Education
Our forest is being loved to death. We serve outdoor recreation needs for a population of over 25 million, so we have to teach everyone how to care for the forest.
While everything we do is a part of our education mission, the National Forest Association also staffs and maintains a variety of education facilities including the Big Bear Discovery Center, Children’s Forest, nine fire lookouts, and a mobile fire education exhibit.
The Forest Association is at the heart of making sure our love affair with the forest doesn’t end in disaster. Over the past 30 years, the use of national forests has increased 700% but funding for the San Bernardino National Forest has declined—40% in the past four years alone. The National Forest Association works to bridge that gap with conservation programs and education that promotes stewardship. The National Forest Association works to create a context for recreation that adds value to the visitor experience and as a result, helps visitors value the forest itself.
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. The National Forest is also located at the heart of the fastest growing region in the county—the Inland Empire—home to more than 4 million people today and expected to double in size by 2030.
These are the most populated and recreated in 671,000 acres in the entire system. 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.
Big Bear Discovery Center
Created to be your gateway to adventure and discovery in the great outdoors, the Big Bear Discovery Center attracts more than 160,000 visitors every year with exhibits, weekly programs, eco-tours, and special events. More than 80,000 more provided with information and help by telephone. The Big Bear Discovery Center Amphitheater hosts outdoors concerts, theater productions, and private cultural and corporate events as well as nighttime interpretive programs.
Children’s Forest
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.
Fire Lookouts
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 seven of 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.
Fire Education Outreach
From Smokey Bear to a 1924 Forest Service Model T Patrol Vehicle, Fire Education Outreach volunteers have a variety of fun and education ways to get close to people with their message of fire prevention, forest stewardship, and the role of fire in forest ecology. A rolling fire and forest ecology exhibit visits fairs and festivals throughout southern California.
Off Highway Vehicle Programs
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 Programs 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.
