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Reforestation
Reforestation
Reforestation is the natural or assisted regrowth of forest cover after it has been depleted by wildfire, flooding, insects, disease, or clear‑cutting.
Natural reforestation often occurs after low‑ or moderate‑severity disturbances, when soils properties remain intact and surviving “mother trees” are present to supply the seed needed for the next generation. In some cases, land managers may employ competition‑reduction tactics to limit herbaceous or shrub growth that would otherwise suppress young tree seedlings.
Since 2020, more than 7 million acres have burned across New Mexico, driven by overstocked forests and prolonged drought that contributes to high‑severity wildfire. Under these conditions, trees may not regenerate naturally, and sites can shift toward grass or shrub dominated habitat types.
Click Here for Reforestation Resources
Photo credit: New Mexico Reforestation Center
In these cases, land managers may employ strategies to assist in forest recovery, primarily re-introducing trees to a site through planting seedlings. This approach requires careful site selection, site preparation, and a skilled workforce to achieve successful tree establishment.
After high‑severity wildfire, reforestation is critical for restoring watersheds and reducing post‑fire flooding, debris flows, and long‑term risks to water supplies. It also helps rebuild habitat for wildlife, support native plant communities, and sustain communities who depend on healthy forests and the ecological services they provide.
New Mexico Reforestation Workshop
Check out this video from our May, 2024 Workshop in Sapello, in which forestry professionals discuss what to plant, how to plant and where to plant it. Other topics include how to work with contractors, how to prep planting sites, and how to order your own seedlings through the NM Forestry Division’s Conservation Seedling Program.
New Mexico is a leader in reforestation
New Mexico is primed to lead reforestation efforts across the Southwest because of the ability to access leading reforestation experts, based in New Mexico, who are supported by interagency vision and planning. In the 2020 Forest Action Plan, reforestation is one of ten strategies listed to address the management needs of our priority forests and watersheds. The strategy aims to “create conditions for planting the right tree in the right place for the 2100 climate and bring burned lands to a healthy function for people and the environment.”
Our Partners
New Mexico Reforestation Center
The mission of the New Mexico Reforestation Center (NMRC) will be to meet current and future reforestation needs in New Mexico through its comprehensive seed bank, nursery, and planting operations combined with research, education, and outreach activities.
The New Mexico Reforestation Center (NMRC) is a collaboration between the EMNRD Forestry Division, New Mexico Highlands University, New Mexico State University, and the University of New Mexico. Together, these partners address New Mexico’s reforestation challenges across the entire pipeline—from seed collection to post‑planting monitoring.
The NMRC currently grows trees at the John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center in Mora, NM. The nursery sources genetically appropriate seed for New Mexico to ensure ecologically appropriate adaptation, genetic diversity, and resilience to pests, fire, and climate change. The research center nursery can produce 300,000 seedlings per year.
In 2026, the NMRC broke ground on its first dedicated nursery facilities and expects to deliver one million seedlings for reforestation in the fall of 2028. In subsequent years, the Center will scale production to five million seedlings annually. Funding for construction comes from the New Mexico Legislature and the U.S. Forest Service.
Beyond expanding seedling production, the NMRC addresses all stages of the reforestation pipeline. New Mexico Highlands University leads the NMRC seed collection program, which has banked over 1,500 pounds of seed since 2023. The University of New Mexico conducts cutting‑edge research to support planting‑site selection and planting strategies that significantly improve seedling survival and establishment.
The Reforestation Pipeline
Reforestation in New Mexico and across the west will take more than growing and planting trees. Collecting and storing enough seed is the first part of the process, and we are behind! Cones used to be collected mostly to reforest lands after logging. People did not anticipate the mega fires we are now experiencing every year, and the millions of acres needing reforestation in the western United States.
Learn more detail about the reforestation pipeline by using the links below:
- Frontiers | Challenges to the Reforestation Pipeline in the United States (frontiersin.org)
- The Reforestation Pipeline In The Western United States
The NMRC will work on each aspect of the pipeline to ensure that seedlings survive, and forests can regenerate.
Why Reforestation?
Healthy forests are critical to new Mexico’s water security.
More than half of the water used by New Mexico’s communities and farms comes from forested watersheds. When rain or snow falls, healthy forests help slow the flow of water, giving it time to soak into the ground. This natural process filters the water, stores it as groundwater, and releases it gradually into streams, rivers, and lakes. In this way, forests play a vital role in providing clean, reliable water for people across the state.
Since 2020, wildland fires in New Mexico have burned more than 7 million acres.
Wildfires that occur in overstocked forests during persistent drought can burn large areas at high severity and fundamentally alter the ecosystem’s ability to absorb and store water. After wildfire, soils may become hydrophobic, causing water to run off the surface rather than soak in. During the first decade after a fire, rapid runoff can carry debris, ash, and sediment downstream, posing serious risks to nearby communities and infrastructure. These post-fire conditions make flood risk reduction and watershed recovery especially important.
A Growing Need for Reforestation
Experts estimate that New Mexico needs to reforest 1 to 2.6 million acres, which would require 150 to 390 million seedlings. Not all burned areas can or should be replanted. The best available science shows that reforestation is most successful when we focus on patches where conditions support seedling survival and seed dispersal.
Planting in strategic patches also helps forests return to a more natural structure—one with mixed age stands interspersed with treeless openings, rather than large, continuous areas of same aged trees. This mosaic pattern increases ecological resilience and reduces the likelihood of future high severity, landscape scale fires.
Contact:
Gwen Wion
Reforestation Program Manager, EMNRD Forestry Division
(505) 607-0247