New nonprofit Reforest Our Future aims to foster regrowth
Beaver County arborist Jeff Karwoski believes humanity’s future hinges largely on our ability to reconnect with the natural world.
His organization, Reforest Our Future, recently earned nonprofit status to further cultivate an interest in reforestation and earth-friendly landscapes through community outreach and education.
Reforest Our Future, at its core, aims to foster the regrowth of trees and our link to them.
Karwoski’s experience includes post-disaster recovery and reforestation work throughout the United States that ultimately led him abroad to the Philippines. While volunteering in the aftermath of the devastating 2013 Typhoon Haiyan, Karwoski found local partners to launch the Leyte Reforestation Project.
What started as an effort to plant trees in storm-ravaged areas now involves an internationally accredited nursery to restore native forest ecology using climate-resilient, innovative planting techniques.
“We plant into a number of what could be referred to as experimental planting sites,” Karwoski said. “They’re experiencing heavy doses of climate change, so it can be challenging to establish trees when you have severe weather events on an increasingly frequent basis. We’re trying to find ways to overcome that. We’re attempting to reforest what’s called a riparian buffer along the rivers, but flooding for longer periods of time meant we had to develop a planting system that could be flooded immediately. Sometimes, we've planted 1,000 trees and two days later the river covers the entire plantation for days. They have to survive that. We see what works and continue to make improvements.”
Another program based at Visayas State University centers on working with stakeholders to restore forests, designing productive landscapes and prompting education and training.
“We have students from the state university’s forestry program who lived and worked (at the nursery) for 25 days to earn their training hours to graduate,” Karwoski said.
Domestically, Reforest Our Future hosts a variety of community leadership and educational programs; "Pods for the Future" encourages Beaver Countians to engage with the outdoors – offering everything from guided forest walks and kid’s nature days to community reforestation projects.
Karwoski’s latest initiative, the “Let’s Talk Trees” series at the Beaver Area Memorial Library, is an interactive discussion designed “to bring a better understanding of trees, forests and the impact they have on our lives.”
The next “Let’s Talk Trees” event is set for 3-4 p.m. Aug. 19.
“The goal of the library series is to generate interest in allowing nature to regenerate trees,” Karwoski said. “I’m hoping people can explore their curiosity and learn a few facts. A lot of the things we ‘know’ about trees aren't necessarily fact or scientifically based.”
At a recent library event, someone asked Karwoski, “Where would we plant all these trees?” in western Pennsylvania, often known for its lush, green forested areas.
“I see the world almost like a photographic negative,” Karwoski said. “Where people are looking at a positive image of trees and say ‘I can see trees all around me,’ I also see that, but I see a tree here or there where there should be many. I can see a world of places where we could keep trees and invite trees back into our lives.”
For more information about Reforest Our Future, visit www.reforestourfuture.org.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: New nonprofit Reforest Our Future aims to foster regrowth
