Restoring Our Precious Landscapes with American Forests
Here at Joules, everything we do is inspired by the wonder of nature. As a quintessentially British company, we pride ourselves on fighting for the environment that gives us so much joy and inspiration, from the rolling hills of our countryside landscapes, to the charming shores of our coastal towns, and everywhere in between.
Joules has partnered with a number of charitable organisations in the UK as part of our mission to protect our environment, and in 2020 we expanded that reach by partnering with American Forests right here in the USA.
What is American Forests?
American Forests is the United States’ oldest national non-profit conservation organization whose mission is to restore threatened forest ecosystems and inspire people to value and protect urban and wildland forests. Founded in 1875, they helped create the U.S. Forest Service in the early 1900s, and in 2018, they won a decade-long campaign persuading Congress to provide stable funding for preventing and fighting forest fires.
How are Joules helping?
Joules have been fundraising for American Forests for over a year now, working towards our goal to plant 20,000 trees with them by the end of 2022. We have already donated over 11,000 trees to American Forests during this time! All the trees we donate have been allocated to the Santiam State Forest Restoration Project to help restore a forest in Oregon that was recently devastated by wildfire.
We couldn’t do this work at a meaningful scale without partnerships with sustainability-minded brands like Joules. Land managers don’t have the resources they need to respond effectively to climate-driven disasters, like the fires we’ve seen in Oregon the past two years.
Austin Rampel, Forest Restoration Manager at American Forests
About the Santiam State Forest Restoration Project
The 2020 Beachie Creek Fire severely burned over 16,000 acres of forest on the Santiam State Forest in Oregon. The fire occurred as part of the larger Labor Day fires that burned over 1 million acres in the state, during a record-breaking drought compounded by climate change and unusually high winds. More than 80% of the Santiam State Forest was severely burned – enough to mean that the forest simply could not recover without help. Oregon’s forests are globally-important for fighting climate change, as there are very few places in the country and world where trees can capture so much carbon in such a short period of time. It was crucial to restore that bank of carbon production, as well as the home to so many species.
American Forests’ Santiam State Forest Restoration Project, in partnership with the Oregon Department of Forestry, aims to jump-start the recovery of the landscape by replanting hundreds of thousands of Douglas Fir, Noble Fir and Western Red Cedar trees. By 2021, American Forests have planted 284,000 trees in the Santiam State Forest. They are using a “climate smart” approach that is tailor-made to the forest’s specific location in Oregon to ensure that the trees will have the best chance of surviving, and will need the least intervention in the coming years.
We’re choosing the best growing sites, which tend to be the wet, protected spots where trees will have the best chances of survival and growth. We’re testing which tree species might be adapted to future climates, using seeds collected from trees that are used to warmer, drier climates at lower elevations and further south. And we’re planting in ways that ensure that the forest won’t be reliant on our ability to come back and thin in 15 years.
Austin Rampel, Forest Restoration Manager at American Forests
So, what’s next?
With nearly 9,000 trees still to donate by 2022 to reach our goal, we have lots of fundraising activities up our sleeves to make sure we get there.
Look out for our Green Monday promotion on December 13th 2021, where we will be planting a tree for every item sold on joulesusa.com!
In the meantime, take a look at how you can help projects like the Santiam State Forest Restoration Project with American Forests and find out about all their incredible work over at their website.
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