Seedlings Revitalize Post-Fire Properties
Tree-Planting Efforts in the Russia River Watershed
In January 2022, Sonoma RCD successfully procured and assisted in the implementation of post-fire tree planting efforts in the Russian River watershed. During reconnaissance of the 2020 Glass Fire area, Sonoma RCD forester Jason Wells identified significant areas that he felt, without intervention, were at risk of ecosystem type conversion. Specific concerns were focused on Douglas-fir forest types situated in north facing slopes and drainages that are well suited to their habitat, but burned at unusually high severity due to the timing and conditions of the fire.
Due to this concern, Sonoma RCD worked with partners at CAL FIRE, US Forest Service, El Dorado RCD, and One Tree Planted, a nonprofit tree-planting organization, to grow 20,000 tree seedlings to re-plant strategic locations within the burn area.
The order was enough to re-forest approximately 130–200 acres of Douglas-fir forest. During the course of a year, while the speculative order trees were growing in nurseries across the state, the RCD reached out to several foresters that had been working in the area after the fire to try and connect landowners with tree seedlings; unfortunately we couldn’t immediately find any interested landowners. As we are learning, in the immediate aftermath of catastrophic wildfires landowners are faced with making many large and difficult decisions. Understandably, it can take time to get to issues such as reforestation.
We were able to connect with landowners whose properties burned in the Tubbs and Kincade fires who had more time since those fires to consider re-foresting or improving species diversity within burned fire footprints. We connected with Heather Morrison, a consulting Registered Professional Forester operating out of Fort Bragg, who had clients wanting to plant trees and the RCD was able to work with a few landowners who had recently developed LandSmart Forest Management Plans calling for reforestation practices following fire. Heather was able to connect with a reforestation crew capable of doing the job, and she took on the role of coordinating implementation on both her client’s properties and the LandSmart Forest Management Plan properties.
With project areas and available contractors in place, we were able to find suitable homes for all 20,000 tree seedlings.
We used funds donated to the RCD to obtain a U-haul truck to pick up trees from nurseries in Placerville and Davis and drop them off at project locations in Sonoma County where they were picked up by the reforestation crews and planted. A great win for Sonoma County forests, made possible by the hard work and generosity of many partners!
The project was made possible by multiple funding sources: Technical Assistance provided by the National Association of Conservation Districts, which covered much of the coordination time for the RCD forester; Nursery operations directly funded by CAL FIRE and by One Tree Planted to pay for the growing of seedlings; U-Haul and transportation costs covered by a generous private donation to the RCD; Implementation services including RPF supervision and planting crews paid for by private landowners receiving the trees, and in some cases cost share provided to the landowner by the North Bay Forest Improvement Program.
The Resource Conservation Network gathers and shares the stories and ideas from its partners and colleagues. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the RCDs managing this publication.
