Polaris Inc. and the National Forest Foundation have awarded more than $113,000 to five trail-improvement and conservation projects through the 2025 Polaris Fund, aiming to upgrade visitor infrastructure and encourage responsible riding across U.S. National Forests.
The grant program began in 2021 after Polaris pledged $5 million over five years to the NFF. Previous rounds have financed projects in Vermont, Texas and Arizona, supporting trail restoration, reforestation, visitor safety and rider-education initiatives.
Among this year’s recipients, the Navigate Responsibly Project in Arizona’s Coconino National Forest will install a network of signs along highways and other busy corridors. The new markers will channel off-highway-vehicle (OHV) users toward approved routes while warning against trespass into fragile terrain.
The new signage is designed to guide motorized visitors to approved areas and protect natural resources.
For private campgrounds and RV parks operating along the same travel corridors, the signage upgrade doubles as a marketing playbook. Operators can mirror the Forest Service iconography on in-park kiosks, post QR codes that download the same GPX tracks riders see on public land, fold a five-minute responsible-riding video into every check-in, and co-sponsor volunteer trail-maintenance days.
Each tactic supports a seamless guest journey, reduces front-desk congestion and can translate into longer stays and repeat bookings.
The four additional 2025 grants will: add trail markers, signs and winter maps in Lassen National Forest, Calif.; replace decking on two snowmobile bridges in White Mountain National Forest, N.H.; rebuild Alpine Loop information kiosks in Colorado’s Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests; and pave the entrance, stripe lanes and expand parking at the Turkey Bay OHV area in Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, Ky.
“Polaris is committed to having a positive impact on the places where people use our products and the Polaris Fund for Outdoor Recreation Grants with the NFF are one of the many ways this comes to life,” said Pam Kermisch, chief customer and growth officer and president of the Polaris Foundation. “The grants support essential initiatives such as trail restoration, conservation and responsible riding education, to help enable future generations to create lasting outdoor memories.”
Company officials frame the effort as brand stewardship: as Kermisch states, these efforts are about having a positive impact on the places where people use Polaris products.
The conservation theme also offers low-friction sustainability cues for parks that welcome OHV guests. Hardening staging pads with gravel, installing wash stations fitted with oil-water separators, enforcing quiet-time engine curfews, adding solar lockers for emerging electric side-by-sides and recycling greywater from wash areas all demonstrate eco-conscious land management while keeping maintenance costs in check.
“We are thankful for our long-standing partnership with Polaris,” said Dieter Fenkart-Froeschl, president and CEO of the National Forest Foundation. “Our shared passion for outdoor recreation leads us to collaborate on meaningful projects that help some of the 170 million yearly visitors to National Forests have a more enjoyable time outside.”
For outdoor-hospitality businesses, the public-land upgrades represent a ready-made collaboration point. Aligning private way-finding, guest education and volunteer events with the Polaris-funded projects can strengthen community ties, safeguard trail networks and support healthier bottom lines heading into the 2026 grant cycle.