The 2019-2020 NASF Annual Report highlights the association’s many efforts to advance the policy and communications priorities of its membership. In the last 12 months, despite the challenges of COVID-19, NASF has had a number of notable successes:
Securing funding for priority programs. This spring, NASF policy efforts contributed to increased or steady funding for State and Private Forestry programs (and congressional feedback confirmed that our performance measures project directly contributed to support for increased Forest Stewardship Program funding). This summer, the Great American Outdoors Act was passed by Congress and signed into law, ensuring future funding for the Forest Legacy Program.
Leveraging partnerships for conservation. NASF now sits on the Stakeholder Council for the U.S. Chapter of 1t.org, a global effort to conserve, restore, and plant one trillion trees. And due to our long-standing commitment to shared stewardship implementation, we have partnered with the National Forest Foundation to deliver a series of webinars on the value of shared decision-making and priority-setting.
Prioritizing state forestry agencies and state Forest Action Plans. NASF continued to build out its Forest Action Plan 10-Year Revision Toolkit with helpful resources for state forestry agencies and their local partners. We also released the latest biennial statistics survey on state forestry agencies and used its findings in strategic communications to illustrate the tremendous value of state forestry work. Throughout 2020, and now through 2021, state forestry agencies have been helping NASF celebrate its 100th anniversary by completing unique Centennial Challenges. NASF has been highlighting their challenges in magazine articles, on NASF’s blog, and across social media.
Navigating a pandemic. Within a matter of days, the association’s focus became maintaining business continuity and member services with remote work and meetings, renegotiating hotel contracts, and pursuing legislative relief for state forestry agencies. In an abundance of caution, the NASF Executive Committee elected to take the NASF 2020 Annual Meeting online — making it the first in 100 years that won’t be in-person. (But come September 2021, we’ll be back where it all started, in Pennsylvania, with even more to celebrate.)
Maintaining a strong reputation. At the highest levels, NASF is recognized as a go-to resource because of the integrity and expertise of its members. This year, the New York Times, CNN, Reuters, and a slew of other national news outlets contacted NASF to learn more about wildland firefighting amid COVID-19. Congressional offices contacted NASF to ask what assistance state foresters might need. When the White House convened a meeting of business and conservation leaders, NASF was at the table in the West Wing.
These accomplishments and more are detailed in this year’s annual report. Click the link below to read the report in full online or contact NASF Communications Director Whitney Forman-Cook to request a hard copy.