February 4, 2022 9:30 a.m.

Oregon Parks Forever, a statewide nonprofit, has announced the establishment of the Wildfire Tree Replanting Fund.

A release said the goal of the fund is to plant at least 1 million trees.

Executive Director Seth Miller said as of January 31st, they have been able to fund the planting of 553,000 trees across the state at Collier State Park, Silver Falls State Park, the Ben & Kay Dorris State Recreation Area, and other locations, including parks in Josephine and Marion counties.

Miller said since the 1990’s Oregon has seen significant increases in the number of acres burned statewide each year. 2020 saw the second largest number of acres burned since 1990, with more than 1 million acres of trees burned on Oregon lands. 2021 followed with a similarly devastating fire year, as well as a heat dome event that killed many trees in the Coast Range.

Miller said this comes at a time when budgets of public land managers are already stressed due to ongoing funding challenges and the COVID pandemic. Miller said he expects the ramifications of climate change to continue in the future and wants to be ready to help.

To make a donation online, to go: www.orparksforever.org.