Ideas sought on forest replant

Excerpt of article by John Holland, Modesto Bee, December 6, 2014

Now it’s time to plan for the Rim reforestation. The national forest is hosting a Dec. 16 open house in Sonora to hear ideas from the public. Even in the national forest, most of the Rim fire acreage will not be replanted. Some of it burned lightly or moderately, leaving enough trees to provide natural seeding via cone drop. Some of it is non-conifer forest along streams, which grows back especially fast.

Reforestation is not without controversy, notably over spraying of herbicides on vegetation that competes with the young pines, firs and cedars. But it’s possible that many environmentalists will agree with the timber industry on the general need for replanting, just as they have with the salvage logging approved for some of the fire area.

Planting, would not start until spring 2017 at the earliest because of the need to order seedlings of the right type and amount from the U.S. Forest Service nursery in Placerville. The trees will be carefully grown to ensure they are genetically suited to each site’s elevation, soil and other factors.