Since 1993, the National Forest Foundation (NFF) has inspired personal and meaningful connections to our nation’s National Forests and Grasslands. Working in partnership with the U.S. Forest System (USFS), our work aims to restore fish and wildlife habitat, increase resiliency to catastrophic wildfire events, improve upon and increase access to recreation opportunities, and protect the vital watersheds within the 193 million acres of Forest Service land.
Southwest Airlines® has been an incredible partner to the NFF for nearly a decade, supporting a variety of environmental and recreation focused work. Most recently, they have chosen to support our Wood For Life program, which passes wood from forest restoration efforts to Indigenous communities, where it is used in a variety of ways.
Photo courtesy of Jane Ackerman
The Wood For Life Initiative
Working with the USFS, Tribal Governments, and other partners, the NFF’s Wood For Life program connects small-diameter timber from Forest restoration projects with Indigenous communities to heat their homes during the frigid winter months. By removing small-diameter wood from Forests, also referred to as fuel, we can often proactively reduce the devastating impacts of wildfire before it strikes. Once the timber has been removed from Forests at risk, it is often passed to Indigenous communities to be used as fuel in heating homes during the winter months. As the NFF continues to grow, so have our Wood For Life efforts - beginning just four years ago, we now have programs in Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and Idaho.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Oneal
Southwest Airlines and Wood For Life
This year, Southwest Airlines is generously supporting two of our newer Wood For Life programs -the Blackfeet Elderly Wood Program and the Northern Arapaho Senior Wood Program. The first is in partnership with the Blackfeet Reservation on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains where the plains of eastern Montana begin. Because the closest Forests are either over the mountains or nearly two hundred miles away, hauling wood to the Reservation has historically been extremely expensive. In years past, the Tribe was only able to purchase enough wood to provide each of the three hundred households eligible for wood distribution with just one or two cords of wood per heating season, when the temperature commonly dips as low as -30 with winds. With the support of partners such as Southwest Airlines, we are now working with land management agencies (state and federal) on more affordable wood solutions for the Blackfeet Tribe.
Southwest Airlines’ support is also going to the Northern Arapaho Senior Wood Program in partnership with the Medicine-Bow Routt and Shoshone National Forests in Wyoming. The first investment of its kind in the state of Wyoming, the Northern Arapaho Senior Wood Program involves sourcing, delivering, and processing firewood to fulfill immediate home heating needs for seniors. Donations made to these efforts have opened the door to a larger Wood for Life partnership between the National Forests, the NFF, and the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes.
The National Forest Foundation would not be able to meet the increasing challenges facing our National Forests and Grasslands today without the generous support of partners like Southwest Airlines. Through their partnership, they have continued to invest in our greatest environmental resource – our 193 million acres of awe-inspiring National Forests and Grasslands.
