[1] The forest contains about 30 species of woody plants, labeled and planted in a park-like setting, including Scots pine, ponderosa pine, Siberian larch, Black Hills spruce, Elaeagnus, and Rocky Mountain juniper.
The forest was established in 1931 on a site extensively over-plowed and overgrazed during the early part of the 20th century, leaving wind-blown sand dunes and economic hardship.
It was originally envisioned as part of a grand plan by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to plant a 100-mile (160 km) wide "shelterbelt zone" from North Dakota to north Texas to reduce wind erosion and eliminate dust storms, as well as provide local employment in the Great Depression via a jobs program.
This grand vision never came to pass, and the forest was established with the more modest goals of determining which types of shelterbelt trees would grow well in the northern Great Plains, which seed sources within species are best adapted for the region, and which methods of tree establishment are most effective for shelterbelts.
It is no longer being used for research, although it currently provides approximately 500,000 seedlings per year for wind protection of crops and communities throughout the United States and Canada.