Elementary school students helped replant this area of the 2007 Angora Fire burn scar.

Restoration: Planting Our Future Forests!

We work with public and private land owners throughout the Tahoe Basin and surrounding areas to find suitable planting sites.  With the help of hundreds of volunteers, we plant our sugar pine seedlings in burn scars, on old logging roads, in mechanically thinned areas, on eroded slopes and in other areas in need of restoration.

The benefits of planting sugar pines include:
  •     improved watershed health
  •     decreased fire risk
  •     increased food and habitat for native wildlife
  •     enhanced recreation and scenic beauty

Planting Events

Planting events take place every spring and fall and are an excellent means of educating and engaging the community in forest stewardship.  Volunteers learn about the importance of native plants and the threat of invasive species.  Most importantly, they get the satisfaction of digging in the dirt to plant sugar pines that will enhance our local forests for generations to come!

Sugar Pines Planted

  • 2008: 2,900
  • 2009: 600
  • 2010: 23,250
  • 2011: 15,490
  • 2012: 9,030
        TOTAL = 51,270

An AmeriCorps volunteer plants a young seedling.

 

Growing Seedlings

The CalForest Nursery in Etna, CA grows our rust-resistant sugar pine seedlings for us from the seed we collect. CalForest has a 98% success rate in germinating and raising our seed into 1-year-old seedlings ready for planting! The seedings are raised outside, so they are already adapted to outdoor growing conditions.

We are also working with Grisham Family Tree Farm in Glenshire, CA to raise 3-year-old trees for landscaping purposes.

Young seedlings watered by drip irrigation at the Grisham Family Tree Farm.