Federal, state and local officials gathered with community members in Mora County on April 27, 2026, to break ground on the New Mexico Reforestation Center (NMRC), marking a turning point for forest management in New Mexico.
NMRC is a collaborative project founded by New Mexico State University, New Mexico Highlands University, the University of New Mexico, and the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department's Forestry Division.
Enterprise Builders Corp. is serving as the contractor.
The groundbreaking marks the start of construction on the multimillion-dollar facility that will significantly boost reforestation capacity across the Southwest in the critical areas of seed collection and storage, nursery production and planting.
"In New Mexico and the broader Southwest, our forests are water and climate infrastructure, and the NMRC nursery facility at Mora is how we begin restoring our forests at a scale that will impact our landscapes for generations to come," NMRC Director Jenn Auchter said. "Once built to full capacity, NMRC will be the largest tree nursery in the region, and what makes this effort possible is that NMSU, NMHU, UNM and the Forestry Division are doing this work together.
The fully built NMRC will have the capacity to produce up to 5 million tree seedlings per year and house a comprehensive seed bank to support reforestation needs across New Mexico and the Southwest. New Mexico currently produces a maximum of 300,000 seedlings a year – far below the 150 million to 390 million needed to replant an estimated 1 million to 2.6 million acres across the state.
NMRC is designed to be constructed over four phases on NMSU's John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center at Mora. The first phase, funded by $38.5 million from state appropriations and federal funding, includes greenhouse and production facilities as well as the center's operational core, which will house equipment and systems to support all future phases.
The remaining three phases will require additional funding – about $88 million at current estimates. Plans include building more infrastructure, including additional greenhouses, an administrative building and seed-programming facilities at Highlands University in San Miguel County.
The goal is to have all construction completed by 2030, at which point NMRC will be fully equipped to produce 5 million seedlings per year.
In the meantime, NMRC staff will focus on establishing the center's research, education and outreach activities. This includes collaborative research between NMSU, UNM and others, as well as seed collection and banking and workforce development with Highlands and EMNRD.
Efforts to create a regional reforestation center in New Mexico had been years in the making, but the project gained steam following the state's historic fire season of 2022. That year, fires damaged more than 859,000 acres, and New Mexico recorded its largest wildfire ever – the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire – which scorched 341,471 acres. ♣
