El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico. At 28,000 acres, it’s the smallest national forest and the only tropical rain forest the Forest Service owns, boasting the greatest biodiversity among national forests.

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El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico is unique for the U.S. Forest Service. At 28,000 acres, it’s the smallest national forest and the only tropical rain forest managed by the Forest Service, boasting the greatest biodiversity among national forests. Read more »

In 2010, the U.S. Mint began issuing a series of quarters, such as this one from El Yunque National Forest, featuring national forests along with other sites highlighting ’America the Beautiful.’ Photo courtesy of the U.S. Mint

Imagine going to the grocery store and getting a national forest quarter as your change and holding onto it as a collector’s item.  That can happen now because of the recent release of the El Yunque National Forest coin.  The coin features the endangered Puerto Rican parrot and the coqui tree frog amongst tropical vegetation. Read more »

Puerto Rican Parrot, one of the 10 most endangered birds in the world.

Deep amid the dense greenery of a rain forest, U.S. Forest Service scientists are nursing a special patient back to health.

The patient is on pain medication, but lucid enough to ruffle his emerald green feathers and fill the room with angry squawks when a biologist removes him from an incubator. It is a Puerto Rican parrot with a broken leg, a serious injury for one of the world’s most endangered bird species. Read more »