US to plant more trees as climate change kills off forests

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration says it will replant trees on millions of acres of burned and dead woodlands as officials struggle to counter climate change’s increasing toll on the nation’s forests. As the globe heats up, destructive fires that burn too hot for forests to quickly regrow naturally have far outpaced the government’s replanting capacity. That’s created a backlog of 4.1 million acres (1.7 million hectares) in need of restoration. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a plan to quadruple the number of tree seedlings produced by nurseries to work through the backlog and meet future needs.