School Forests

The Minnesota School Forest Program is a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Minnesota schools. The program provides a variety of benefits to increase outdoor education activities. Housed in the Division of Forestry the program works closely with Stewardship; Community and Urban Forestry; Projects Learning Tree, WILD, and WET; and many other programs.

Over the years the program has changed periodically to meet the needs of Minnesota's schools. Currently there are more than 130 School Forests ranging in size from less than one acre to 300 acres of land, for a total of over 7,800 acres. School Forests across the state involve a blend of rural and urban sites, public and private schools, and reach preschool through university students. No matter the school, all School Forest sites are working toward the same goal of connecting students to the natural world while building student confidence, sense of community, skill level, and knowledge base.