The Seedling Solution

Late September sunlight filters through the first yellowing leaves as Mitchell Gunther and Kyle Townsend walk a small group from The Nature Conservancy across the grounds of Swiftwater: Organic Farmstead and Reserve, just east of Niagara Falls. The business partners gesture toward the open field where they’ll soon install air pruning beds—raised containers that encourage strong, healthy root growth. Many of the seeds have been collected from nearby forests, each one carrying the genetic memory of New York’s native trees.

“What better way to support the resilience of your local ecosystems,” says Mitchell, “than by growing the next generations of mother trees?”

This quiet moment is part of a much larger story. The Nature Conservancy is partnering with two nurseries—Swiftwater in Lockport and Native Forest Nursery NY in Jamestown—to ramp up operations and produce hundreds of thousands of native seedlings annually. These are essential building blocks for meeting New York’s ambitious reforestation goals. Both nurseries are inaugural recipients of The Nature Conservancy’s Nursery Incubation Program, which is helping them scale up to meet the state’s growing demand for trees.

These seedlings are more than future forests; they’re the foundation of one of the most ambitious climate efforts of its kind: New York’s commitment to reforest 1.7 million acres with 680 million native trees by 2040. That’s 38,000 times the number of trees in Central Park—an effort as vast as it is vital.

If successful, by 2050 these efforts could remove more than 4.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere: the equivalent of taking more than 1 million cars off the road for a year. These new forests will continue to sequester carbon for hundreds of years. But planting trees at this scale takes more than good intentions. It takes infrastructure, seedlings, strategy and long-term investment. That’s where The Nature Conservancy comes in.

The Need for Seed: Reforesting New York Starts at the Nursery

Trees clean our air, cool our neighborhoods, reduce flooding and provide habitat for wildlife. In New York, where up to 1.7 million acres of marginal land could be reforested, planting native trees is also an essential way to capture carbon at scale and a cornerstone of the state’s net-zero emissions strategy. Yet a hidden bottleneck threatens progress: a critical shortage of seedlings.

“Without seedlings, we can’t plant trees—and without trees, we can’t meet our climate and conservation goals,” says Mandy St. Hilaire, reforestation manager for The Nature Conservancy in New York. “It’s that simple.”

A Nature-Based Economy Takes Root

Over the rhythmic hum of a seed-cleaning machine, Mike Ross of Southern Tier Tree and Seed explains the process and holds up a handful of cleaned black walnut seeds. Mike is joined by Casey Casselman—a recently retired sergeant and K-9 handler with the Lakewood-Busti Police Department—and together they’re co-owners of Southern Tier Tree and Seed.

Mike and Casey are collaborating with Chad, owner of Native Forest Nursery NY, to manage the nursery’s new Jamestown location. Nine years ago, Chad Casselman transitioned from industrial forestry to the nursery business. Now, he’s bringing that experience home. Sharing ideas and expertise, these three industry professionals are helping to build the backbone of New York’s reforestation pipeline—one seedling at a time.

Beyond growing seedlings, Native Forest Nursery NY is using its new location as an opportunity to plant roots in the local community. By inviting residents to help identify and collect native seeds, Chad, Mike and Casey are helping to turn reforestation into a shared mission. They’re also hiring local talent to build the infrastructure needed for their expanding operations—creating jobs and strengthening ties with the region.

“This program really allowed us to take an existing vision for a native plant nursery in New York and give it life,” says Chad. “I grew up in New York and developed my love for the outdoors and my career in forestry here. To help restore forests in my home state—and to share that experience with family and friends—is a real blessing.”

The Nature Conservancy’s approach includes cultivating this type of nature-based economy, says Dr. Michelle Brown, senior conservation scientist. “By supporting investments in nursery infrastructure, increasing capacity for seed collection and forging partnerships with private landowners, we’re creating a scalable model designed to be replicated in other states.”

What’s Next: Where Strategy Meets Soil

The scale of New York’s reforestation efforts demand creativity and coordination across science, policy, land management and community partnerships—the kind of cross-sector collaboration The Nature Conservancy is known for. With 97% of New York’s reforestation opportunity located on private land, engaging landowners is essential, too.

“From mapping lands with high potential for reforestation, to investing in the seedlings that will one day become towering forests, to working with reforestation practitioners and private landowners, we’re building the systems and relationships needed to make reforestation work—not just in New York, but nationwide,” adds St. Hilaire.

With nurseries scaling up and thousands of trees already in the ground in places like Jefferson County, New York’s reforestation plan is no longer just a vision—it’s taking root in the soil and in the communities that will help it grow.