Field Trips to the National Children's Forest

 The history of the Eastern National Children's Forest begins fifty years ago.  On April 21, 1971, an arsonist set fire to the area on Potts Mountain burning approximately 1,000 acres. The National Forest Service in conjunction with Hunt Wesson Foods started a program to bring back the forest. For every food label returned, Hunt Wesson donated a tree to be planted. At that time there were three children's forests. In addition to the forest located on Potts Mountain in the Boiling Springs area of Alleghany County another is located in the San Bernadino National Forest in California while the third is in Missouri located within the Mark Twain National Forest. 

One year later, on April 21, 1972, one thousand children came to the burned area  on Potts Mountain to replant it. Each child was given 30 pine seedlings to plant - on that day over 30,000 trees were planted.

In past years, the forest service has supported field trips to the forest to provide local students with valuable information on forest management and the beauty of nature. Due to funding restraints, these field trips were   halted several years ago.

The Covington Woman's Club working in conjunction with several other local agencies renewed the interest in these field trips with the local school districts. In conjunction with the Virginia Tech Cooperative Extension and the National Forest Service, field trips for third grade students were initiated in 2017. 

Due to the pandemic, no trips have taken place in the past two years.

The Covington Club is hoping to restore the field trips and once again provide the visiting students with a positive learning experience along with snacks and beverages while at the forest.