Trees have burned millions of acres of forest across the United States in recent years, but many affected forests are about to be replanted.
This year alone, millions of acres of forest have already burned to some extent in the US. Although many forests can regenerate naturally, fires Violent storms can leave behind barren landscapes that remain treeless for decades. In the last five years, more than 5 million acres have been severely burned.
“Destructive fires in recent years that were burning too hot for forests to grow back quickly have far surpassed the government’s ability to replant trees. This has created a backlog of 4.1 million acres (1.7 million hectares) that needs to be replanted,” government officials said.
However, the task of planting about 1.2 billion trees in a decade will be a challenge, and the US Department of Agriculture will have to quadruple the number of tree seedlings produced by nurseries. Its Forest Service seeks to increase the area of replanted forest from 60,000 acres (24,000 hectares) last year to about 400,000 acres (162,000 hectares) each year at an annual cost of up to $260 million.
Special attention will be paid to western states where wildfires now burn year-round. To prevent replanted forests from going back to being overgrown fire traps, they will need to be replanted to be less dense with trees, said Joe Fargione, director of science for North America at the Nature Conservancy.
Replant trees the smart way
“You have to be smart about where to plant,” Fargione said. “There are some places where the climate has changed enough that the chance of successfully re-establishing the trees is quite low.”
Seedlings in replanted forests will also need to be hardy enough to reach full maturity for these new forests to thrive.
As the climate is changing, the timing is urgent if the country is to ensure that it continues to harbor large numbers of forests that can sustain biodiversity and act as carbon sinks.
“Our forests, rural communities, agriculture and economy are connected through a shared landscape and their very existence is at stake,” said Tom Vilsack, the country’s agriculture secretary. “Only through bold and smart climate action… can we secure their future.”
For Times of Sustainability. Article in English