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I was wondering what would be a good way to go about making
forest templates. I'm not talking about making actual forest, but
making standard pieces that may or may not connect together
(depending on your advice) that would represent forest on a table.
That way we wouldn't have to worry about removing trees to move
models through the terrain, etc.

Two ways I've made them:

1) the easier: foamboard.  Easy to cut, bevel the edges, use a little lightweight spackle or even glue on the edges to make it stable (and less likely to be damaged)

2) the harder: MDF board (or pressboard, or whatever its called).  This is a thin, hard board available in Home Depot, in either a 2x3 sheet or a 4x6 sheet (iirc).  This stuff won't warp and offers a nice solid base.  Again, the edges need to be sanded down.  I say this is harder because you need some heavy duty cutting tools to work it (I use a table saw, circular saw, or jigsaw).  I do know others have used hand tools.

For the trees, I base mine on the flat dread bases (60mm?) from GW, glue the tree to the base, then put it on the larger 'forest' base.  that way, you can move the trees out of the way when you move through.  Makes it nice and easy. 

Hope this helps

THis si probably not what you are wanting, but: I made a lot of forests for our local group. I made a couple as shown in the GW modeling guide- large base with trees around the edge, smaller base that fits inside, completely covered with trees. Then I made a lot of smaller sets, the bases are about 2x3 and 3x4, roughly figure-eight shapes, with tree to six trees on each.

I made the bases from foamcore, bevelling the edges, and covering them the bases with pine bark & sand. I used Woodland Sceneics pine trees.

When we actually use them on the table, what usually happens these days is, we put down a template of brown felt, then scatter the trees around inside. The felt defines the actually area of the terrain, and the trees can be moved or removed as necessary to position units. The little-base-on-a-big-base sets quickly got separated and are used much the same now as the smaller bases; and they were never that convenient to use in the first place.

For your purposes, perhaps you could buy a 1/2 yard or so of camo fabric and cut it to a standard size and shape. When I made the little figure-eights, I tried to make them so they would fit together without being regular enough to use when guessing ranges, etc. You can store a lot of cloth in a small space, and cloth doesn't slide around on a felt tabletop the way hardboard, cardboard, and foamcore do.

Cloth is a neat idea. Back when my brother and I used to play in the house
I'd use construction paper cut in those very shapes that you describe. Just
wondering what options I have now.

why not try printing a picture of treetops and pasting it over a sheet of mdf board(worked up uneven and all)?
It might look a little stupid but at least you will save space and time

Your local stationery shop will stock a vast variety of folders with strong flexible plastic covers, in particular the 'clear books' full of transparent page pockets. You can often buy these very cheaply on sale. I bought a pile of green ones for about a buck each, cut up the covers into random rounded shapes - voila, a lifetime supply of unbreakable forest templates. Blue makes great rivers, grey makes great rubble or roads, etc. They all look better with some trees/buildings/whatever scattered on top, but if necessary they can be played with all by themselves.