We are so excited that six National Forests are going to be featured in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. You can start your National Forest quarter-dollar collection in 2010, when the U.S. Mint begins issuing America the Beautiful quarters. The first National Forest commemorative coin will honor Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon.
As a part of the program, the US Mint will issue 56 circulating quarter-dollar coins with reverse designs emblematic of a national park or other national site in each state, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories—Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands.
The motto of the USDA Forest Service is “Caring for the Land, Serving People”. The Forest Service does this in part through the management of 155 National Forests. In addition to Mt. Hood, the National Forests that will be featured on the commemorative coins include:
• White Mountain NF in Northern New Hampshire and Southern Maine
• Kisatchie NF in Louisiana
• Shawnee NF in Illinois
• Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area on the Salmon-Challis NF in Idaho
• El Yuque NF in Puerto Rico
You can check out the National Site Registry, which lists all 56 sites to be honored under the program at. The quarters will be issued sequentially each year, in the order in which the featured site was first established as a national park, forest or site.
Beginning in 2010, the designs on the reverse (tails side) of the US Mint America the Beautiful Quarters will rotate five times each year, with the final (56th ) coin in the series being released in 2021. The coins' obverse (heads) will feature a restored version of the familiar 1932 portrait of George Washington, including subtle details and the beauty of the original model.
"From Mt. Hood National Forest in Oregon to White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire, America's landscape is blessed with unmatched beauty," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who oversees the US Forest Service, said. "Our National Forests are national treasures and honoring them is an important step in preserving them for future generations."