What Kind Of Trees Are Used For Reforestation?

There are many different types of trees that are commonly used for reforestation, depending on the specific goals of the reforestation project and the local climate and soil conditions, however, softwoods are the most common:

Reforestation vs Afforestation?

The key difference between reforestation and afforestation is that reforestation involves restoring forest cover to areas that were previously forested but have been cleared or degraded, while afforestation involves establishing new forests in areas where they did not previously exist.

Tree plugs, also known as seedlings or tree starts, are small, rooted trees that are grown in containers and are ready to be transplanted into the ground. They are typically grown in a nursery setting, where they are carefully cultivated to ensure their survival and growth when planted in their final location.

Reforestation, Restoring The World's Forests With Tall Tree Seedlings

Restoring the world’s forests through the act of planting trees is known as reforestation. Reforestation can take many forms including the planting of tree plugs by tree planters on land cleared of trees by commercial logging or fire. Unfortunately, more than half of these tree plants die the first winter because of underdeveloped root systems.

Planting Tall Tree Seedlings To Create An Instant Forest

Planting tall tree seedlings not only creates an instant forest where there was none before but increases transplant survivability by 90% due to the fact that their root systems are fully developed. On average, the root of a plug seedling is about half the height of the tree comprising only a few strands of root. By comparison, tall tree seedlings root stems are a couple of feet long made up of hundreds of root strands. This means that our tall tree seedlings will take to the surround soil before winter sets in.

Creating instant forests transplanting tall tree seedlings is revolutionizing the wprold's reforestation industry, giving investors faster retunes on their timber investments, increasing tax incentives for logging companies to replant harvested forests, reviving damaged ecosystems the first year after transplant, sequestering meaningful amounts of carbon at first leaf and stabilizing undulating terrain to prevent erosion.

Hire Us As A Reforestation Consultant

Hire us to consult on your reforestation project. Wherever you are in the world, we can help you plan and design your reforestation project and choose the appropriate tree species to achieve your goals.

Hire Us To Build A Tall Tree Nursery

You can also hire us to design and plan a tall tree nursery, which can be shipped anywhere in world and assembled on site. Training is included.

Hire Us To Plant The Trees

Hire us by contract to plant the trees. We will travel to you site, use our proprietary forest drones to lay out the site guided by tree species selected for end use and topography.

Afforestation Is Not Reforestation

Although both afforestation and reforestation involve the planting of trees, afforestation establishes forests on non-forested lands like grasslands, deserts, or urban areas that have not grown trees the last 100 years or more.

Afforestation is chosen when certain criteria need to be met such as created a managed commercial timber plantation, rewilding or introduction or re-introduction of an ecosystem and like reforestation, afforestation captures carbon from the atmosphere to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.

Conservation Through Reforestation

Beyond the planting of trees, reforesting lands conserves essential elements of the environment including indigenous soil, water, flora, and fauna.

Soil Conservation: Reforestation helps stabilize the soil, which at best is just a few inches deep and can be easily washed away by flooding caused by heavy or sustained rainfall.
Water Conservation: Reforestation holds the water table together at the tree roots to nourish not only the trees, but the flora and fauna interspersed throughout the forest.
Conservation Of Biodiversity: Reforestation reestablishes migrated ecosystems that previously populated the land conserving the diversity that one existed there.

Other benefits of both reforestation and afforestation include job creation, and an opportunity to marry the growing of trees with agriculture – Agroforestry.

Reforestation Strategies

We employ various reforestation strategies to effectively reforest cleared or fallow lands. Some of these include:

Planting Native Indigenous Tree Species: Choosing to plant indigenous tree species that are native to the soil and climate increases the likelihood of successful forest regeneration and the establishment of generational biodiversity.
Planting Mixed Forests: Planting a wide variety of tree species together in a reforestation project, mimics a naturally diverse forest able to ward of insect infestations and disease.
Natural Regeneration: A properly structured reforestation or afforestation project will be designed for the natural regeneration of trees from seed in the understory of the forest canopy. Second generation trees can be let to grow and eventually replace a first-generation timber harvest or be harvested and transported to another reforestation project site for planting.
Agroforestry: Growing food and trees together is always an option for any tree planting project given the current state of the world’s food supply and dwindling water resource issues. Growing trees and food together also provides both short term and long-term economic benefits.

Global Reforestation Initiatives

Many countries and organizations around the world recognize the importance of reforestation and have launched large-scale initiatives to restore forests and combat climate change. Some notable examples include:

A Billion Trees: Launched by the United Nations in 2006, the Billion Trees For The Planet initiative encourages governments, organizations, and individuals to plant and conserve trees worldwide.
The REDD Program: The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation program is an international initiative that aims to financially incentivize developing countries to conserve and restore their forests, reduce carbon emissions, and promote sustainable development.
The Bonn Challenge: Established in 2011 in Germany, the Bonn Challenge is a global effort to restore 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded land by 350 million hectares by 2030.
The Great Green Wall: This African-led initiative aims to create a 5,000-mile-long mosaic of trees from ocean to ocean, across the entire width of Africa.

How You Can Contribute to Reforestation

You can play a role in promoting reforestation and supporting the health of our planet's ecosystems by planting trees on your property, donating to organizations like ours working on reforestation initiatives around the world, or advocate for change.

Support reforestation projects: Donate to organizations working on reforestation initiatives or consider supporting businesses that contribute to reforestation through their products or practices.

Reforestation Video

Enhancing Reforestation through Tree Seedling Root Development

Approximately 50% of reforestation tree seedlings perish during the first year after transplant, primarily due to inadequate root systems that struggle to adapt to natural soil conditions and withstand harsh winters. Improving tree transplant survivability through better root development can provide numerous benefits, such as increased timber production for forest companies, enhanced land reclamation for ecosystem development, and greater carbon sequestration from the atmosphere.

Addressing the Root of the Issue

The reforestation tree seedling industry predominantly utilizes containerized seedlings, which include plug seedlings and container seedlings. These seedlings account for over 90% of all seedlings grown for reforestation purposes, with container seedlings primarily used by small woodlot owners and municipalities.

Plug Seedlings

Plug seedlings are small trees grown in compact containers, usually made of plastic or peat, to foster strong root system development before transplantation. These containers offer a controlled environment with adequate soil and moisture while preventing root entanglement or disturbance. Plug seedlings are often employed in reforestation and afforestation projects for rapid forest or woodland establishment and in landscaping and horticulture for precise transplantation into specific arrangements, such as rows or clusters. The size and shape of tree plugs vary according to the species and growing conditions, ranging from a few inches to several inches in height and diameter and taking cylindrical or conical forms.

Container Seedlings

Container seedlings are larger than plug seedlings, averaging 3 to 4 feet in height and featuring well-defined root balls. Ranging between 3 and 6 years old, container seedlings exhibit a 25% higher survivability rate compared to plug seedlings. However, they are more expensive to cultivate, transport, and plant.

Developing cost-effective methods to enhance seedling survivability after transplantation is crucial for the reforestation industry. Research into root development and optimization, as well as advancements in container materials and design, may provide innovative solutions to improve reforestation efforts and contribute to a more sustainable future.

Reforestation Tree Spacing Calculator

Increasing Reforestation Transplant Survivability Rate by Over 90% with Well-Developed, Tall Tree Seedlings

Traditionally, larger roots have been associated with higher transplant survival rates, but the costs of producing seedlings with well-developed roots have been prohibitive. An innovation by Tree Plantation involves growing multiple seedlings in deep root trays to accelerate root development during a 3-year nursery growth cycle. This method results in root development at transplant similar to that of container seedlings of the same age.

Height matters for survival: This system also promotes rapid terminal branch growth, producing seedlings that are three times taller than standard plug seedlings. Taller reforestation seedlings develop canopies faster, which deters grazing wildlife and accelerates carbon sequestration and ecosystem development.

These tall tree seedlings have root stems instead of root balls, making them slender and easily transportable. Thousands can be shipped on a single truck, and hundreds can fit into a tree planter's pack.

Tall Seedling Reforestation

Following fires or land clearing, soil is particularly vulnerable to erosion from rainfall. This issue is especially problematic on hillsides, where exposed slopes can wash away or suffer from sunburn. The solution involves cutting long linear earthen trenches into the slope to retain runoff water. Water-loving tree species are planted within the trenches, and other species are placed above and below. This method conserves water for tree growth and protects the hillside from erosion.

Planting tall seedlings allows for increased spacing between trees, requiring fewer trees per acre to achieve the same coverage as commercially planted plug seedling forests. This approach saves time and money while producing similar results.

Global Reforestation – A Growing Opportunity

As governments collaborate on programs to plant millions of trees worldwide, the tree seedling industry must meet the increasing demand. This creates an investment opportunity unseen since the "New Deal" during the Great Depression. Billions of dollars will soon be available to invest in the burgeoning "Tree Age" of the 21st century.

In North America alone, nearly 15,000,000 acres of forests were harvested, over 32,000,000 acres of trees were lost to forest fires, and 56,000,000 acres were damaged or killed by insects last year. In California, unprecedented wildfires led to the closure of Yosemite National Park in 2019. Forest fires are becoming increasingly common in other parts of the world, such as Greece, Spain, and the United Kingdom, necessitating the creation of national firefighting forces.

Australia experienced massive bushfires that ravaged more than 15 million hectares—an area larger than the UK—in just one year. This figure is ten times the number of trees lost to fires in the Amazon during the same period. In addition, land-clearing crises have emerged in Australia and Brazil, with millions of hectares of untouched forests being bulldozed for agricultural purposes.

As the need for reforestation and afforestation initiatives grows, well-developed and tall tree seedlings present a promising solution to improve transplantation success rates, promote ecological recovery, and combat climate change on a global scale.

The Interconnected Benefits Of Reforestation: Forests, Climate Change, And Investment In Tree Assets

RReforestation plays a critical role in mitigating climate change, preserving ecosystems, and providing sustainable investment opportunities. As the world faces increasing deforestation due to natural disasters, land clearing for agriculture, and urban expansion, investing in reforestation and tree assets becomes more vital than ever.

Forests And Climate Change

Forests both contribute and combat climate change. During the first 40 years of a young tree’s life, it will sequester 70% of the entire amount of carbon it will capture in its lifetime. However, as it ages, carbon sequestration slows to just 5% the last decades of its life and when it dies and falls to the forest floor it decomposes releasing carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. It’s clear that planting new forests will be most beneficial in our fight against climate change.

More Benefits Investing In Tree Assets

Besides the obvious benefits towards the fight against climate change, investing in tree assets make good sense economically, particularly when comes to tree plantation investments and timberland reforestation projects. Tree assets grow in value over time when other sectors of the economy like real estate and the stock market fluctuate.

A Global Opportunity: Reforestation

As governments, businesses, and individuals increasingly recognize the urgency of addressing climate change, the demand for reforestation projects and tree assets is growing. Investment in these initiatives offers a unique opportunity to participate in the green economy and combat the environmental challenges facing our planet.

Reforestation, Restoring The World's Forests With Tall Tree Seedlings