Sunlight filtering through dense forest canopy — tall Douglas firs with morning mist
Field Journal — Clackamas Watershed, Oregon
Watershed restoration coordinator standing knee-deep in a two-year-old planting site surrounded by young Douglas fir saplings
"We planted 40,000 Douglas fir here. The elk came back in eighteen months."

Marisol Reyes

Watershed Restoration Coordinator · Grove since 2019

2.4M

Trees Planted

18

Watersheds Restored

94K

Acres in Recovery

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Nursery & Propagation
Nursery manager Ingrid Halvorsen kneeling in a greenhouse row, carefully inspecting the root system of a young Douglas fir seedling

Ingrid Halvorsen

Nursery Manager · Pacific Northwest Division

"Every root tip is a decision. If it spirals, the tree suffers for decades."

Ingrid has spent eleven years perfecting the conditions that give seedlings their best chance before they ever touch open ground. Her greenhouse in the Willamette Valley holds 200,000 seedlings at peak season — Douglas fir, western red cedar, bigleaf maple — each one started from locally-sourced seed to preserve the genetic memory of the watershed it will return to.

200K

Seedlings grown last season

97%

First-year survival rate

Read Ingrid's field notes
Terrain Mapping & Analysis
Drone pilot Tomás Guerrero standing on a hillside with a remote controller, mapping post-fire terrain with his drone visible in the background against a hazy sky

Tomás Guerrero

Aerial Survey Lead · Post-Fire Response Team

"The drone sees erosion channels forming before the first rain arrives. That is when we can still act."

Before a single sapling goes in the ground, Tomás flies it. His LiDAR surveys map slope angles, soil compaction, and residual seed banks at 4-centimeter resolution — the data that determines species selection, spacing, and planting sequence. Last year his team surveyed 47,000 acres across three post-fire landscapes, producing planting plans that reduced erosion runoff by 62% in the first growing season.

47K

Acres surveyed last year

62%

Erosion runoff reduction

Read Tomás's field notes
From One Person to a Thousand Acres

The scale of the work

Individual hands become crews, become aerial surveys, become recovering hillsides. Here is how a single planting site transforms across five years.

A crew of eight Grove restoration workers planting saplings in staggered rows across a hillside, morning fog in the valley below

Crew 7, Deschutes Watershed — October 2025

8 people · 4,200 trees planted over 5 days

Aerial drone photograph of a thousand-acre reforestation site showing mixed-species canopy in various stages of recovery, patchwork of dark green against lighter hillsides

Aerial survey — 1,200 acres · Clackamas Watershed

Five years on one hillside

Year 0

Bare hillside after wildfire

Scorched hillside after wildfire with ash-covered soil and no vegetation

Ash soil, zero canopy, active erosion on 30° slopes. Tomás maps the site. Ingrid begins seed collection.

Year 1

12,000 saplings planted

Field crew planting small saplings in rows on a hillside in autumn rain

Douglas fir, red alder, and native shrubs go in during the October rain window. Crews of eight work five-day rotations.

Year 2

First canopy closure begins

Young alder trees 8 feet tall beginning to form a canopy over a recovering hillside

Alders reach 8 feet. Nitrogen fixing begins. Elk tracks appear at the creek crossing. Marisol records the first spotted owl call.

Year 5

Watershed function restored

Fully recovered hillside with dense mixed-species canopy and a clear stream running through the valley below

Stream temperature down 4°C. Salmon redds reappear in the lower reach. The hillside holds rain. The site is closed to new planting.

Two Ways to Begin

The form is just the introduction

You've met the team. Now tell us who you are. Every partnership starts with a conversation — not a contract.

Partner With Us

For corporations, foundations, and landowners ready to put roots in the ground.

This one question helps us understand who you are before we ever speak.

No sales call. A conversation first.

Visit a Planting Site

We run seasonal site tours at active restoration sites. Bring boots.

Grove by the numbers

14 yrs

In the field

$0

Admin overhead on site donations

8 states

Active restoration sites

100%

Native species only

"We were skeptical of carbon offset programs. Grove brought us to the site. We walked it. We funded it. That was three years ago — we've been back every spring since."
DK

David Kim

Head of Sustainability · Cascadia Materials, Portland