According to Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, forests across the United States (US) face unprecedented challenges from wildfires, natural disasters, and insect and disease outbreaks. In response, the US Department of Agriculture announced a $10 million investment in forest nursery and native seed partnerships, funded by President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Grand Teton Reflections from Oxbow Bend, Grand Teton National Park Wyoming.
Of the total funding, $4.5 million is invested in 29 facilities from states, US Island territories, and commonwealths to modernise forest nurseries. In addition, $5.3 million will help increase native seed collection and availability to support resilient ecosystems in national forests and grasslands.
The investment aims to meet the growing demand for reforestation in the US. According to The Nature Conservancy’s Reforestation Hub, up to 146 million acres of land in the US could benefit from reforestation, translating to a need for more than 75 billion trees. At their current production level, nurseries can produce about 1.4 billion trees annually, which means it would take more than 50 years to meet that need.
The investment will help build capacity across public and private lands to meet mounting reforestation demands and complement the recently announced $35 million investment in Forest Service nurseries in support of the National Forest System Reforestation Strategy. The facilities, programmes, and partnerships selected for funding will receive support that can be used to purchase new equipment, replace ageing infrastructure, and adopt new methods to boost nursery productivity.
Read more: Impact of reforestation on biodiversity
Working closely with several tribes, the Forest Service will provide funding to assist in modernising existing nursery programmes. This investment will also help address the need for more than just tree seedlings, especially in post-fire landscapes, where restoration requires a variety of native grasses, flowers, and shrubs.
The investment will also increase native seed collection, which is essential to successful ecological restoration. The insufficient supply of native seeds of known provenance has been identified as a significant barrier to successful ecological restoration by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. The investment will help ensure that the nation's restoration needs are met.
This investment is another step in the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service's efforts to protect and restore national forests and grasslands in the face of environmental challenges. The Forest Service provides direct technical assistance to improve reforestation, restoration, and conservation. This technical assistance extends to governments, communities, and organisations across public and private lands, both in the US and around the world.
Vilsack said, ‘The Biden-Harris administration is making a forward-thinking investment in the nation’s reforestation pipeline and ensuring we have the capacity we need to restore the healthy and resilient forests that we all treasure.’
The investment is a critical step towards building capacity to meet the growing demand for reforestation in the US. It will help restore and protect healthy and resilient forests.
The need for reforestation is also growing worldwide, as forests are deeply interconnected with our livelihoods, food supply, health, and economy. Therefore, at DGB Group, we design and manage large-scale global reforestation and afforestation projects. We work with businesses, governments, investors, and individuals to find nature-based solutions that meet their budgets and goals.
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