Smithsonian Magazine: “To help revitalize millions of acres of burned and damaged forests across the American West, the U.S. Department of Agriculture aims to plant more than one billion trees over the next decade. Wildfires and other issues have devastated U.S. woodlands in recent years, and Forest Service arborists can’t keep up with replanting lost trees. They’ve reforested just six percent of land damaged by fires, pests and extreme weather events, which has created a backlog of about 4.1 million acres…“Forests are a powerful tool in the fight against climate change,” says Tom Vilsack, the U.S. agriculture secretary, in a statement announcing the initiative this week. “Nurturing their natural regeneration and planting in areas with the most need is critical to mitigating the worst effects of climate change while also making those forests more resilient to the threats they face.”…

• • National Forest System Reforestation Strategy – Growing and Nurturing Resilient Forests, July 2022