Fire Tree
Location: Payette National Forest, Idaho
Tree Species: Engelmann spruce, western larch, ponderosa pine
Area Reforested: 233 acres, 48,200 seedlings
Implementation Date: May, 2026
Plant-A-Tree Donations: $ 44,380
Summary: This area was almost entirely deforested during the Woodhead Fire of 2020, a fire that burned more than 96,000 acres on the Payette National Forest. Minimal natural regeneration had occurred and planting a diversity of appropriate tree species was needed.
In May 2026, 48,200 seedlings were planted on the affected area, helping to increase the resiliency of the surrounding watershed.
(USDA Forest Service Photo)
Project Name: Hollow Tree & Sandberg Plantation Planting Project
Location: Angeles National Forest, California
Tree Species: Coulter pine, oak
Area Reforested: 60 acres, 6,610 seedlings
Implementation Date: April, 2026
Plant-A-Tree Donations: $ 44,741
Summary: Hollow Tree and Sandberg Plantations were used by historic travelers along the Old Ridge Route from the San Joaquin Valley to Los Angeles beginning in the 1920s. A hotel, stagecoach stop, and fuel station were located here until Route 99 became operational in the 1940s. These plantations are located near popular recreation sites and have suffered wildfires, insects, and disease attacks that reduced their acreage and tree density. This area was burned during the Copper Fire in 2002, which affected 23,407 acres in Angeles National Forest.
In April 2025, 6,610 conifer and oak seedlings were planted on the Los Angeles Gateway Ranger District over two days. Late spring rains aided in the process by providing sufficient moisture to plant and the mix of tree species mimics the natural landscape.
Project Name: Lake Fire and Sawmill Liebre Reforestation Planting
Location: Angeles National Forest, California
Tree Species: Coulter pine, ponderosa pine
Area Reforested: 213 acres, 16,480 seedlings
Implementation Date: April & May 2025
Plant-A-Tree Donations: $ 13,184
Summary: The Sawmill-Liebre Mountains are located near Lake Elizabeth and Lake Hughes in the Angeles National Forest. This site was severely burned during the Lake Fire of 2020 that impacted 31,089 acres, including the conifer and oak forestland in the mountain range. The planted trees have helped to reforest the corridor that contains a major road leading to several highly visited recreation sites and is within and adjacent to California Spotted Owl Protected Areas.
Fiscal Year 2024
The Yampa Valley Sustainability Council planting event on the Silver Creek Fire Reforestation Project on the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest in Colorado. (USDA Forest Service Photo)
Project Name: Silver Creek Fire Reforestation Project
Location: Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, Colorado
Tree Species: Lodgepole Pine
Area Reforested: 105.3 acres / 53,300 seedlings
Implementation Date: June 2024
Plant-A-Tree Donations: $ 43,500
Summary: In 2018, a lightning strike in the Sarvis Creek Wilderness started the Silver Creek Fire that spread to over 20,000 acres, including Forest Service land outside of the wilderness boundary. The fire burned intensely in lodgepole pine and spruce fir forests, which had been experiencing increased mortality due to a beetle infestation. This caused heavy losses to the pine seedlings that had been regenerating beneath the dry, standing dead trees.
Over the past few years, with help from The Yampa Valley Sustainability Council (YVSC), the silviculture team on the Yampa and Hahns Peak Bears Ears Ranger Districts conducted regeneration surveys and determined an estimated 1,500 acres required replanting. In June of 2024, the districts carried out two planting events: one through a contracted planting crew, and the second with YVSC volunteers. In subsequent years, and as capacity is increased, annual planting seedling numbers will also increase, helping to reestablish a healthy forest.
Crew Planting trees in the Stonewall Insect and Desease Response Reforestation 2024 project in Shoshone National Forest, WY. (USDA Forest Service photo)
Project Name: Stonewall Insect and Disease Response Reforestation 2024
Location: Shoshone National Forest, WY
Tree Species: Engelmann Spruce and Douglas Fir
Area Reforested: 105 acres / 21,768 seedlings
Implementation Date: June 2024
Plant-A-Tree Donations: $ 23,380
Summary: Over the last few years, the Shoshone National Forest has experienced multiple periods of Mountain Pine beetle, Spruce Budworm, and Dwarf Mistletoe infestation. Tree mortality in some areas was upwards of 60-80% of the stand, leaving little to no seed sources surviving to grow into the new forest.
In June 21,768 seedlings were planted on the Greybull Ranger District over the course of two days. These areas were identified for planting to promote future forest vegetation and reduce the risk of widespread insect and disease-caused tree mortality. These locations hold a high value for aesthetics, future forest products, watershed function, wildlife habitat, and recreation opportunities.
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Fiscal Year 2023
Left: Kirtland’s Warbler (USDA Forest Service photo) Right: Contract workers planting trees in the 2023 West Zone Pine Planting reforestation project in Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan (USDA Forest Service photo)
Project Name: West Zone Pine Planting Project
Location: Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan
Tree Species: Jack Pine and Red Pine
Area Reforested: 112 acres / 80,000 seedlings
Implementation Date: May 22-31, 2023
Plant-A-Tree Donations: $ 18,400
Summary: This planting project enhanced and created the habitat needed for Kirtland’s Warbler and other species that depend upon healthy young pine stands to proliferate. After nearly 50 years on the Endangered Species List, successful active management to create Kirtland's Warbler habitat allowed populations to recover and the species to be delisted in 2019. The Kirtland’s Warbler is known as a habitat specialist, which means that it will only nest in a very specific area or in specific conditions. More than 90% of Kirtland's Warblers' nests are in one small area of northern Michigan, some 70 miles from north to south and 90 miles from east to west. The combination of low-hanging, overlapping branches of young jack pines with sandy, well-draining soil that rarely floods is perfect for a bird that nests on the ground. Creation of these young stands is achieved through harvest and planting of jack pine and red pine seedlings, or naturally through fire.
Contract workers planting trees in the 2023 Lower Orogrande Stewardship reforestation project in Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest, Idaho (USDA Forest Service photo)
Project Name: Lower Orogrande Stewardship
Location: Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest, Idaho
Tree Species: Western Larch, Western White Pine, and Ponderosa Pine
Area Reforested: 127 acres / 52,482 seedlings
Implementation Date: October 9-13, 2023
Plant-A-Tree Donations: $ 26,084
Summary: The goal of this project was to plant long-lived seral species that are more resistant to root disease infections and insects, and that are also more fire tolerant. This project occurred near the wildland urban interface of Pierce, Idaho, further increasing the need for fire resilient stands. This project improved tree species diversity and balanced vegetative successional stages across the landscape toward conditions within the historic range of variability, allowing for a more rapid recovery from future forest disturbances.