All North Dakota Forest Service News

March 25, 2025

2025 Arbor Day honoring family forest planting 30 years later

The North Dakota Forest Service is recognizing 30 years since the "Year of the Family" family forest planting. This project was spearheaded by the former First Lady Nancy Jones Schafer and former Lieutenant Governor Rosemarie Myrdal in 1994, which was declared the “Year of the Family”. As chair of the Centennial Trees Commission, Myrdal proposed that a tree should be planted “…for every child born in North Dakota in 1994”. She called this initiative the “Family Forest”.

A young child uses a spade to plant a tree with his mom helping and an older man in a hat walking up behind them
November 6, 2024

Windbreak renovation assistance available to landowners affected by wildfires

Wildfires that swept across North Dakota in early October left thousands of acres charred. Among those acres were many field and homestead windbreaks, and native forest. In response, the Outdoor Heritage Fund has graciously approved the North Dakota Forest Service (NDFS) to proceed with an open enrollment for windbreak renovations for those impacted by the wildfires.

A farmstead showing burnt grass and a burnt row of trees