ENVIRONMENT
New Mexico breaks ground on Reforestation Center, with plans to plant 5 million seedlings annually
Facility aims to restore forests scarred by massive wildfires
MORA 鈥� Andrei Toca, a research scientist at the John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center, says foresters can benefit from thinking like paleontologists.
鈥淲e do experiments over our lifetime, and I don鈥檛 mind it all that much,鈥� Toca said. 鈥淓very now and then, we grow bristlecone pine, and they can live for 2,000 years.鈥�
To one degree or another, everyone working here at the state鈥檚 largest tree seedling nursery on the eastern slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains is a student of time.
Researchers from New Mexico State University, New Mexico Highlands University and University of New Mexico have studied the replanting projects of foresters who came before them. And if Toca and his colleagues do their work well 鈥� the tree seedlings they sow across New Mexico will serve as models for rebuilding forests long after their own generation of foresters is gone.
The transgenerational nature of this work emerged as a theme at a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday for the New Mexico Reforestation Center, an ambitious expansion scheduled for construction this year on several acres behind the John T. Harrington center against the backdrop of the state鈥檚 largest burn scar.
鈥淲e are rebuilding with thousands and thousands of these seedlings right here,鈥� said John Bartley, a multigenerational rancher who lost thousands of acres of ponderosa pine to the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire, which burned 341,471 acres in Santa Fe and Carson national forests in 2022.
As he spoke, Bartley held up a tiny green pine sprig poking up from a container 鈥� one of roughly 300,000 seedlings John T. Harrington produces annually to help repopulate portions of the 7 million acres experts estimate have burned in wildfires across New Mexico over the last 26 years.
The New Mexico Forestry Division, 近距离内射合集, Highlands and their partners have set a goal to produce 1 million seedlings by 2028 at the new facility before ramping up to 5 million baby trees per year.
More than a dozen young Mora and San Miguel County students sat listening as Bartley spoke. He became emotional at points as he recalled the mature pine stands that were destroyed by the fire, which started when a Forest Service prescribed burn and pile burn merged amid sustained high winds.
When the students were asked if any of their homes had burned in the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire, several children raised their hand.
The state鈥檚 current forestry research center contains a freezer where seedlings sourced from across New Mexico are stored, as well as greenhouses where researchers experiment with raising seedlings to withstand warmer, drier conditions predicted by
A seed processing center and additional seed storage at Highlands will move under the expanded Reforestation Center when construction is completed next spring.
Although the John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center was established in 1972, Toca and his colleagues say New Mexico is still in its nascent stages when it comes to refining the science and processes required to efficiently restore forests impacted by catastrophic wildfires, which have become more frequent in the West in recent decades due to historic fire suppression and increasing aridity.
Even with the new research center up and running, however, researchers the Journal interviewed for this story said that 5 million seedlings per year remains well below what would be required to meet current reforestation needs, let alone the potential damage of future wildfires.
The research center鈥檚 current average seedling survival rate upon planting in New Mexico鈥檚 forests, for example, can range as low as 25% percent, but is gradually improving over time as researchers learn more about optimal seed sourcing, growing and planting techniques, Toca said.
鈥淲henever we start an experiment or a study, we鈥檙e investing time and resources,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o we have to be as close to 100% sure that that鈥檚 exactly what we want to do as possible, because there鈥檚 only one shot at it.鈥�
Joshua Sloan, a professor and director of Forestry at Highlands, said their focus on precision can be challenging as climate models shift over time.
Researchers are currently experimenting with planting seeds sourced from trees native to lower elevations at slightly higher elevations, where they might fare better on the belief they are better adapted to drier, warmer conditions.
鈥淭he temperature shifts that we鈥檙e seeing are already moving much faster than tree seedlings can naturally adjust to,鈥� Sloan said. 鈥淲e use the term 鈥榮ystem of operation鈥� to refer to moving a seed to where it needs to go to be adapted. But the trick is that it needs to be adapted to both current conditions as well as future conditions.鈥�
But what if climate models fail to hold up over the lifespan of a tree, which can live for hundreds or even thousands of years?
Sloan said that鈥檚 where things can get tricky.
鈥淎ll of us in forestry, whether we're working in reforestation, whether we're working in mature stands 鈥� our work requires us to make decisions and take actions in an environment of uncertainty,鈥� he said. 鈥淓ven if we took climate change out of the picture, there any number of sources of major uncertainty over the course of that 100-plus year timeline that we work on operationally that basically no other profession does, with the exception of maybe geologists or groundwater managers.鈥�
Current best practices recommend the establishment of a 鈥渕osaic鈥� replanting structure, in which forests contain both new and old growth in key areas of the state鈥檚 watersheds.
Toca said that cross-generational makeup can prevent wildfire from traveling quickly across tree crowns, a process that allowed the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire to travel on high winds across hundreds of acres a day at its peak.
鈥淲e implement something called a nucleation strategy,鈥� Toca said. 鈥淓ssentially, we create islands of trees across the landscape to kickstart natural regeneration, so that in 20-30 years, those trees will start producing a significant amount of seed.鈥�
Toca, who grew up in Spain and Romania, said he started working in forestry when he was 7 years old, dragging downed trees on horseback from the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania.
He said the goal of that selective logging was similar to the work he does now, but the science has evolved 鈥� and will continue to over the course of his forestry generation and those that come next.
鈥淲e need a lot of help,鈥� he said. 鈥淔orestry research is time consuming and labor intensive. No one鈥檚 getting rich doing this work, but it鈥檚 important.鈥�
John Miller is the 近距离内射合集鈥檚 northern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at jmiller@abqjournal.com.
