Forest Service planting seeds in Hayman Fire area > General News > Stories > Woodland Park

YourHub.com \\ Woodland Park \\ Stories \\ News \\ General News

Forest Service planting seeds in Hayman Fire area

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

Contributed by: Barbara A. Timock on 4/4/2007

U.S. FOREST SERVICE TO PLANT SEEDLINGS IN DOUGLAS AND LAKE COUNTIES

WOODLAND PARK, Colo., April 3, 2007...Nearly 140,000 seedlings will leave
cold storage and begin growing in Douglas County on the Pike National
Forest this week. The U.S. Forest Service, South Park Ranger District will
once again plant 1-year-old ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir seedlings on
over 1 thousand acres of the Hayman burn area.

In a second project, ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir seedlings will enter
the ground in late April in Lake County on the Leadville Ranger District of
the San Isabel National Forest. This additional project covers 121 acres
in the Box Creek area. The purpose of the planting is to restore trees
onto the lands stripped during the mining days of the 1800's. The area is
currently dominated by lodgepole pine so these additional trees will add
variety.

Funding for this project was made possible, in part, by The National Arbor
Day Foundation's members and corporate partners. Each acre of tree
planting costs approximately $600.

Cones were collected in 2003 for use in Lake County and 2005 for Teller
County planting. The seeds were extracted then grown at the Charles E.
Bessey Nursery in Halsey, Nebraska. Now the seedlings are ready to be
planted by contract planting crews from California. Each worker can plant
3 to 4 acres per day depending on the ground conditions. They should
finish in about two weeks. The Bessey Nursery is a Forest Service nursery
serving National Forest System needs as well as other public agencies and
Native American tribes.

Because the seeds were gathered and planted in the same geographic
location, the U.S. Forest Service believes they will have greater growth
and an improved survival rate. The soil conditions in the Hayman burn are
decomposed granite and dry out quickly from the porous conditions. For
this reason, planting needs to take place as soon as the snow melts to
ensure moisture and seedling survival. Seedlings planted from 2004 through
2006 had a very good survival rate.
-end-

NOTE TO EDITORS:
Ø Media event on Wednesday, April 4. Please meet at 10am at the Westcreek
Fire Department parking lot. To get there, travel north from Woodland Park
on Hwy. 67 for 14 miles. Turn southwest at the sign to Westcreek. Be sure
to wear sturdy walking shoes and watch for log trucks traveling in the
morning.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.