Minnesota's Future Forest Fund

Our vision:

Forests play a major role in Minnesota's ecosystem: they clean our air and water, provide food and habitat for wildlife, give us the raw material for the wood products we use every day, and offer beautiful places to explore and find solitude.

While a majority of the funding needed to reforest public land comes from the legislature, the Future Forest Fund gives Minnesotans the opportunity to partner with the DNR to keep state forests healthy for future generations. By donating to the Future Forest Fund, individuals and corporations can increase the number of trees planted and cared for on state land.

DNR foresters carefully select areas where Future Forest Fund gifts are used, focusing on land where the need is greatest. In addition to supporting replanting efforts on certified sustainably harvested DNR-managed land, your donations to the Future Forest Fund help replace trees lost to disease, fire, storms, insects, and other elements.

Foresters plant millions of seedlings on state lands each year. They then nurture, protect, and ensure those trees are wisely used.

Why donate?

A contribution, of any amount, to The Future Forest Fund is a beautiful way to honor someone who loved the outdoors, celebrate a special event, or demonstrate a commitment to Minnesota's environment. That's because your donation directly supports the planting of trees in Minnesota.

Your donation allows us to purchase seedlings, fund plantings, and protect seedlings from harm until they are six-to-eight feet tall and free to grow on their own.

Where your contributions grow

Your generous donations have funded the following forest projects:

Hill River State Forest

After a windstorm in 2017 destroyed trees in the Hill River State Forest, the Future Forest Fund supported the planting of 4,700 white pine and white spruce on 21 acres.

St. Croix State Forest

Donations to the Future Forest Fund made it possible to plant 100,000 red, white, and jack pine seedlings on 120 acres in the St. Croix State Forest, after a windstorm destroyed millions of trees there in 2011.

Richard J Dorer Memorial Hardwood Forest

The Future Forest Fund helped restore an agricultural field to a native mixed-hardwood forest by planting 7,750 seedlings, including 3,750 red oak, 1,250 white oak, 1,000 walnut, 750 shagbark hickory, 500 butternut, and 500 hackberry.

Forest facts

Our Minnesota State Forests aren't just beautiful to look at, they play a critical role in our way of life. For example:

• One acre of trees, which is about the size of a football field, produces enough oxygen each year for 18 people.
• Each year, an acre of trees can remove roughly the same amount of carbon emitted by two cars.
• On a hot day, a tree in full leaf can give off 900 gallons (7,500 pounds) of water vapor into the air, which is equivalent to cooling as much air as six room-size air conditioners.

Your donation

For more information about how to contribute to the Future Forest Fund, please contact:
[email protected]

Or, download the donation form.

We sincerely appreciate your partnership—and so will future generations who will enjoy the forests you helped plant!