The partnership between American Forests and the U.S. Forest Service is powered by the REPLANT Act, the largest-ever investment in reforestation of America’s public lands. Wildfires in 2020 and 2021 more than doubled the acreage that needs to be reforested, from 1.5 million to 3 million, making this investment even more critical. Photo Credit: Andrew Studer / American Forests

AMERICAN FORESTS is launching into a new era of national and global leadership that reflects our proud 148-year history. I am writing as I fly back from the COP28 climate talks in Dubai, where we leveraged America’s leadership on Tree Equity and climate-resilient reforestation to spark a global movement in both areas.

We worked to help secure billions of dollars for this work in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. And since last summer, American Forests has signed major new agreements to help implement those funds in partnership with agencies across the federal government. These include our $50 million Tree Equity Catalyst Initiative and Fund and an agreement with the National Park Service to restore the federally listed whitebark pine in 10 iconic national parks.

We are shifting from movement building to mobilization. All of American Forests’ skills and capacities can assist these federal efforts, from multi-partner facilitation and community engagement to forest science, project management and workforce development.

Among our new initiatives, one stands out for its unprecedented scope: our Keystone Agreement with the U.S. Forest Service to co-lead implementation of the REPLANT Act for climate-resilient reforestation across America’s national forests. In this co-leadership role, we will pursue three key activities: facilitating a process with each Forest Service region to assess and prioritize reforestation and develop a 10-year action plan; collaborating on climate-resilient reforestation plans customized for each region; and leading the effort to build out the reforestation supply chain to provide the people and inputs needed for each step of the process, including seeds and seedlings.

This new partnership will be powered by funding from the REPLANT Act, legislation that American Forests conceived and worked into law through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act so the Forest Service would have funding that matches the scale of the climate-fueled reforestation crisis on our national forests. The REPLANT Act provides the Forest Service with unfettered access to a permanent Reforestation Trust Fund that can provide as much as a ten-fold increase over prior funding levels.

I’m proud that American Forests has been preparing for this by developing globally leading approaches to climate-resilient reforestation and figuring out how to scale them up. Climate-resilient reforestation requires selecting the right tree species with the right genetic composition and planting them in the right ways on each site to match our new climate reality. You can think of this as “pre-storing” forests for the future instead of “restoring” them for our climatic past.

We’ve been particularly successful in deploying this new approach to climate-resilient reforestation on national forests and other federal lands in California, where the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, CALFIRE, American Forests, Salesforce and other partners have come together to develop climate-resilient reforestation plans for severely damaged areas such as the Camp Fire burn scar.

These plans identify microsites of natural resilience and prescribe a climate-adapted mixture of tree species. To enhance the resilience of these trees, we grow seedlings from seed sourced from trees that show natural resilience to disease, pests, and hotter, drier climate conditions. We strategically design the density, grouping and spacing of trees on these sites to facilitate “good fire,” including prescribed fire, while reducing the chance of catastrophic burns that leave behind only dead trees and devastated soils.

The Keystone Agreement between American Forests and the Forest Service will help address a backlog of more than 4 million damaged acres through reforestation on our national forests over the next five years. Photo Credit: Andrew Studer / American Forests

To build a complete reforestation supply chain, we must attend to sometimes-overlooked details such as collecting enough seed and growing enough seedlings to match the specifications in our science-based plans. This will be powered by innovations like our California Cone Corps that is training and deploying young people to help fill a yawning gap in seed supplies, and our new nursery partnerships across the American West with private landowners, tribes and others.

We can’t do this big job alone, and part of our service leadership role is to create opportunities for states, tribes, NGOs and community-based organizations to help.

American Forests’ corporate partners such as The Coca-Cola Foundation, AES and Clif Bar will be supercharging their support through our new REPLANT initiative, designed to support all aspects of our role under the Keystone Agreement. The U.S. Chapter of 1t.org led by American Forests will act as an “Implementation Hub” that helps all of our partners find their place.

We urgently need climate-resilient national forests to sustain the vital benefits they provide — carbon sequestration, clean drinking water, wildlife habitat, recreation and much more. Climate-resilient reforestation at this scale has implications even beyond the U.S. Every country on Earth urgently needs to figure this out. With our national forests out front, America and American Forests are ready to show the way. Thanks as always for your generous support that helps us make it happen.

For more news and updates from Jad, follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @JadDaley

The post A new era of leadership appeared first on American Forests.

Elizabeth Pansing, director of forest and restoration science with American Forests, and Samantha Higgins, biological science technician with the National Park Service, directly plant seeds in Yellowstone National Park within an area marked by a 9-by-9-inch PVC pipe frame. Photo Credit: Jacob W. Frank / National Park Service

A technician digs into the ground using a hori-hori tool, preparing to drop in two whitebark pine seeds. The technique mimics the way a Clark’s nutcracker might create a seed cache using its beak. Photo Credit: Jacob W. Frank / National Park Service

IN AN OPEN MEADOW on the side of Mount Washburn in Yellowstone National Park, Samantha Higgins, a biological science technician with the National Park Service, crouches next to a 9-by-9-inch PVC pipe frame. Using a small knife tool called a hori-hori, she scratches into the ground about 2 inches to create an opening. She deposits two brown seeds — each the size of a small kernel of corn — and pinches the soil together before moving to the next site.

In this way, Higgins imitates the Clark’s nutcracker, an ashy grey bird with a penchant for plucking whitebark pine seeds from their tightly wound cones and depositing them into caches around the landscape.

While the nutcracker may intend to return for its high-calorie snack, the caches are so scattered and numerous that many seeds are forgotten. Some of these stragglers germinate — spawning a new generation of whitebark pine trees. In nature, it is only through the Clark’s nutcracker’s seed distribution that whitebark pine reproduces.

Old whitebark pine and meadows surround Higgins and her cache. The standing dead snags tell the stories of a mix of disturbances the park has experienced over the decades: wildfires, mountain pine beetles and white pine blister rust. The latter is an invasive fungus that slowly throttles whitebark pine and has become its greatest threat in recent years. These stressors have contributed to the decline of whitebark pine across its range. In December 2022, it was registered as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Beyond the trees are the rolling hills of Yellowstone, where healthy and regenerating forests of spruce and fir overlook spectacular vistas. Chipmunks and squirrels scurry across logs and debris. Bison occasionally wander through the clearing. And Clark’s nutcrackers are everywhere, harvesting whitebark pine and conducting their fall ritual of creating seed caches in preparation for winter.

A Clark’s nutcracker holds a whitebark pine seed in its beak. As whitebark pine trees in core restoration areas mature and develop cones, the nutcracker will aid recovery by extracting the seeds and dispersing them across the landscape. Photo Credit: Keith Roper

“Everything is alive this time of the year. It is a very lively ecosystem,” says Elizabeth Pansing, director of forest and restoration science for American Forests.

It’s an area Pansing knows well. She conducted much of her doctoral field work around Mount Washburn. But her interest in the present activities really stems from her master’s research on direct seeding.

Whereas typical planting methods rely on 2-year-old seedlings that have been grown in a nursery, direct seeding is a restoration method that involves planting whitebark pine seeds directly into the ground

In 2012 through 2018, Pansing conducted a large trial of direct seeding under the guidance of her advisor, Diana Tomback, through the University of Colorado, Denver. The initial results suggested this method may offer a potential alternative to planting whitebark pine seedlings in remote areas.

TESTING DIRECT SEEING ON A NATIONAL PARK SCALE

Hillary Robison, deputy chief for the Yellowstone Center for Resources with Yellowstone National Park, became interested in Pansing’s direct-seeding work after the two spoke on a panel in early 2023.

White pine blister rust has been particularly damaging for the surrounding Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which includes Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. There, 20 years of monitoring have found 34% of mature whitebark pine are infected with blister rust. Recent restoration efforts have focused on replanting whitebark using seedlings grown from seeds sourced from parent trees with demonstrated genetic resistance to white pine blister rust. Robison saw the potential to build on Pansing’s research and test the effectiveness of direct seeding disease-resistant seeds in remote areas of the park.

“The research by Dr. Pansing and Dr. Tomback shows that direct seeding works,” Robison says. “So, we wanted to take that to the next level and see if it works at scale.”

Pansing and Rebecca Harris with the National Park Service conduct direct seeding trials in Grand Teton National Park. Photo Credit: C.J. Adams / National Park Service

Whitebark pine habitat is notoriously difficult to access, with stands often growing in rocky high-elevation areas. According to Laura Jones, branch chief of vegetation management with Grand Teton National Park, direct seeding can make it easier to access these remote locations by eliminating the need for transporting large, bulky quantities of seedlings.

“Hiking in takes people and energy,” Jones says. “When we start to talk about bringing in seedlings, you’re bringing in the weight of the seedlings and the soil, so getting them to their destination isn’t as easy. The tools to get them in are heavier, because you need to dig bigger holes for seedlings. You start looking at needing helicopters to get your gear up there.”

In comparison, on a recent site visit near Amphitheater Lake, Jones and technicians carried 2 pounds of seed — exactly 7,132 seeds — 3 miles into the back country, a 3,000-foot elevation gain.

“It potentially opens up massive tracts of land that would otherwise not be considered for reforestation or planting,” Pansing says.

There are other benefits to direct seeding too, including the ability to harvest and plant seeds quickly. Pansing says seeds from cones collected in the fall can be processed and planted by the following summer, as opposed to waiting for seedlings to grow in a nursery first. Additionally, Jones points out that the digging involved in direct seeding creates less environmental disturbance compared to planting seedlings.

“Planting a seed 1 inch into the ground is kind of a minimalist approach in a way,” Jones says. “That has appeal for human resources, financial resources and other values you have in the park and in the wilderness.”

Pansing and Laura Jones, branch chief of vegetation management with Grand Teton National Park, measure the slope angle of a seeded site. The data will help the researchers understand if slope may impact the outcomes of direct seeding. Photo Credit: C.J. Adams / National Park Service

Jones is one of many land managers from national parks across the American West who Robison recently led to create a five-year master agreement funded by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The agreement enables the parks to work with American Forests on a variety of whitebark pine restoration projects, including seed collection, genetic testing and planting.

“We decided this was an innovation we wanted to try. Having an opportunity like this is really a windfall for parks,” Robison says.

For Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier National Parks, the focus for now is direct seeding. This year, direct seeding trials began in Yellowstone and Grand Teton, where technicians planted more than 2,600 caches total. Seeding is expected to occur in Glacier in the next year.

AN EXPERIMENT IN RESTORATION

Direct seeding won’t replace seedling planting, but Pansing hopes it will become a complimentary tool for reforestation.

For now, the method is still experimental.

Planting site selection is determined by the National Whitebark Pine Restoration Plan, a science-informed strategy recently developed to guide restoration of whitebark pine across the United States portion of its range. The plan identifies core areas where conservation and restoration should take place, with the expectation that as restored populations mature and bear cones, Clark’s nutcrackers will aid further recovery by dispersing seeds beyond the core areas.

The technicians use maps showing randomly selected locations to plant caches, to which they navigate using GPS.

“In order to make this inferentially sound, we need to randomly select locations in this core area,” Pansing says.

Pansing and the team are also comparing the outcomes of direct seeding in different conditions to better understand what types of sites are optimal for a seed to germinate and survive. Some of the seeds are planted next to stumps, rocks or trees — microsites that offer protection from the wind and other elements. Other seeds are planted in open areas.

Some of the planting locations are marked so the researchers can later return and monitor any growth. Eight-inch nail spikes driven into the ground on either side of the PVC pipe frame mark where the seeds have been deposited. Those nails remain, and the location is marked using GPS. Year after year, the researchers can return to the site and fit the PVC frame over the nails to monitor any development that has occurred.

Success may not be immediately observable. Whitebark pine is known for delayed germination. Seeds can stay dormant in the ground for as long as 9 years. Once a seed germinates, it will emerge an inch or two tall, with a small stem and vibrant coloring ranging from purple to green. Seven to nine fledgling needles will curl up into a bowl shape, from which the growth will emerge.

By gathering data during annual monitoring visits, Pansing, Robison and Jones will hone in on best practices for direct seeding.

Hillary Robison, deputy chief of Yellowstone Center for Resources, points out verbenone pouches attached to mature whitebark pine trees. Pheromones in the pouches help ward off destructive mountain pine beetles by tricking them into believing the tree is already occupied. Photo Credit: C.J. Adams / National Park Service

“It will take some additional trial and error to understand better,” Jones says. “This happens across ecological restoration and it’s why monitoring is so important.”

Pansing already made note of one change she’ll make to the methodology after observing Clark’s nutcrackers, squirrels and chipmunks actively moving around the landscape in pursuit of seeds.

“There are more small animals pilfering and caching ripe whitebark pine seeds this time of the year in preparation for winter,” Pansing says. “In future years, if we do the direct seeding earlier in the season, I suspect we’ll see less of our cached seed stolen by animals.”

Liane O’Neill writes from Portland, Ore., and serves as American Forests’ senior brand manager for Resilient Forests.

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Volunteers work their way across 12 acres of former agricultural land to plant 12,000 seedlings over the course of four hours. To the right grows a thriving thornforest, which was planted during Rio Reforestation in 2016. Photo Credit: Jeremy Inglesi Jr. / American Forests

The 29th annual Rio Reforestation, a community planting event, has drawn more than 700 volunteers to this location. In the next four hours, they will plant 12,000 seedlings representing 32 different species. The effort is sorely needed. Less than 10% of the subtropical thornforests that once blanketed the Rio Grande Valley remain. Swaths of these woodlands were cleared decades ago for agriculture, and creeping urbanization, climate change and changes to the hydrology of the Rio Grande River continue to slowly eat away at this ecosystem, stressing the remaining forest.

“Thornforests serve both community and ecosystem resilience,” says Jon Dale, director of Texas and Mexico with American Forests. “We have over 500 bird species and 1,200 plant species here in the region. At the end of the day, so much of that biodiversity is dependent on just this ecosystem.”

Cars and buses begin to arrive as staff with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, American Forests and other partners finish setting up. School children tumble out, along with small families, community volunteer groups, college students from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and local Girl Scout troops. They claim shovels and watch a demonstration on how to plant before walking far into the field where rows of colorful crates hold seedlings waiting to be planted. Holes are dug, the seedlings are lifted and placed, and gloved hands gently fill in the soil.

Volunteers crouch down near a crate full of seedlings. Each crate holds a mixed variety of species. In total, 32 different species are planted during Rio Reforestation 2023. Photo Credit: Jeremy Inglesi Jr. / American Forests

Adjacent to the site, a mature Tamaulipan thornforest sways in the distance. Seven years ago, the land looked much like its neighboring bare counterpart. But since the site was planted during the 2016 Rio Reforestation, orderly rows have grown into a chaotic thicket of species like Texas ebony, tenaza, Wright’s acacia and snake eyes. Deer have moved onto the land, birds are nesting and butterflies tease nectar from flowering shrubs. It’s the perfect habitat. The perfect thornforest.

BUILDING ECOSYSTEM AND COMMUNITY RESILIENCE

This year is a particularly remarkable one for Rio Reforestation. The event was put on hold for three years following the COVID-19 pandemic. And while smaller planting projects occurred in the surrounding area, none had the large regional draw and impact of Rio Reforestation, which the Fish and Wildlife Service and American Forests began planning once more in early 2023.

According to Dale, there was an urgency to bring back the event, which gives attendees the opportunity to interact with, support and learn about the native thornforests. Thornforests provide critical social, economic and environmental benefits to the region, such as mitigating flooding and supporting an abundance of wildlife that drive ecotourism from all over the world. Yet few locals have the opportunity to engage with it in their everyday lives because such little of this native ecosystem remains.

“It’s so often in this community here that people don’t have an active piece of the conservation of this habitat,” Dale says. “By coming together as citizens and doing this community event, we’re actually giving some of that back.”

Romeo Garcia, manager of the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, stops for a break. Garcia and Jad Daley, president and CEO of American Forests, announced a $10 million contract agreement, under which American Forests will help ramp up conservation in the Valley over the next four years. Photo Credit: Jeremy Inglesi Jr. / American Forests

As community members come together to dig and plant, they learn about the importance of thornforests, an experience the organizers hope will help establish connections with the ecosystem and inspire advocacy.

“Rio Reforestation has a really special meaning,” says Romeo Garcia, manager of the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge with the Fish and Wildlife Service. “There are people who are bringing their grandkids who had the opportunity to plant trees during past community planting events back in the early ‘80s. That means a lot. That means we’re putting memories in people in the community, and they’ll have the curiosity to come back and continue helping us on conservation efforts.”

For volunteer Marisa Oliva, it’s a chance to pass the lesson of conservation on to her daughter Julia.

“I wanted to bring my daughter for the first time to do what we could to help wildlife and restore habitat,” she says. “We do a little bit of this in our own yard, too, because we like bringing wildlife back to our area.”

Gisel Garza, who is currently a project manager for the Lower Rio Grande Valley with American Forests says Rio Reforestation helped guide her career path years ago when she attended the event as a biology major.

Marisa Oliva and her daughter, Julia, smile and pose during a break from planting. This was Julia’s first time attending Rio Reforestation. Photo Credit: Jeremy Inglesi Jr. / American Forests

Gisel Garza, project manager for the Lower Rio Grande Valley with American Forests, plants a seedling at her first Rio Reforestation event in 2019. At the time, she was a college student who was still exploring career pathways. The event helped her meet local land managers and leaders in thornforest conservation, inspiring her later work. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Gisel Garcia

“In college, I knew I liked plants, and I wanted to be a scientist,” she says. “Seeing professionals out there with the Fish and Wildlife Service made me think this was something I wanted to do. Participating this year in my current role meant a lot. It makes me happy to see young kids exposed to Rio Reforestation at an even earlier age. I wish I had been.”

THINKING BIG IN TEXAS

Rio Reforestation is one of American Forests’ largest community plantings, but the organization, which has partnered with the Fish and Wildlife Service on thornforest restoration since 1997, is on the precipice of its greatest impact in the region.

During the event, the partners announced American Forests has been awarded a $10 million contract from the Fish and Wildlife Service to lead conservation in the Valley over the next four years. In addition to reforesting 800 acres — more than 66 times what was achieved during Rio Reforestation — American Forests will also advance thornforest research and create opportunities for locals to access and learn about thornforests in schools and newly developed community forests.

The work, and Rio Reforestation, are part of a greater tidal wave of recent activity that seeks to rewrite the future for thornforests in the Rio Grande Valley through science-based conservation and community involvement. In 2018, a coalition of state and federal agencies, universities, nonprofits and community organizations came together to form the Thornforest Conservation Partnership, which collaborated with American Forests to produce the Thornforest Conservation Plan, a blueprint for ecosystem conservation that is serving as the foundation for activity under the historic new award.

“I feel really proud that we’ve been a catalyst for that coming together, that partnership,” says Jad Daley, president and CEO of American Forests. “Yes, it’s been about getting trees in the ground, but it’s been just as much about building that community collaboration so we can keep doing this again and again. We can get this done at a scale that can bring this whole Valley back to life with thornforests.”

While Rio Reforestation may continue to evolve in shape and scope, one thing is for sure — the event will serve as an annual moment to pause and take in all of the progress for a community that continues to fight to preserve its thornforests.

Liane O’Neill writes from Portland, Ore., and serves as American Forests’ senior brand manager for Resilient Forests.

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Valérie DuFort-Roy and Sudeepto Roy, with their daughter Amélie, make great efforts to keep their home in Del Mar, Calif., as eco-friendly as possible. Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Roy family

TWO DECADES AGO, Sudeepto Roy and his wife Valérie DuFort-Roy saw first-hand the importance and fragility of forests. In 2003, the Cedar Creek Fire ravaged parts of San Diego, where they lived at the time, destroying many structures in the area.

When Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” hit theaters three years later, they immediately understood the significance of the message. Soon after, they looked at their own carbon footprint from waste, energy use and international travel, and realized there was a lot they could do to become part of the solution.

“I was using lots of paper towels,” says Valérie. “We were landfill contributors and were using up trees with no shame. We were a case of people who got educated.”

One action they took was to begin donating to American Forests. They have been doing so since 2006, with Sudeepto’s employer, Qualcomm, matching their gifts dollar-for-dollar.

Other changes have profoundly shifted their way of life. Their household is now in Del Mar, Calif., and paper-towel-free. They also produce almost zero trash, use solar electricity, drive electric vehicles, have energy- and water-saving appliances and fixtures, and recycle and reuse.

They are active locally on environmental issues, with Valérie serving a three-year term on the Sustainability Advisory Committee of the Del Mar City Council. In the role, she helped pass a helium balloon ban in Del Mar as part of a larger regional effort.

Their feeling that forests are an important piece of this puzzle was reinforced in 2007 when the Witch Creek Fire forced them to evacuate their San Diego home. In 2008, they became certified by San Diego County to participate in a community emergency response team. They had noted American Forests’ tree replanting efforts in the state when they first donated and only became more dedicated to the organization in the wake of the second fire. They learned more about the importance of trees for climate mitigation and Tree Equity.

“It’s nature’s inbuilt carbon sequestration,” says Sudeepto. “This is the gift nature has given us.”

As a member of the board of the Del Mar Foundation, which directs some funds towards urban tree planting, he used the Tree Equity Score to challenge his town to compete with local communities on tree cover.

He had seen first-hand the difference tree canopy can make for the livability of urban communities when he visited his mother in India after the COVID-19 pandemic eased. One day, he traveled 5 miles from her multi-story apartment building on the outskirts of a bustling city to an urban forest he remembered from his childhood.

In February 2022, Sudeepto traveled to visit his mother, Mamata Roy, in Vadodara, Gujarat state, India. Credit: Courtesy of the Roy family

The contrast between the city’s concrete jungle and the urban forest only 5 miles away emphasizes for Sudeepto the importance of urban forests. Credit: Courtesy of the Roy family

“I saw peacocks, wild monkeys; it’s just magical,” he remembers. But what really struck him was the 10-degree Fahrenheit difference between his mother’s dwelling and this sylvan oasis.

“I could feel the fresh air and temperature drop,” he says. “The solution is that simple: having trees and forests.”

For both Sudeepto and Valérie, the question is personal, as they see the burden environmental stress places on their 12-year-old daughter and her peers.

“How can we mess it up, wash our hands and just go?” asks Valérie. “We cannot.” The only viable option, says Sudeepto, is to “turn our attention to those things we can do, and do those. Make one change at a time, and it becomes your way of life.”

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(From L to R) American Forests Vice President of Urban Forests Policy Joel Pannell, Senator Cory Booker and American Forests President and CEO Jad Daley together in New Jersey. They were attending the event at which Under Secretary of Natural Resources and Environment Dr. Homer Wilkes announced $250 million in urban and community forestry project funding for states and territories, and the open application period for $1 billion in urban and community forestry projects. Photo Credit: Zach McCue

The Tree Equity Catalyst Initiative and Fund will issue grants to early-stage, innovative urban and community forestry projects and to entities with developed Tree Equity initiatives. American Forests is thrilled not only to receive funding to transform America’s communities but also to work alongside other grant recipients to transform America’s tree canopy and advance climate equity and Tree Equity.

That alone is reason to celebrate — but there’s more! Cities leading in Tree Equity, such as Phoenix, Detroit, Seattle and Providence, R.I., also received urban and community forestry funding. With more than $1 billion awarded by the Forest Service, the Biden-Harris administration is investing in locally led Tree Equity projects to expand and support the health of America’s tree canopy, cool communities and save lives.

American Forests is proud to have partnered with these cities as they embraced formal Tree Equity programs years before the federal opportunity emerged. The success and momentum of early Tree Equity cities helped demonstrate to the government why this scale of funding was needed across the nation.

The City of Phoenix received $10 million for their Roots of Phoenix initiative to fund grants for neighborhood and school tree plantings, ultimately planting thousands of new trees in the hottest large city in the U.S. Photo Credit: Jonathan Elias / Paideia Academies

The City of Seattle received $12.9 million in September to expand community-led urban forestry and workforce development, including job development for youth. Photo Credit: Rachel Terlep / Washington Department of Natural Resources

Although American Forests is assisting the Biden-Harris administration with implementation of this funding, further advocacy work is needed. The massive influx of funding the Urban and Community Forestry Program received is so far a one-time investment into a program that annually receives about $36 million a year — far from enough to maintain the critical work currently being implemented through these projects and support the ongoing work of state and territorial urban and community forestry offices.

In the meantime, the administration continues to pioneer a whole-of-government approach to urban and community forestry, with non-agriculture agencies embracing Tree Equity programs. In November, the Environmental Protection Agency announced an open application period for $2 billion in environmental and climate justice projects in communities and neighborhoods, which will undoubtedly help to expand tree canopy in urban settings with an equity-centric lens.

American Forests will continue to enhance partnerships with cities across the nation by helping them leverage these opportunities as they come. These locally led initiatives offer unprecedented and lasting support for America’s urban and community forests, centering those who call these neighborhoods home.

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On October 12, 2023, students close out the Upward Ground summit in Washington, D.C. by participating in a climate-themed improv game called “Kick ‘Em Out the Classroom.” Photo Credit: Jada M Imani / American Forests

BENEATH Washington D.C.’s golden autumn canopy, the second “Upward Ground: A Nature Equity Experience” unfolded with vibrant energy on October 12, 2023. This half-day summit curated by the U.S. Forest Service gave Ward 8 high school students a chance to learn about green jobs that address the climate crisis and environmental injustices. The event also introduced these young, passionate minds to community leaders and urban forestry professionals.

Upward Ground bridges the gap between aspiration and action, offering students from underserved communities exposure to the skills necessary to shape a greener, more equitable future. This event continued the momentum established in the inaugural event held at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., in April 2023. Here, representatives from the executive leadership team share their experiences at the D.C. summit.

LILLIAN DINKINS

Throughout the planning process of Upward Ground, I was able to connect with other students and professionals. One of my most critical connections was with another student pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Florida. This connection was significant because it’s hard to find other women of color pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Florida. On the day of the event, I was able to meet other organizations that could show me what future routes I could take for a job post-graduation.

Upward Ground has really made me solidify my career path. Being a young professional and surrounded by those who have been in this profession for years has inspired me to continue this path of my Ph.D. and focus on urban forests and communities, specifically communities of color. I could see first-hand how tools such as Tree Equity Score pinpoint neighborhoods in desperate need of tree cover. I learned the importance of virtual reality and how it can be used to see climate change impacts but, more importantly, how it can be used to plan communities for livable spaces.

Students observe a flood-mitigation demonstration performed by the Department of Energy and Environment. Photo Credit: Jada M Imani / American Forests

At American Forests’ booth, students etch their names on a tree disk as part of learning about green careers based on their career personality type. Photo Credit: Jada M Imani / American Forests

ASHANTI ASH

Attending Upward Ground and being a part of the executive leadership team has greatly improved my outlook on my career and future. It was amazing to be surrounded by like-minded individuals who also share my commitment to making green careers accessible for underserved and urban communities. I’m a senior at Howard University, and attending an event like this back in high school would have been so affirming to my goal of designing sustainable and affordable communities to combat the problems we face today.

Growing up in the rural south, most of my memories are shaped by being outside. Appreciating nature is not something that has ever been hard for me. Still, the Upward Ground experience has allowed me to explore career options that protect the places where those special memories were made! Speaking to professionals in the green industry has made me more confident in my abilities to explore the field and better navigate the relationship between architecture and sustainability.

ZAINAB ALI

As an executive leadership team member at Upward Ground, I had the privilege of playing a role in organizing, setting up and hosting this event. It was inspiring to witness young individuals discovering various career paths to chase their environmental aspirations. Upward Ground has left a lasting impact on me in multiple ways. This event not only inspired and motivated me as a Black woman in the climate field but also allowed me to actively contribute to exposing Black youth to the realm of green careers. Additionally, I had the privilege of networking with fellow members of the executive leadership team and numerous professionals from esteemed organizations.

The future of Upward Ground is promising. There is ample opportunity for this summit to expand its reach to engage broader audiences, encompassing emerging fields such as eco-technology and sustainable design, and even include a segment that incorporates elements of research and innovation to encourage students to explore environmental challenges and propose innovative solutions.

A student pictures herself in a green career as part of Project Learning Tree’s booth that explores representations of Black people in the field. Photo Credit: Jada M Imani / American Forests

SHAUN BATES

With my major being psychology, I was studying the intersection of nature and therapy, and how one having exposure to the natural elements around them can actually heal specific mental struggles. Since being exposed to green careers, I see that it is more of a possibility than I realized and is in fact doable. I’ve been to plenty of summits similar to the format of Upward Ground, but to be more behind the scenes and see what goes into an event like that was a fresh perspective. Having to find creative and fun ways to engage the crowd you’re targeting allowed me to think creatively and critically.

Other young people will benefit from Upward Ground because it brings awareness to topics that are otherwise not spoken about or considered in their daily lives. For example, we saw the kids engaging with wood carving using reclaimed wood and leaf species identification. Many received that information for the first time. I don’t think it’s ever insignificant to teach kids about their environment.

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Clockwise from top left: 2022 Grand Prize winner, “Lover of Light,” by Rachel Feinberg; 2021 Grand Prize winner, “Kindred Spirit,” by Dave Shaffer; 2023 Grand Prize winner, “A Lover’s Gift,” by Alyssa Hussey; 2019 Grand Prize winner, “Desert Canvas,” by Everett Bloom.

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In 1940, the National Champion Tree Program was launched in American Forests magazine by noting:

The National Register of Champion Trees currently lists 561 species, including notable Champions such as the planet’s largest living organism, California’s General Sherman Sequoia, a five-story-high saguaro in Arizona and a bald cypress that Indiana Jones would struggle to find deep in the swamps of Arkansas.

“We are excited that the University of Tennessee’s School of Natural Resources will honor the storied legacy of the National Champion Tree Program while bringing innovative new ideas and life to it,” says Ian Leahy, senior advisor for urban forestry with American Forests. “The program succeeds because a core group of passionate supporters have gone to incredible lengths to proudly seek, document and promote these magnificent trees across the land. We hope they will continue to embrace the program as it embarks on a new era embedded in the opportunities that a leading state Champion Tree program and academic research institution provide.”

The university plans to advance the science and understanding of large trees and share that information nationally and globally. This includes preserving their genetic material to discover how a tree becomes a Champion and forging new partnerships with scientists and supporters.

Photo Credit: Aw, Snap

“There’s a lot of questions that we have about the physiology and biology of our largest trees. We don’t really know the upper limits of what these trees can do,” says Jaq Payne, the newly appointed director of the National Champion Tree Program. “So, I think there’s a lot of room for research and collaboration there.”

A Timeline of Champions

1940

The nationwide hunt for the biggest trees in the United States launches with an appeal to the public to find and save the largest of a list of 100 tree species.

Standing 275 feet tall, California’s General Sherman Giant Sequoia is the world’s largest tree by volume. It was the third named Champion Tree and is one of only three to have retained its Champion Tree status throughout the history of the program. Photo Credit: Marty Aligata / Wikimedia

1945

The first list is published under the title “Report on American Big Trees” with over 200 trees listed as national Champions, including the General Sherman, Jardine Juniper and Queets Fir which are still National Champion Trees today.

1969

The “Social Register of Big Trees” is published with a special list of Champions growing in Hawai’i, which was the newest state in the Union at that time.

2004

The first time the National Register of Big Trees is available both in print and online.

Clint Eastwood, actor, director and former mayor of Carmel, Calif., has a blue gum eucalyptus that was named “America’s largest hardwood” in 2000 and was featured on the cover of American Forests Magazine.

2014

The 86-page “Measuring Guidelines Handbook” is published, a major step toward a more rigorous and consistent approach to Champion Tree measurements.

HOW TO ENGAGE WITH THE NATIONAL CHAMPION TREE PROGRAM

The next National Register of Champion Trees is currently being updated and will be published in late 2024. Nomi- nations for new Champion Trees will reopen to the public in the spring of 2025. Nomination forms will be available on the new website at www.nationalchampiontree.org, where tree-seekers can find the timeline for nominations, sign up for notifications and discover resources about the program. Follow the program on Instagram and Tiktok @nationalchampiontree, and on Facebook at National Champion Tree Program.

The post The National Champion Tree Program: Honoring a rich legacy and a bright future appeared first on American Forests.

The UT Tree Improvement Program began 65 years ago with a simple mission: to faithfully improve and protect the forest, a translation of the Latin in its seal. Photo Credit: Mitzy Sosa / American Forests

The seedlings are then transferred to land managers across the state, along with research and other information, to maintain and improve the state’s rich diversity of tree species, conserve rare and declining species, and tackle non-native pests.

That all starts with the individuals who collect the seeds, and the seeds themselves, all of which are in short supply.

Victorson’s job as research specialist with the Tree Improvement Program is equal parts talking to landowners, driving across the state, collecting acorns and analyzing data. Photo Credit: Ami Sharp

Thankfully, the program has a plan. With support from American Forests, they hired 24-year-old research specialist Erin Victorson, an energetic data-cruncher who crisscrosses the state in search of white oak acorns, crab apples and other species. She is responsible for developing a network of wild trees that can serve as seed sources for both public and private reforestation efforts across the state, along with the people to collect and process them.

“I’m collecting seed for the state nursery so that they can go into forest enrichment programs and are available for Tennessee landowners,” Victorson says.

THE QUIET CRISIS IN OUR FORESTS

American Forests has been at the forefront of addressing the seed shortage across the nation, beginning with a groundbreaking 2021 study revealing that meeting America’s reforestation goals will require 3 billion seeds a year. To get even half-way there by 2040, we need to more than double seed production to a total of 34 billion seedlings.

In 2020, American Forests’ Director of Forest Restoration Austin Rempel approached Tennessee forestry officials about their needs. Their top concern was the alarming lack of seed collectors to collect acorns and other seeds for the East Tennessee State Nursery in Delano, Tenn. In addition to professional seed collectors, Tennessee has programs encouraging volunteers to collect and donate seeds.

Department of Agriculture’s East Tennessee Seedling Nursery in Delano, Tenn., conducts research on tree health and grows seedlings for public and private reforestation, conservation and erosion control. Photo Credit: Mitzy Sosa / American Forests

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, “the guys who had been showing up on their doorstep with acorns for decades just disappeared,” Rempel says. “Some got COVID, some left the seed collection industry for other jobs or retired. So suddenly, their supply of acorns and other seeds like hickory shut off pretty quickly.”

As it happens, one of American Forests’ lead corporate partners, Arconic Foundation, was interested in funding seed-collection projects in Tennessee. UT’s Tree Improvement Program was enthusiastic and immediately hired Victorson.

“A lot of things got cut off during the pandemic,” Victorson says. “And unfortunately, a lot of things didn’t restart as a result of that. And once things stop, it’s hard to get them started again, especially that kind of thing — seed collection.”

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Victorson spends her days focused on finding the most robust, healthy, seed-producing trees in the state, driving as much as 1,500 miles per month. Once she locates them, she contacts landowners, and if needed, collects the seeds herself. For white oak, that means using a Bag-A-Nut^TM that looks like a smaller version of a golf ball picker at a driving range. She then takes the acorns to UT for processing and then to the state nursery in Delano for growing into seedlings.

“Recently, the white oak regeneration rate has been a lot lower, and it’s because of the shifting climate,” she says. “It’s been warmer and wetter, and white oak is really drought tolerant. So it’s not regenerating at historical rates, and that’s why we’re focusing on it.”

Victorson empties the Bag-A-Nut acorn harvester. She analyzes data throughout the year to determine the time when acorns drop to the ground and are ripe for collecting. Photo Credit: Mitzy Sosa / American Forests

Prior to turning her attention to white oak, Victorson spent July through September of 2023 surveying for native crab apples. In addition to intensive data collection, she created an identification guide to help people determine the difference between crab apple species, with photos and detailed descriptions of their leaves, bark, fruit and flowers. Each tree she collects from will be professionally identified by a taxonomist.

PASSING THE TORCH

If Victorson is the Luke Skywalker of seeds, Scott Schlarbaum is her Yoda. The director of the Tree Improvement Program is not just her boss, but also her mentor. He’s passing along his vast knowledge, connections and wisdom to help her do her job much quicker and more efficiently, Victorson says.

(From L to R) Laura Dowdy with the East Tennessee Seedling Nursery, Director of the UT Tree Improvement Program Scott Schlarbaum, and Victorson at the state nursery. Photo Credit: Mitzy Sosa / American Forests

“Any questions I have, not just about the species, but about the business side of things and the communication part — about talking to people — is just as important as the knowledge of the species.”

Schlarbaum joined UT in 1984 and is considered one of the country’s leading forest geneticists, having researched and extensively written about forest genetics, forest health, and tree and plant cytogenetics. He’s also testified multiple times before Congress on forest health and was a science advisor to the National Park Service on nonnative pests for five years.

“I actually got my dream job,” Schlarbaum says. “I always wanted to be a university land grant school forest geneticist that ran a tree improvement program, and I was able to come here in 1984. It was just my 40th year!”

Healthy acorns after processing at the state nursery. Before the acorns are planted and become seedlings, staff will float them to remove the caps and stalks and weed out the bad ones before drying them on a screen and weighing them to determine their size. Photo Credit: Mitzy Sosa / American Forests

Schlarbaum and Victorson recently showed Mitzy Sosa, American Forests’ manager of reforestation partnerships, what goes into collecting, bagging, processing and growing acorns and seedlings. At the state nursery, they showed Sosa 8-foot-tall white oak seedlings — the tallest they’ve ever grown. They also showed her how they submerge acorns in a water tank to remove their caps, sticks and leaves, and to identify the viable ones, which float while the others sink.

“I told Scott my favorite thing is to see the passion of everyone who works at the nursery, as well as the university, or even just going to see a property and how excited they are to be able to help,” says Sosa, who oversees the partnership for American Forests. “I really do think that what Erin is doing is going to impact the supply there in Tennessee for a long time.”

NEW BEGINNINGS FOR CHAMPIONS

Most white oak orchards in Tennessee are currently too young to produce acorns for reforestation, Victorson says. So, she is mostly gathering data on wild trees, such as when their acorns drop, their acorns’ sizes, who owns them and how much prep work the ground requires before collection.

Large trees are often the biggest prize, and few get any bigger than one she found in Davidson County, which is home to Nashville. With a 22-foot circumference, the white oak sits outside a 103-year-old house that belongs to a country music star. The property manager let her collect from the tree and even invited her back next year.

Victorson collects acorns from the largest white oak in Davidson County,<br /> Tenn. She notes that large trees,<br /> especially Champion Trees, are usually the best candidates for collecting healthy acorns. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Erin Victorson

The trunk circumference of Davidson County, Tenn.’s largest white oak measures 22 feet. The tree sits outside the Nashville home of a country music star. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Erin Victorson

She also has her eyes on several Champion Trees, including the Old Oak Tree at Tusculum University in East Tennessee’s Greenville. Another one is in Dunlap, near Fall Creek Falls State Park. Both giants are not dropping acorns this year, but as soon as they do, Victorson says she’ll be there.

Champion Trees are the largest trees of a given species in the U.S., and for 83 years, American Forests has overseen the National Champion Tree Program and the National Register of Champion Trees.

Beginning in 2023, UT officially became the new home of the program, allowing access to one of the most prestigious land grant research universities in the country. Building on years running the successful state program, the University’s School of Natural Resources plans to advance the rich legacy of the National Champion Tree Program, while expanding the science and awareness of why these trees are so critical to biodiversity conservation.

“The three words I keep coming back to in terms of my vision for the future are education, information and conservation,” says Jaq Payne, the new national director of the National Champion Tree Program. “It’s all deeply connected. We are using the Champion Tree Program as a vehicle to educate the public about the importance of trees, gain more information about the physiology and how to best care for our largest trees, and then working toward the conservation of these large trees. Considering the outsized impact they have on our landscape and our wellbeing, it’s all really important stuff.”

Prior to taking the position as national director, Payne, who recently graduated with his Master’s in Forestry from UT, was the Tennessee state director for the Champion Tree Program. He remembers with fondness the 2021 Tennessee Champion White Oak, which was determined by UT scientists to be over 400 years old. It was in the backyard of a house between a carport and a shed.

New Champion Tree Program National Director Jaq Payne kayaks to Tennessee’s Champion Bald Cypress Tree. Photo Credit: Kayla Stuart

“It is stunning. It is gorgeous,” Payne says excitedly. “For me, when I’m lying awake at 2 a.m. and my mind is spiraling, I always go back to mentally cataloging all of the life that this white oak has supported over four centuries.”

Victorson is pursuing graduate school and has her eyes on an eventual doctorate. “I’m extremely passionate about this,” she says. “I’ll go sit on my computer late at night and be curious about a location or something. Then I’ll go on iNaturalist, or I’ll search through the databases that I use for plant location, even at home. I’m invested!”

This is all music to Schlarbaum’s ears. “When I came to the University of Tennessee, I don’t think there was anybody more red-hot for research than me,” he says. “But when I look back on my career, the things that bring a real smile to my face are the people who have passed through this program and watching them basically mature, and you’re intertwined with their lives.”

Lee Poston is a University of Tennessee, Knoxville alumnus who knows all the words to “Rocky Top” and writes about conservation issues from University Park, Md.

The post Tennesseeds: Why the Volunteer State is going all in on seed collection appeared first on American Forests.

Interns at Greenbelt Native Plant Center experience every element of the nursery’s work, including seed collection, propagation, mixing compost and transplanting saplings Photo Credit: Aleksandr Watson / American Forests

ELEVEN MILES FROM LAGUARDIA AIRPORT in Queens, N.Y., nestled between a car dealership and an auto shop and amid a crisscrossed matrix of highways, sits one of the entrances to Alley Pond Park. The park, 650-acres in its entirety, offers a natural oasis with glimpses into the geological history of New York as well as the city’s future-focused conservation efforts. Its glacier-sculpted landscape features a diverse ecosystem with freshwater and saltwater wetlands, tidal flats, meadows and forests.

The more than 27,000 people who live within a 10-minute walk of this park are mostly low-income and minority. The park also may bear a disproportionate share of negative environmental consequences due to its industrial surroundings and various policies. For these two reasons, the area has been designated by the New York State Department of Health as an environmental justice area, establishing an important baseline of social vulnerability for an area that the city uses to determine need and investment. On a mild autumn morning, staff and volunteers from American Forests, NYC Parks, the Natural Areas Conservancy and American Express came to the site to plant 400 native trees and shrubs to support the delicate ecosystem in overcoming the challenges of thriving in an urban environment.

In an urban green space like Alley Pond Park in Queens, N.Y., it’s important to monitor the health of native plants and presence of invasive species so that the ecosystem can thrive and benefit the surrounding community. Photo Credit: Aleksandr Watson / American Forests

Investing in the health and longevity of Alley Pond Park means investing in the health and longevity of the communities that surround it. Trees in forested areas absorb dangerous air pollutants, including the carbon that threatens our climate; mitigate the effects of the Urban Heat Island; and are important for reestablishing insect, bird and wildlife habitat.

Christina Gualtieri, an intern with Greenbelt Native Plant Center, is studying environmental science at Brooklyn College. While at Greenbelt, she conducted research on tree beds to assess the health of street trees in New York City. Photo Credit: Aleksandr Watson / American Forests

Among the volunteers planting in Alley Pond Park is Christina Gualtieri, an environmental science student entering Brooklyn College for the spring 2024 semester, who is a paid intern with the Natural Areas Conservancy. For the past year, Gualtieri has been interning at NYC Parks’ Greenbelt Native Plant Center, along with others in the Natural Areas Conservancy’s City University of New York internship program, assisting in ushering thousands of plants through their life cycle from seed collection to propagation to potting. Today, she is chaperoning some of these plants to their permanent home, where they will serve the community by filtering air and reinvigorating wildlife habitat.

“I have hundreds of hours of volunteer experience working with people who restore native ecosystems, but Greenbelt Native Plant Center is an entity in and of itself,” Gualtieri explains. “We propagate plants on-site and strategically collect seeds to expand biodiversity and optimize genetics so that each is best suited to the climates and restoration projects that we’re putting them in.”

The Greenbelt Native Plant Center, part of NYC Parks, is a 13-acre greenhouse, nursery and seed bank complex on Staten Island, N.Y. The facility focuses on the cultivation and preservation of native plant species specifically adapted to the local ecosystems of New York City. The center supports habitat restoration projects across the city by providing native plants that are essential for maintaining biodiversity, restoring natural habitats and supporting healthy ecosystems.

“From scouting and identifying, to bringing seeds back to the center, our interns got to see everything that we do,” says Myisha Humphrey, supervisor of operations for Greenbelt. “They learned what each seed needs for propagation, watched them grow and transplanted them. They also supported landscape maintenance to make sure that there were no weeds competing for nutrients…it’s all a part of keeping these plants healthy.”

Evidence-based habitat restoration — like that being championed by Greenbelt, NYC Parks and the Natural Areas Conservancy — is critical to natural areas across the city, including Alley Pond Park, to help ensure that the native ecosystem can overcome high levels of threat to biodiversity. Investing in this natural area so that the communities around it can benefit from a healthy, sprawling green space is one way of working toward Tree Equity in the region.

The advancement of Tree Equity requires consideration of all components of creating a healthy urban forestry supply chain and providing support based on where cities are in their journey to achieving Tree Equity. That could be investing in nursery capacity to help drive down the high costs of urban trees, which can be more than $500 a piece, or it could be building out career opportunity programs to guide students into tree-related jobs and fields. It could be identifying and growing climate-resilient tree species so that what is being planted has the best chance of withstanding a changing environment. Or, it could be all of the above, which is the case for this work in New York.

Myisha Humphrey, supervisor of operations at Greenbelt Native Plant Center, started with NYC Parks as a maintenance worker and participated<br /> in professional development and training to rise through the ranks to her current position. Photo Credit: Aleksandr Watson / American Forests

Much of the work happening along this pipeline in New York City is supported by American Express, including stipends for Gualtieri and two other year-long Natural Areas Conservancy interns at Greenbelt Native Plant Center. In their commitment to advancing climate solutions and backing low-carbon communities, American Express began partnering with American Forests in 2022, investing in the full, holistic approach to creating healthy urban forests with a goal of advancing Tree Equity in cities where their employees live and work. In addition to internships, American Express has supported the expansion of Greenbelt to help increase the availability of climate-resilient trees in the New York area. They’ve funded research and seed collection of disease-resistant tree species so that trees, like the ones planted in Alley Pond Park, will thrive for years to come.

Photo Credit: Aleksandr Watson / American Forests

American Express not only invests in creating healthy urban forests, but it also provides opportunities for employees to participate in service like the planting in Alley Pond Park. Photo Credit: Aleksandr Watson / American Forests

Gualtieri is a Super Steward with NYC Parks. These are special volunteers who receive access<br /> to training, advisement, funding and other opportunities to support the work of NYC Parks. Photo Credit: Aleksandr Watson / American Forests

As Gualtieri completes her internship and prepares for her first semester at Brooklyn College, she leaves behind a strong legacy at Greenbelt Native Plant Center and across New York City. In addition to her day-to-day work supporting Greenbelt operations, Gualtieri’s capstone project was to conduct a native tree bed trial. With the goal of gaining a better understanding of the region’s native plants, and their survivability in urban environments, Gualtieri and her team monitored tree beds in small sidewalk openings in Queens and Brooklyn. Findings from this project will help urban foresters understand which diseases and pests target native plants in these unique, tiny ecosystems so that they can invest in trees and plants that have a better chance in the face of pollution like salting or lack of pollinators.

A New York native with a passion for her home, Gualtieri’s future is bright. “One of my main goals is to connect different communities and ensure that more people have the opportunity to enjoy natural areas,” she shares. In Alley Pond Park, she and other volunteers did just that, planting carefully cultivated seeds of Tree Equity for thousands of New Yorkers.

Adrienne Bermingham writes from New York and serves as American Forests’ senior manager of corporate partner communications.

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