grist.org · 21 hours ago

How New Mexico Is ‘Building a Forest’ by Solving a Seedling Shortage | Grist

After wildfires have burned 7 million acres across New Mexico since 2000, the state faces a staggering need: 385 million seedlings to replant existing burn scars alone. Current facilities produce barely 250,000 seedlings a year, mostly purchasing stock from Idaho growers whose trees arrive "shocked" by New Mexico's different climate and elevation. The New Mexico Reforestation Center is changing that equation with massive new greenhouses and an entire pipeline of careful work -- from collecting native seeds (using a repurposed chili roaster, naturally) to drought-conditioning seedlings for the climate of 2100, not today. What emerges is less about efficiency than devotion: the "tedious, time-consuming" seed collection, the choosing of "right tree, right place," and most movingly, the children from Mora who lived through wildfire now creating art while learning about reforestation, returning each year to watch seeds they touched become seedlings, then trees -- learning through their hands that "once it's gone, it takes a long time to bring it back."