American Forests announced a first-of-its-kind $20 million keystone agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service to help the agency organize and rapidly scale climate-adapted reforestation across millions of burned and degraded acres over the next five years.
Powered by the historic REPLANT Act, the comprehensive partnership will enable American Forests to aid the Forest Service to quickly assess, prioritize and plan for reforestation needs, fill gaps in climate-resilient restoration planning and bolster reforestation planning by expanding nursery production, growing the forestry workforce and increasing seed collection capabilities.
Activities under the partnership will include helping the Forest Service develop a climate-informed reforestation action plan for each region. The partners will also collaborate to engage and expand workforce and partnership opportunities with tribes and states, as well as rural and disadvantaged communities.
With this additional capacity, the Forest Service is now positioned to help address an estimated backlog of at least four million acres of National Forest System land in need of reforestation – a number that has jumped due to recent increases in severe wildfire.
Across the U.S., a growing backlog of National Forest System lands need reforestation, driven in significant part by the escalating impact of climate change on U.S. forests. Large, high-severity wildfires are driving 81% of reforestation need on national forests, outpacing the agency’s capacity to restore these lands following such fires. Prior to the REPLANT Act, the Forest Service had only been able to address 6% of the reforestation backlog each year.
Building from the Forest Service’s National Reforestation Strategy, American Forests and the agency will develop 10-year REPLANT Act implementation plans designed to bring about tailored reforestation solutions for each region of the National Forest System. This new agreement provides a strategic launch point for implementing these solutions.
American Forests is the first national nonprofit conservation organization created in the U.S. Since its founding in 1875, the organization has been the pathfinders for the forest conservation movement.
