The ArborGen goal of developing superior performing hardwood seedlings shows that a company can be equally committed to meeting the needs of sustainable commercial forests and to helping restore native forests. ArborGen improves the productivity of forest land and relieves the pressure on ecologically sensitive forests.

The large variety of native hardwood trees play an important role in the forest landscape in the United States, and are of high value commercially. However, hardwood trees are more difficult to manage because they tend to be highly adapted to specific soil types and geographies. Ensuring that a broad diversity of hardwood seedlings are available for timber, as well as for restoration, reclamation, wildlife habitat and mitigation, is a task that ArborGen takes quite seriously. Hardwoods require considerable knowledge and skill to breed and produce quality seedlings on an annual basis. ArborGen allocates native hardwood seedlings regionally, making sure that the seedlings we sell are suitable for the hardiness zone where the seedlings are to be planted. This critical step of allocation ensures that our seedlings thrive and survive on our customers’ land, and allows us to support hardwood planting projects in 20 states. ArborGen sells a wide array of native hardwood species including Oak, Elm, Birch, Poplar and Black Walnut.

One of the fastest growing hardwoods, Eucalyptus, along with other hardwoods, has the potential to provide a ready source of biomass for biofuels as well as high quality wood for pulp and paper. Purpose grown Eucalyptus forests have been planted and sustainably managed in many countries around the world. Eucalyptus, however, has been grown in the United States in those regions most similar to Brazil’s temperate climate including south Florida since the 1870s and south Texas. Since these trees are unable to withstand sudden drops in temperature, our product development program is developing new Eucalyptus products that will be able to be grown in zones to the north of the areas where it currently grows.

Hardwoods meet a critical demand for a specific type of cellulose valuable for papermakers, as well as high demand for the aesthetics of beautifully grained, rich wood for furniture, lumber and veneers. Hardwood species are in high demand for critical conservation programs to restore altered forest habitats. Native hardwood trees can also return forest landscapes of coal mining areas by reforesting mine reclamation areas. Some hardwoods grown by ArborGen are ideally suited for mitigation of wetlands to offset development impacts and highway construction.

More Wood. Less Land.®