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LAS VEGAS 鈥� An estimated 7 million acres in New Mexico have burned in wildfires over the last 26 years, but parts of that land will soon be planted with millions of baby trees developed to withstand a drier, warmer world, thanks to a new multiagency effort led by the state鈥檚 Forestry Division.

On April 27, the New Mexico Forestry Division 鈥� an arm of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department 鈥� is set to break ground for the New Mexico Reforestation Center in Las Vegas alongside partners that include New Mexico State University, the University of New Mexico and New Mexico Highlands University.

鈥淭his innovative, collaborative institution will address our state鈥檚 urgent reforestation needs, with a goal of producing 5 million seedlings per year to ramp up climate-adaptive reforestation efforts in areas that have experienced catastrophic fires, such as Hermit鈥檚 Peak-Calf Canyon and South Fork,鈥� said Emery Veilleux, wildfire prevention and communications coordinator for the Forestry Division.

An outgrowth of NMSU鈥檚 John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center, which produces up to 300,000 trees per year in Mora, the New Mexico Reforestation Center will source, nurse and plant millions of trees annually using an initial $8.5 million budget the New Mexico Legislature earmarked in 2023.

The center鈥檚 goal will be to coordinate and expand the state鈥檚 capacity across the 鈥渇ull reforestation pipeline,鈥� from collecting seed and producing seedlings to planting, monitoring and managing on the landscape, according to the Forestry Division.

Through the construction of additional greenhouses, the Forestry Division and its partners have set a goal to produce 1 million seedlings by 2028 before scaling up production to five million trees annually.

Like the current John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center, the state plans to source and grow seeds that will develop into trees meant to be more resilient to fire and pests, such as bark beetles, which remain a major source of tree death in New Mexico each year.

Wildfire 鈥� more frequent and often more catastrophic amid intensifying drought and excessively dense forest here in New Mexico and throughout the wider West 鈥� remains a major motivator behind the New Mexico Reforestation Center.

The 2022 Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire, which burned around 341,471 acres of forest in San Miguel, Mora and Taos counties, created a need for 17.6 million seedlings, according to the Forestry Division. At the state鈥檚 current production capacity of 300,000 seedlings per year, meeting reforestation needs from that fire alone would take more than 50 years.

To make seedlings more resilient to these threats, researchers 鈥渉arden鈥� seedlings grown in greenhouses by gradually introducing them to sunlight, wind and other harsh conditions impacting New Mexico forests, ensuring they grow into trees capable of withstanding real-world forests.

Since not all land burned by wildfire can be reforested, UNM and NMSU are continuing to develop techniques to model post-fire landscapes and select the optimal locations for replanting, prioritizing seedling survival and dispersal.

Jennifer Auchter, a Fulbright Specialist, was selected last year as director of the center,

In a post she made on LinkedIn last month, Auchter said she had recently visited the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak burn scar with her family.

鈥淔our years later, there鈥檚 not much evidence of recovery on the mountains,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淲ithout manual replanting, those slopes become permanent hazards, unable to capture water and prevent erosion.

鈥淲e鈥檙e building the New Mexico Reforestation Center to change that,鈥� she added, 鈥渟pecifically to scale our statewide seedling growing capacity and to meet the massive reforestation demand across the state.鈥�

John Miller is the sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 northern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at jmiller@abqjournal.com.