American Forests is a 501(c)(3) non-profit conservation organization dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy forest ecosystems. Their stated mission is to "grow a healthier world with trees".[1] The organization was established in 1875 as the American Forestry Association by physician and horticulturist John Aston Warder and a group of like-minded citizens in Chicago. During the administration of President Calvin Coolidge, the organization donated the first living national Christmas tree for the White House, a Norway spruce.
Since 1940 the organization has maintained the National Register of Big Trees, a list of the National Champion Trees in the United States. It also maintains a website Historic Trees Nursery that propagates and sells offspring of trees of historic interest, in categories including Presidents, American Revolution, Women, Civil War, African Americans, Native Americans, Veterans, Country Music Artists, Authors, Inventors, and trees of regional significance.
American Forests' programs include Forest Policy, Urban Ecosystems, and Global ReLeaf, the organization's tree-planting arm. The organization has a goal to plant 100 million trees by 2020. They seek to achieve this through the Global ReLeaf program, where every $1 donated plants a tree for ecosystem restoration. While the majority of Global ReLeaf projects are in the United States, Global ReLeaf International projects plant trees in countries worldwide.
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