Did you know most states in the U.S. have an official state nursery? These nurseries offer tree seedlings, perfectly suited for your state’s climate, for significantly cheaper than you could buy them from a private nursery. Many of these trees are lumber trees, but there are a number of “wildlife” trees that produce fruits that are just fine for human consumption: apples, persimmons, elderberry, sumac, plums, walnuts, chestnuts, pawpaws, black cherry, and oaks, to name a few. These trees are not going to be improved varieties which you would find at grocery stores or farmers markets, but they will produce edible fruits and nuts. If you have a larger property which you would like to reforest with trees that have more use than just lumber, then take a look at your state’s (or a neighboring state’s) site.
I have placed links below to every state’s nursery/seedling tree program that I could find. Some states do not have an official nursery anymore, mainly due to funding issues. Some states may have one, but I couldn’t find it. Some state’s information was rather confusing, so I just placed the link to the most current flyer/orderform (typically a PDF file); in this case, you may need to use the contact information on the flyer to obtain the most recent order form.
If you have information on a state for which I do not have a link, please let me know. If one of the links is dead, please let me know as well, as I would love to keep this up to date.
Listing of State Tree Seedling Programs
- Alabama http://www.forestry.alabama.gov/seedling_search.aspx
- Alaska http://www.forestry.org/alaska/
- Arizona http://www.azsf.az.gov/forest_management/forest_stewardship_program/
- Arkansas https://www.ark.org/afc2/index-offline.php
- California – no good information could be found
- Colorado http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/seedling-tree-nursery.html
- Connecticut – no state nursery anymore
- Delaware – no good information could be found
- Florida http://www.floridaforestservice.com/forest_management/seedling_sales_index.html
- Georgia http://www.gaseedlings.org/
- Hawaii http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/forestry/links.html
- Idaho http://seedlings.uidaho.com/
- Illinois – no good information could be found
- Indiana http://www.in.gov/dnr/forestry/3606.htm
- Iowa http://www.iowadnr.gov/Environment/Forestry/StateForestNursery.aspx
- Kansas http://www.kansasforests.org/conservation/index.shtml
- Kentucky http://forestry.ky.gov/statenurseriesandtreeseedlings/Pages/default.aspx
- Louisianahttp://www.ldaf.state.la.us/portal/DesktopModules/BrowseBy/portal/Offices/Forestry/Reforestation/SeedlingInventory/tabid/242/Default.aspx
- Maine – no good information could be found
- Maryland http://www.easycartsecure.com/MarylandDepartmentofNaturalResources/
- Massachusetts http://www.masstreewardens.org/SeedlingProgram.html
- Michigan – no good information could be found
- Minnesota http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/nurseries/index.html
- Mississippi – no good information could be found
- Missouri http://mdc.mo.gov/landwater-care/landowners-and-farmers/seedling-orders/2011-2012-seedling-order-form
- Montana http://dnrc.mt.gov/forestry/nursery/default.asp
- Nebraska http://gage.unl.edu/nebraskaconservationtrees
- Nevada http://forestry.nv.gov/ndf-state-forest-nurseries/custom-growing-projects/
- New Hampshire http://www.nhnursery.com/ordering/
- New Jerseyhttp://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/forest/docs/web_nursery_catalog_12.pdf
- New Mexico https://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/FD/TreePublicRedirect.htm
- New York http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/9395.html
- North Carolina http://nc-forestry.stores.yahoo.net/index.html
- North Dakota http://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/ndfs/Catalog_2012_Nursery.pdf
- Ohio – no state nursery anymorehttp://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/seedling/SeedlingSales/tabid/5321/Default.aspx
- Oklahoma http://www.forestry.ok.gov/order-seedlings
- Oregonhttp://www.oregon.gov/ODF/privateforests/docs/ForestNurserySeedlingSources.pdf
- Pennsylvania http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=636779&mode=2
- Rhode Island – no good information could be found
- South Carolina http://www.state.sc.us/forest/nur.htm
- South Dakota – no good information could be found
- Tennessee (scroll down and click on “Seedling Catalog” for most current link)http://www.tn.gov/agriculture/publications/forestry/seedlingcatalog.pdf
- Texas http://txforestservice.tamu.edu/main/article.aspx?id=1165
- Utah – no state nursery anymore http://forestry.usu.edu/htm/rural-forests/native-plant-nurseries/
- Vermont http://www.vtfpr.org/htm/gen_geninfo.cfm
- Virginia http://www.dof.virginia.gov/nursery/index.htm
- Washingtonhttp://www.dnr.wa.gov/BusinessPermits/HowTo/LandownersIndustryContractors/Pages/lm_seedling_order.aspx
- West Virginia http://www.wvforestry.com/nursery.cfm?menucall=nurse
- Wisconsin http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/treeplanting/order.html
- Wyoming http://www.conservewy.com/Cooperators.htm
Original Article Here