Listen again: What federal reforestation plans mean for Washington state
The Biden administration recently announced plans to plant more than one billion trees across the western United States to restore forests damaged by climate change.
Washington state is already facing a tree-seed shortage, and our state's forest nursery is racing to ramp up production.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is asking the Forest Service to quadruple the number of acres reforested each year. There's currently a national backlog of 4.1 million acres across the United States, caused by increasingly destructive wildfires and die-offs driven by fungi and insect damage.
Earlier this year, Soundside went to the Washington state forest nursery to see how the reforestation process works up close. We're revisiting that story today to hear how our corner of the country is looking to meet the growing seed demand.
You can hear and read the full story here.
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Libby Denkmann
Host, Soundside
Libby Denkmann joined KUOW in December 2021 as the host of the midday show Soundside. She’s a native Pacific Northwesterner who grew up in Redmond, graduated from the University of Washington and covered local news as a producer and reporter with KIRO Radio.
More stories from Libby Denkmann » -
Alec Cowan
Producer, Soundside
Alec Cowan is a producer for Soundside. His interests have brought many eclectic stories to the program, and his segments gravitate toward history, technology, art and design, and ecology.
More stories from Alec Cowan »
