When a select harvest is completed, the smaller trees left in the area will increase in size rapidly with the new infusion of light and moisture. Forest products companies are in the business of growing and harvesting trees, so reforestation is important to them. In fact, three quarters of all the trees planted in America last year were planted by forest products companies and private timberland owners. And logging companies pay a special fee to fund for replanting and reforestation when they buy the right to harvest a section of timber on state or national forests. In the Appalachian hardwood forest, nature replants on its own using seeds and stump sprout to grow trees for the future.
Foresters often leave areas to reforest naturally from cones and seeds.
Last year, more than 2.3 billion seedlings were planted in the United States by the forestry community. That's more than nine new trees for every man, woman and child in America. Tree farmers and other non-industrial private landowners planted another 28 percent of the total. The rest were planted by federal, state and local agencies. Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Oregon and Washington are the leading tree-planting states, in that order.