USDA Pulls Funding for UMD Forestry Research Project
Adrian Bethel (middle) demonstrating how to collect cones off of a white pine tree. Photo courtesy of Etterson Lab
Five million dollars in federal grant funding was cut for a UMD-based forestry project on Monday, April 14. Multiple researchers involved in the project are out of work and no longer have any form of income.
The project, run by Biology Professor Julie Etterson, is called the Climate-Smart Seedling Production Network and consisted of research to aid reforestation efforts in Northern Minnesota through assisted migration. The team was working to provide a structure for forests needed to withstand the warming climate.
“The tree seeds aren't able to migrate as fast as climate change is actually happening,” said Shannon Meehan, a graduate student working on the project. “We're planting trees there (northern Minnesota) in anticipation for that shift, so that the tree population isn't shocked.”
The process consists of seed collectors traveling to southern Minnesota to collect seeds from various tree species. The seeds are then brought to Duluth and processed, stored and looked after through a process called over-wintering, meaning the seeds are kept in a cooler and given the amount of moisture that they need. They are then distributed to a cooperative of small scale farmers in Minnesota to grow them and then the trees are sold to people throughout the state.
Tree populations in southern Minnesota are “experiencing warmer temperatures, warmer, drier climates than we are currently experiencing,” said Mikayla Haynes, a graduate student at UMD who has been working on this project since 2023. “So theoretically, their genetics are more well-equipped to handle the warming climate as those genetics get moved up here, so it's trying to prepare them for the future.”
The Climate-Smart Seedling Production Network was funded by a grant from the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). This runs out at the end of June and the team is in the process of getting their next one, set to kick in July 1, 2026, but this is not guaranteed.
The funding that was cut on April 14 comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The team was already awarded this USDA grant that promised to provide funding for the project during this year-long gap. Along with many other research projects in the country, funding from the USDA has now been pulled.
It was the product of a federal decision that decided the project was no longer compatible with policy as a result of an executive order, according to Meehan.
The team was counting on this grant to continue their current work and when it was cut, research came to a crashing halt. Because funding was pulled on April 14 and the team wasn't notified until April 16, there were two days of unpaid work being done.
Haynes and Meehan were working closely with eight undergraduate students on this research, all of whom are now abruptly out of work.
“I had a student in the lab that morning, and I had to tell him, ‘I'm sorry, you need to go home and we won't be able to pay you for this hour of work that you've already put in,’” Meehan said.
The team was able to move some money around for these undergraduate students to get paid from a different grant just for one week, according to Meehan.
“One week is great. I'll take it,” Meehan said.
The USDA grant promised a steady income and job security for the researchers until October 2027.
“This is money that had already been allocated by congress,” Meehan said. “So the fact that this still happened, that's where I felt blindsided.”
The project is now solely reliant on the LCCMR grant, which runs out June 30 of this year. The following LCCMR grant, which wouldn't kick in till July of next summer, is not a guarantee.
“We're not guaranteed that (LCCMR grant), especially now there's going to be a lot more people throwing their hats in the ring to get some of this money. So, it's tough,” said Adrian Bethel, a professional researcher on this project.
UMD Seed Technicians, Sydney Trimble (left) and Liv Jascor (right) collecting black cherry seeds. Photo courtesy of Etterson Lab
The idea of assisted migration in terms of this project is cutting edge and not heavily implemented, according to Bethel.
“There is going to be a gap in knowledge that won't be able to be explored until we have the funding to do so,” Bethel said. “Science is a slow process so an interruption causes harm to the whole scientific community.”
The loss of grant funding means Bethel is now on the job hunt, along with many other professionals in the scientific field.
“With all of the reductions,” Bethel said, “there's really not a lot of opportunity. It's a lot of really qualified people that did a lot of really great jobs that are now all looking to pay their bills.”
Dr. Etterson has sent out applications for future grants but there is no guaranteed source of funding as of now.
Cuts in funding for climate solutions research are occurring all over the country as the Trump administration spends more time in office.
“I may be hopeful to a fault, but I'm not going to just walk away because that is just letting this very polarized act win. So I feel very lucky being in Minnesota where there's so much support within the state to do things with the environment,” Meehan said.
“Minnesota cares a lot. And so while it's a bump in the road and pretty upsetting, the USDA isn't the only source of funding, and I think we really need to lean into our sense of community and figuring out how we can now support each other to keep moving forward,” Meehan said.
Meehan encourages people to “contact their representatives to request Congress maintain its power to allocate federal funding and to demand that grants already awarded by the federal government are upheld in their entirety.”