February 8, 2023 3:00 a.m.

Ten tree nurseries across the state are receiving over $ 4.4 million this year to help them increase their ability to produce badly needed seedlings.

A release from the Oregon Department of Forestry said the seedlings are needed to help reforest millions of acres deforested in recent years by wildfire, disease and pests.

The money was given to ODF after passage of House Bill 5006 by the Oregon State Legislature in 2021. The legislation was in response to the devastating 2020 wildfires which burned a million acres of forest. ODF said in the wake of those fires, there were many barriers to reforesting, including shortages of money, labor and for some smaller landowners, appropriate tree seedlings.

ODF Small Forestland Owner Assistance Unit Manager Nate Agalzoff said, “These grants are helping nurseries make strategic investments to increase their ability to grow more seedlings, which will enable them to better support reforestation needs in the future”.

The release said nurseries are using the funds to invest in everything from adding irrigation to building new greenhouses and seedbed space as well as storage facilities for storing seedling trees. Funds can also go to equipment, the cost of collecting or purchases seeds, or for buying land on which to expand nursery facilities. The money must be spent by the end of this summer.

To qualify for a grant, a nursery had to have experience growing high-quality commercial conifer trees for reforestation in Oregon, including Douglas-fir, grand fir, noble fir, western redcedar, ponderosa pine and others.

Nurseries receiving funds were in Marion, Lane, Hood River, Washington and Union counties.