The temperate forests in Mexico cover an area near to 323 305 km² (^{Galicia et al., 2015}), and it hosts important species that provide multiple environmental goods and services (^{Aguirre, 2015}). However, these ecosystems are degraded through land use change, illegal logging and the presence of fires and diseases (^{Goldstein et al., 2011}). With the purpose of counteracting the negative effects of deforestation, it is estimated that more than 250 000 ha have been reforested in the last decade in Mexico (^{Burney et al., 2015}).

The production of quality plant in nursery has improved considerably in the country, from a traditional model (use of polyethylene bag) to a technified (use of container). This change in technology has increased the quality of seedlings, which is essential for the success of reforestation (^{Velázquez et al., 2011}).

The Supports Program for the Sustainable Forest Development (Programa Apoyos para el Desarrollo Forestal Sustentable) (Forest Restauration and Productive Reconversion component, (componente Restauración Forestal y Reconversión Productiva), is a key player for the restoration of degraded forest land (^{Secretaría de Economía, 2019}). However, its efficient operation requires knowing the areas to be recovered and the appropriate species. Therefore, the present work had as objectives: i) to evaluate the potential of plant production for reforestation of six conifers (Pinus pseudostrobus Lindl., P. engelmannii Carrière, P. montezumae Lamb., P. greggii Engelm. ex Parl., P. arizonica Engelm. and P. durangensis Martínez) for the restoration of degraded areas that are among the most used in the country, and ii) determine the efforts of the reforestation program for the production of the species.

The average of plant produced in nurseries by species was estimated based on the 2016-2018 records of the National Forestry Commission (^{Conafor, 2018}), which is a good indicator of the number of seedlings that are bound to reforestation programs and of soil conservation by state. Likewise, the areas of forest land with medium (III.C) and low (III.D) degradation were determined based on the forest restoration zoning map of Conafor (^{Conafor, 2017}); high degradation zones (III.A and III.B) were not considered because they require more time and soil conservation works to be restored. The processing and representation of the information was carried out through the QGIS program (http://qgis.osgeo.org) (^{QGIS Development Team, 2015}).

When comparing the areas that can be reforested (1 100 plants ha^-1) with the amount of plant produced and the areas of medium and low degradation, the species together showed that they have a potential to restore 42.18 % of areas III.C and III.D (Table 1). In particular, P. pseudostrobus has the capacity to restore 15 458.97 ha; P. engelmannii, 8 685.33 ha; P. montezumae, 8 413.30 ha; P. greggii, 7 618.73 ha; P. arizonica, 3 081.18; and P. durangensis, 1 400.10 ha.

For each species, the efforts of the reforestation program (RP) for plant production were estimated based on the number of established nurseries (N), germplasm production units (GPU) and germplasm banks (GB). These efforts were rated based on the scale of assessment proposed in Table 2. The information used came from the records of Conafor, which are a real database on the work of management and production of seedlings of the species. The evaluation showed that the efforts of the RP were good and regular, i. e., five States had 50 % of the total of the N (113), and about 30 % of the GPU (22) and the GB (4) (Table 3).

The above information shows the ability of each species to reforest areas for restoration purposes, which can help recover areas of moderate to low degradation. This action allows to reverse part of the 45 % of the area that is degraded in the country (^{Semarnat-CP, 2002}).

The species analyzed present significant efforts in the reforestation program for plant production, which give the possibility of improving the success of reforestation as long as the establishment site meets the particular ecological requirements of the plants. In this regard, this work must be carried out with quality seedlings to ensure a higher survival rate, for example. P. pseudostrobus has achieved 65 to 60 % while P. montezumae has recorded 70 to 60 % (^{Barrera et al., 2018}).

The knowledge exposed in this work is essential to plan restoration actions for the species under study.