State tree nurseries start reforestation push
Over the next few years, state tree nurseries across the country will build new greenhouses, expand irrigation systems, upgrade seeding equipment and bring on staff.
They’re hoping to turn millions of new federal dollars into millions of new seedlings — part of a collaborative effort to reforest landscapes threatened by climate change.
“We’re going to need so many seedlings,” Homer Wilkes, undersecretary for natural resources and environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told Stateline. “Helping states get where they need to be is going to be cheaper and more efficient and is going to meet our goals and needs faster, than if the Forest Service tried to build these nurseries ourselves.”
Earlier this year, the department announced $10 million to support reforestation work, funded by the infrastructure law that passed in 2021. That law will provide more money for states in the years to come, as well as for federal nursery programs.
About $4.5 million of the $10 million went to 29 state and territorial nursery programs, which Wilkes called a “down payment” to kickstart seedling production and determine where future investments should be made.
Forestry experts say state-run nurseries play a crucial role in reforestation, one that has lagged because of underinvestment in recent decades. In addition to supplying seedlings for state lands, they often serve private forest landowners, who own the largest share of the nation’s forests.
Those 10 million forest landowners have typically relied on state nurseries for seedlings after timber harvests, wildfires and other disturbances. Unlike commercial nurseries, state programs often take small orders on short notice, and they grow more tree species.
But in recent decades, many state nursery programs have been shut down or reduced. Nursery managers say state leaders don’t want to run afoul of private nurseries, which are wary of state-funded competition. Many state nurseries also must meet their own revenue needs through seedling sales, a struggle on the unpredictable market.
State nursery managers say they’ve long been making do with old equipment and understaffed programs, even as wildfires, droughts, pest infestations and other challenges caused by climate change have upped the need for reforestation. Private foresters say the cutbacks in state production have made it difficult to get the seedlings they need.
But now the tide could be turning. While the feds make massive investments in national forests, they say they can’t succeed unless state nurseries start growing as well. The newfound funding, states say, will allow them to scale up and make their operations more efficient.
“We’ve been duct taping and baling wiring for a long time,” said Kacey KC, state forester for the Nevada Division of Forestry, which operates two tree nurseries. “We’ve been trying to ramp up our production, but it’s been hard because our facilities are so small compared to the need that’s out there.”