The Joe Biden administration has unveiled plans to plant 1 billion trees as part of an effort to close a vast reforestation backlog.

The effort, led by the Department of Agriculture, will build on existing reforestation efforts using funds from the Infrastructure Act and the Act to restore existing public lands by planting the necessary trees.

According to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, without the two laws, the ministry would have been able to resolve only about 6 percent of the pending reforestation work.

Forests are a powerful tool in the fight against climate change, Vilsack said in a statement.

Supporting their natural regeneration and planting in the areas most in need is critical to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, as well as to increase the resilience of these forests to the threats they face from catastrophic wildfires, historic drought, disease outbreaks and pest infestation.