This is a story about one of our organization’s highest notes in history. In December 2023, American Forests and the USDA Forest Service signed a $20 million keystone agreement to scale up reforestation across national forests over the next five years. The agreement dedicates funds from the REPLANT Act, passed in 2021, toward increasing reforestation capacity to address the restoration backlog of approximately 4 million acres of damaged forests. Without the REPLANT Act, the Forest Service would only have the capacity to annually restore 6% of this existing backlog.
American Forests was instrumental in the passage of the REPLANT Act, part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. The REPLANT Act gives the Forest Service access to a permanent Reforestation Trust Fund that offers a ten-fold increase over prior funding levels. This funding is essential because reforestation efforts simply can’t keep up with the need at previous levels of support. The backlog of forest acres needing restoration more than doubled between 2020 and 2021, when 2.5 million acres of new burn scars in national forests were added to the 1.5 million acres already awaiting attention. With wildfires raging at unprecedented scales and severity, forests are struggling to naturally regenerate. Without help, at least 4 million acres of national forests could be lost permanently.
“We can’t afford to lose our forests, because with that we also lose forests’ ability to provide clean water, wildlife habitat and carbon removal capacity," said Brian Kittler, American Forests’ chief program officer for Resilient Forests. “By acting now and creating climate-smart plans to restore our national forests in regions across the U.S., we can collectively change the trajectory of America’s forests.”
Losing these forestlands would be devastating on a number of levels. Not only do these forests provide recreational opportunities, clean air and water, and extensive wildlife habitat, but every year America’s forests and forest products sequester an average of 16.7% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. The faster we restore our national forestlands, the faster they can help us reduce the worst effects of climate change.
This agreement between the Forest Service and American Forests represents the largest post-wildfire restoration effort on national forest lands in the modern era.
Under this novel keystone agreement, American Forests will act like a co-pilot for the Forest Service’s reforestation program. Specifically, we are funded and authorized to play three roles:
1. Planning and organizing collaborative reforestation across all our national forests.
2. Writing science-based prescriptions so we can reforest for climate resilience.
3. Helping deliver “supply chain solutions” in national forests all across the country, from ramping up seed collection to doing planting and after care.
It is our goal to ensure there’s a place for everyone in this exciting effort, setting up success for a new generation. We couldn’t be prouder to be playing such a pivotal role to restore our forests to create a safer, more climate-friendly tomorrow.
