August 4, 2026

One US Forest Service Map App, Every National Forest and Grassland

By Sunny Fleming and Geoff Wade

Gordie Blum has spent his career in America’s national forests. Now Acting Associate Deputy Chief, he knows what those lands hold—165,000 miles of trails and 193 million acres of mountains, grasslands, wild rivers, and high country. These public lands draw more than 164 million visits a year for fishing, hunting, hiking, camping, and the kind of off-road vehicle riding that national parks don’t offer. With interest in access to nature growing, the agency has been working toward creating a single map-based guide that helps visitors navigate and make the most of what’s out there.

The Forest Service has needed this for a long time, Blum said. Visitors want to know where to go, how to get there, what to consider. Are there closures? Fire hazards? The questions are basic. The answers were scattered.

The National Forests and Grasslands app changes that: one application, authoritative Forest Service data, every national forest and grassland in the country. Offline maps that work where cell service ends. Real-time conditions from live agency feeds. A design built around how visitors plan a trip.

From Many to One

The Forest Service had built digital capability over the years: regional apps, forest-level tools, an interactive visitor map, a tour platform. Each served a purpose. But maintaining separate applications across a system this large was costly, and the experience depended on which forest a visitor was headed to and which tool they happened to find.

Chase Martin, the app’s product owner and a digital communications specialist with the Forest Service, describes the goal: take what was working, understand what visitors expected, and build one application that delivers it consistently.

The team studied the National Park Service app, which had earned strong reviews, and used it as a baseline for what visitors expect from a federal recreation app. The Forest Service’s own ambitions and data assets shaped the ArcGIS mobile approach.

Commercial trail apps are useful. But their data is often user generated. “This is the authoritative data for where this trail, where this site, is positioned on national forest lands,” Martin said. “This is the up-to-date data about uses, amenities, and conditions. That’s what we’re providing.”

A Montana sunset is reflected in the waters at Flathead National Forest, one of thousands of recreation sites the app helps visitors discover, plan for, and find their way to.
A closer look at Silvertip Trailhead in Flathead National Forest shows exactly what the app tracks: avalanche danger, active closures, and site conditions, all updated in real time.
A rider in Green Mountain National Forest drops into a fern-lined single-track path, the kind of trail now searchable and downloadable through the app before anyone leaves cell coverage.
From trail alerts to turn-by-turn detail, the app brings Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests to your pocket. Download offline maps, check fire danger by district, and pull up specs like mileage and grade for routes such as Deerfield Ridge.

Data That Already Exists

The app draws from two sources that are already part of the agency’s daily operations—no new data entry required.

The first is the Enterprise Data Warehouse—the EDW public data site—which holds the agency’s full inventory of recreation resources: trails, rec sites, wilderness areas, roads, motor vehicle use data. Aaron Dueck, the app’s lead developer, has worked with this data for years. A geographic information system (GIS) specialist since the late 1990s, he ran mobile GIS programs for the Bureau of Land Management for 17 years before joining the Forest Service. Dueck indicated that trails and rec sites are the primary layers now, with more data in the works.

And the second source is the agency’s web content—alerts, conditions, closures, and seasonal access changes that local public affairs officers update daily. That content flows into the app automatically.

“There is no third spot to update information,” Martin said. “It’s consistent across the entire nation.”

The app is designed to make data updates easier for staff, with no added workload. Beyond internal feeds, the app pulls National Weather Service reports, authoritative fire data, and select information about other nearby public lands. The app road map includes location-aware alerts and closure orders.

“We’re drawing from multiple authoritative sources, and the app brings it all together,” Dueck said.

Fall color rings a lake deep in Superior National Forest, the largest national forest east of the Mississippi and an illustration of how much ground the app now puts at your fingertips.
The app gives Superior National Forest its own home base, with zone-by-zone fire danger information, a rundown of things to do, and a direct link to reserve campsites and cabins.
Zoomed in to Eldorado National Forest, the map is filled in with campgrounds, boat launches, picnic areas, and lodging—all pinned and ready to tap.
Granite ridgelines rise above the tree line in Eldorado National Forest, terrain that draws hikers to trailheads now searchable right in the app.
From the forest’s overview page to a live trail-density map to a curated list of hikes, the app helps anyone plan a trip to Eldorado National Forest.

Offline, by Design

The Forest Service manages the world’s largest trail system—165,000 miles, motorized and nonmotorized, connecting rural communities to economic activity and urban populations to landscapes many don’t know they can reach. About 70 percent of Americans live within two hours of a national forest. National forests offer things many national parks don’t—off-road vehicle riding, equestrian trails, and wild and scenic river access. Large portions have limited or no cell coverage, which makes an offline-capable map more than a convenience.

The FS Base Map—the Forest Service’s authoritative cartographic product—can be downloaded for each individual national forest. The app adds map packages with recreation sites and trails data, delivered through ArcGIS Online infrastructure for offline use. GPS on the device handles location when there’s no network. The blue dot keeps you oriented.

“The app fits our goal to do a better job spreading the word about what we do and what we provide,” Blum said.

Search a forest and photographs appear, terrain becomes navigable, sites that lacked any digital presence become findable. “All of our national forests have places that are just great to get out and enjoy,” Blum said. “You can have a really special day out there, no matter where you go.”

Switch activities and the app switches with you. In Flathead National Forest, that means surfacing fishing access points like Spotted Bear Compound alongside public hunting lands.
An off-highway vehicle climbs slickrock in Manti-La Sal National Forest, with the La Sal Mountains rising behind, the kind of environment that attracts riders to a forest built for multiple uses.
Manti-La Sal National Forest spans Utah and Colorado, and the app shows it with fire restrictions by district, activities like biking and off-highway vehicle riding, and group campground details.

Real-time fire information, local public notices, and emergency closures are available when connected. These alerts help visitors plan before they head out and stay aware when they have a signal.

“We hope to reach as many people as we possibly can with this app,” Dueck said. “Having a solid cloud-based infrastructure has been helpful to get this app out the door.”

Built to Grow

The app launched in June 2026 during Great Outdoors Month, timed to appear on National Trails Day. Version 1.0 was designed to set the foundation. The approach as Blum said was to “cover the basics, get it out there, and grow from there.”

Version 1.2 will add wilderness areas, wild and scenic rivers, and expanded motor vehicle use data. Version 2.0 will add tour guide functionality, giving visitors a curated sense of what makes each forest worth the trip. Reservations already connect to rec.gov: Find a campground, tap a button, and the reservation system opens in context.

For visitors heading into areas with no signal, the map in their pocket reflects the same data the agency uses—current, authoritative, and specific to where they are.

“Put the phone down, listen to nature, recharge,” Blum said. “You can stay connected to the degree you need to.”

Download the app. Download the map. The public forests and grasslands await your visit.

Explore how GIS supports outdoor recreation and public lands access.

Sunny Fleming

Sunny Fleming serves as the Director of Conservation Solutions at Esri. Her career has been shaped by a consistent theme of applying GIS to solve real‑world challenges across conservation, environmental regulation, and parks and recreation management. From monitoring species and natural resources in the field to supporting agencies in policy development, asset management, and strategy, GIS has been central to her work at every stage. She has a passion for uniting these interconnected disciplines and advancing their role in conservation efforts around the world, and she is committed to building a global community of GIS practitioners who collaborate, innovate, and support conservation through shared expertise and geospatial insight.

Geoff Wade

Geoff Wade has more than 25 years of experience in applying technology to the business and operational challenges of natural resources companies. He began his career as a geologist and has held marketing management roles at Esri for more than two decades. Geoff takes an active role in the petroleum and mining sectors, and helps coordinate Esri’s activities across the wider natural resources sector.