Green Forests Work
Lexington, Kentucky, United States 路 Nonprofit 路 Regional 路 since 2009
Kentucky nonprofit reforesting former Appalachian coal mines, over 8.5 million trees since 2009
About
Green Forests Work is a Lexington, Kentucky 501(c)(3) that re-establishes native forests on formerly surface-mined land in Appalachia using the Forestry Reclamation Approach: controlling non-native grasses and shrubs, deep-ripping compacted soils and planting native hardwoods, shortleaf pine, red spruce and American chestnut. It grew out of the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative and the University of Kentucky and works with the US Forest Service, National Park Service, state agencies, NFWF, the Arbor Day Foundation and corporate partners on sites in Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, Indiana and Maryland. Professional crews plant most trees, while 35 volunteer planting events in 2025 drew nearly 2,000 volunteers.
What they run
Core program: site preparation (vegetation control and deep ripping) and planting of native trees on reclaimed mine land across Appalachia, including the Monongahela National Forest, New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, Daniel Boone National Forest and private holdings such as Kentucky River Properties.
Landowner application program through which owners of formerly mined land can have GFW reforest their property.
High-elevation red spruce ecosystem restoration on mined land in West Virginia's Mower Tract and surrounding areas, with wetland creation on decommissioned mine ponds.
Restores shortleaf pine and upland oak forests on former coal mines in the Cumberland Plateau of Kentucky and Tennessee with NFWF, the Arbor Day Foundation, the US Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy and Suntory Global Spirits.
The numbers
| Metric | Year | Value | Program | Confidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hectares restored | 2025 | 637 | Organization-wide | Self-reported | sourceCandid/GuideStar profile (self-reported by GFW): 'Green Forests Work planted 1,573 acres (637 hectares) in 2025'; matches the 1,573 acres in the 2025 Annual Report |
| Hectares restoredto date | 2026 | 6,475 | Organization-wide | Estimated | sourceDerived: homepage 'over 16,000 acres' since 2009 (accessed Nov 2026) converted at 0.4047 ha per acre = about 6,475 ha |
| Trees planted | 2024 | 853,507 | Organization-wide | Self-reported | source2025 Annual Report, p.6, '2009-2025 Trees Planted' chart: 853,507 for 2024 (the 2024 Annual Report rounds this to 'Over 800,000 trees were planted on nearly 1,500 acres' in seven states) |
| Trees planted | 2025 | 821,006 | Organization-wide | Self-reported | source2025 Annual Report, p.6 '2025 By the Numbers': 821,006 trees planted, 1,573 acres planted, in Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio |
| Trees plantedto date | 2026 | 8,500,000 | Organization-wide | Self-reported | sourceHomepage (accessed Nov 2026): 'Since 2009, over 8.5 million trees planted across over 16,000 acres' and 'Over 1,000,000 trees planted in 2026' |
| Volunteers engaged | 2025 | 1,957 | Organization-wide | Self-reported | source2025 Annual Report, p.6: '1,957 volunteers attended and participated in planting events' at 'a record 35 volunteer tree planting events' with over 4,300 volunteer hours |
How they report
What earned it
- 10/20 Publishes annual tree figures: 2 years of annual figures on record (5 points each, up to 4 years)
- 15/15 Figures are recent: Latest annual figure is for 2025
- 10/10 Every figure has a public source: 6 of 6 figures link to a source
- 0/15 Publishes financials or cost per tree: No financial figure recorded
- 0/15 Reports survival or monitoring: No survival or monitoring figure
- 0/10 Independently verified figure: All figures are the organization's own
- 4/10 Breaks figures down by program: Programs named, figures not broken out
- 5/5 Reports volunteers or events: Volunteer figures on record
- Latest annual figure
- 821,006 trees in 2025 (-4% on the year before)
- Trees per volunteer
- 419.5 in 2025
- Compare
- Put Green Forests Work next to others 路 method
Upcoming events
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