The Planet Needs Prosperous Forests. These Scientists Are Planting More Than 33,000 Trees to Find the Perfect Species Blends

Forests provide myriad benefits, including timber, wildlife attraction, local cooling and climate resilience. At the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, ecologists are testing which tree combinations might create flourishing woodlands

McKenzie Prillaman |

April 24, 2026 2:43 p.m.

Volunteers have played a vital role in SERC's Functional Forests project. They've helped plant trees, put up deer fencing and mapped the tree locations with bamboo stakes, among other duties. Sergio Ibarra

Ecologist Jamie Pullen opens the earth with an orange dibble bar, a shovel-like device with a slim, cleaver-shaped tip. Then, she plucks a roughly one-foot-tall sapling from a white sack full of baby witch hazel trees.…