WOODLAND PARK, Colo., April 4, 2008 - Over 130,000 seedlings left cold storage this week and began growing in Douglas and Teller Counties on the Pike National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service, South Park Ranger District will once again plant 1-year old ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir seedlings on over 970 acres of the Hayman burn area.
Funding for this project is made possible, in part, by members and corporate partners of The National Arbor Day Foundation and American Forests. These partners have been a supporter of tree planting on the Pike and San Isabel National Forests since 2003. Together they have donated over $200,000 to this project. Each acre of tree planting costs approximately $600 including the cost of collecting seed, growing seedlings and monitoring.
Cones were collected in 2005 for Douglas and 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 Florida. Each worker can plant three to four acres per day depending on the ground conditions. The Bessey Nursery is a U.S. 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 2007 had a very good survival rate.
Courtesy U.S. Forest Service
CONTAINER SEEDLINGS ..................... PLUG+ 1 SEEDLINGS....................
Container seedlings have been the standard for tree planting. Seeds from trees are germinated in a container until they are established. They are then removed from the container, bagged, and placed in cold storage where they remain until they are taken to the site to be planted.
Plug+ 1 seedlings start out in a container in a greenhouse during the first four months. They are then removed from the containers and planted in a nursery seedbed in a field outside. When the seedlings are ready for planting, they are carefully dug out, packed in bags and then frozen for three months. Finally, the seedlings are moved to a refrigeration unit to slowly thaw. The seedlings remain in cold storage until they are taken to the site to be planted. You can see in the picture above that this process produces a thicker stem, a bushier top and longer roots.
