WOODLAND PARK, Colo. - Nearly 140,000 seedlings will leave cold storage and begin growing in Douglas County on the Pike National Forest in early April. The U.S. Forest Service, South Platte 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.

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. The 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.