How to Revive a Burned Forest? Rebuild the Tree Supply Chain

A locally-owned wood lot in Oakridge, Oregon, collects piles of debris from the surrounding forest that could become fuel for wildfires and turns it into firewood for the community. Alongside wildfire mitigation, the business reduces the air pollution residents create when their only option is to burn wet wood for heat.

The fashion brand Sheep Inc sources regenerative wool for its clothing products and claims to be carbon-negative. The regenerative farming practices used to make the wool are similar to what would happen naturally, the sheep graze across different grasslands, allowing unused ones to rewild using the manure as fertilizer. On top of that, the farm itself runs on renewable energy and supports native reforestation and the fashion brand uses solar power and a plastic-free supply chain.

Northern Waters Crayfish LLC. catches the invasive rusty crayfish in Minnesota and sells it for consumption to control the growing population.

Environmental refugees in Ethiopia flee their country because there are no jobs without healthy land. A group of former refugees have returned to Ethiopia with a business venture in Gergera to improve the land by regreening efforts, foresting, and building water conservation systems. The new businesses demonstrated such positive effects that the region is now on the brink of resettlement due to improved environmental conditions.

The United States National Park Service is planting giant sequoia tree seedlings in groves that were decimated by extreme wildfires in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The effort aims to preserve the endangered species as the organization doesn’t believe the trees in these areas will regenerate on their own.

For two decades, the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds has restored native trees on ​​São Miguel Island to increase the food and nesting habitat available for the Azores bullfinch. As a result, the population of the bird increased enough to be downlisted from critically endangered to vulnerable.

Using drones to drop seeds is becoming a valid option to increase the scale and efficiency of tree-planting projects, especially in locations that are difficult for humans to reach. Seattle-based Mast Reforestation drops seeds in fire-ravaged areas with massive, custom-designed drones, and Australia’s AirSeed Technologies does so with a team of drones that don’t need human supervisors.

With support from the local government, a community-based program in the Philippines trains residents in mangrove reforestation, then teaches them how to sustainably manage the marine ecosystem. The program also helps them find livelihoods that don’t involve cutting the mangroves down.

Auroville is home to foresters, ecologists, and other conservation advocates working on various reforestation efforts like propagating tropical dry evergreen forest species and planting drought-resistant species. Today, community-run nurseries supply about 50,000 saplings a year for tree-planting projects in Auroville. There are also “forest groups” made up of local residents who plant native species, collectively planting more than half a million evergreen saplings of over 200 different species.

After fires and floods, the tribe of the Santa Clara Pueblo is restoring Santa Clara Canyon using traditional ecological knowledge to design mitigation and replanting methods using burned trees and strategic seeding. Now, they are sharing that knowledge at other locations needing restoration.