Sale on Spring Bare-Root Trees & Shrubs Until March 17. SHOP SALE NOW.
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Forests slow climate change, build natural resilience, and create a more abundant world. Forests cover almost one-third of the Earth’s land and they absorb about one-fifth of the greenhouse gasses we emit from burning fossil fuels (7.6 out of 37.8 billion metric tonnes in 2023). Halting deforestation, conserving existing forests, and reforesting areas with diverse, climate-resilient tree species are essential to stabilizing the climate and moderating the impacts of extreme weather. These actions also clean the air and water, improve food yields and human health, and grow the economic values of forest carbon stocks and sustainable timber products.
2024 was the hottest ever recorded, beating 2023’s global record. The 10 warmest years since the 1850s have all occurred in the past decade. Over the past 40 years, the rate of warming was three times as fast (0.36° F per decade) as it was over the prior 130 years (0.11° F per decade, from 1850-1980). Global temperatures are climbing even faster than recent scientific projections had predicted they would.
Global warming is accelerating from the exponential growth in greenhouse gas emissions over the past century. Half of all emissions have come since 1995 and 90% since 1940 (see graph below). Despite loud calls and commitments to reducing GHG emissions, they continue to rise.
Trees suck carbon out of the atmosphere and store it within their biomass as they grow. When they die and decay (or we burn them for fuel), most of that stored carbon is released back into the atmosphere, while some remains in the soil. This natural terrestrial carbon cycle does not, by itself, alter the world’s carbon balance. The imbalance occurs because we’re burning fossil fuels (i.e., long-sequestered, fossilized carbon) back into the atmosphere at a faster rate than the living biomass and the oceans can reabsorb.
The global forest carbon sink is shrinking just as we need it more than ever. We’re losing about 5 million hectares per year from deforestation and development. Pests and diseases stress forest health. In the northeastern U.S., many important tree species like White ash, Eastern hemlock, and White pine are under attack from invasive pests like the Emerald Ash Borer, the Wooly Adelgid, and the Pine Weevil. Many other native and orchard tree species face regular attacks by an increasing array of introduced pests, such as the Japanese Beetle, Spongy Moth, and the Spotted Lanternfly. The overpopulation of White-tailed deer in the Northeast from a lack of natural predators and a reduction in hunting inhibits natural forest regeneration. In the woods surrounding Arthur’s Point Farm, the understory of young saplings is picked bare, leaving little opportunity for natural regeneration. When the forest is disturbed, invasive shrubs like honeysuckle, Japanese barberry, multiflora rose, and wineberry flourish. (Here’s a short video on the importance of controlling invasive species in forested ecosystems.)
Forest conservation, reforestation, and afforestation increases the Earth’s capacity to absorb carbon. As we work to eliminate fossil fuels in the decades ahead, it is more important than ever that we increase the world’s forest carbon capacity. Protecting existing forests and planting more trees also protects us from extreme weather by slowing precipitation and reducing flooding, stabilizing soil and preventing erosion, reducing heat stress, and building agricultural resilience that protects crops and livestock.
In addition to storing over one trillion tons of carbon, forests filter our air and water, provide sustenance for people and habitat for wildlife, offer scenic beauty and recreation, and provide a renewable source of forest products, construction materials, and fuel. In New York alone, the forest products industry generates over $13 billion annually and provides over 90,000 jobs, and the forest-based recreational economy generates over $8 billion per year. Biodiverse forests are also essential for our health, producing over 40% of the world’s oxygen and the natural compounds used in about one-quarter of modern medicines.
Find out more about our approach to farming and land stewardship.
