Seeing is believing

From the #USDA:

Posted by Robert Westover, U.S. Forest Service, Office of Communication, on September 22, 2016 at 1:29 PM

Every year the U.S. Forest Service thinks of a new and fun way to encourage folks to see fall colors on their National Forests and Grasslands.

Fall is perhaps one of the most beautiful times of the year in North America and every year the U.S. Forest Service celebrates with the launch of our Fall Colors Webpage. 

The changing myriad of colors on trees from bright reds, brilliant oranges and bold yellows really make for a stunning backdrop to any family photo album. That’s why this year we have created our own road trip photo album with the help of a really cool app called Story Map.

The Deschutes National Forest in fall. (Photo Credit: US Forest Service.)

This is our first year of trying the show and tell technology Story Map which highlights some of the places, all over the country, we hope you might get a chance to visit this fall. So give it a look and start planning that unforgettable road trip with family and friends.

 Seeing is believing so even if one of our Story Map forests isn’t near you, chances are there’s a national forest or grasslands nearby were you can take some amazing pictures and create your own road trip story. Our Fall Colors Webpage make this super easy with both a national map of peaking colors for the season and a dropdown menu where you can link to any national forest or grassland in the country.

A screen shot of the U.S. Forest Service’s first Fall Colors Story Map illustrates the wide reaching diversity of fall attractions. The Story Map shows just 10 of the 174 National Forest and Grasslands we mange for the public.

Not near enough to the woods or don’t drive? Well, more than likely, you’re very close to an urban park which should have lots of wonderful trees changing colors to look at. You might even impress your loved ones by learning how leaves change colors—something you can study up on our Fall Colors 2016 Webpage!

The Olympic National Forest in fall. (Photo Credit: US Forest Service.)

 So just get out there and enjoy one of Mother Nature’s greatest gifts to planet earth: the fall colors of North America.