Stanislaus forest seeks ideas on Rim-fire replanting

I once watched a tree-planting crew work a hillside charred by the Stanislaus Complex fire of 1987.

With an impressive mix of speed and delicacy, each worker laid down a conifer seedling in the loosened soil and moved on to the next spot. The mostly Spanish-speaking crew had clear instructions from English-speaking foresters about what it takes to create a healthy plantation.

That was by far the biggest fire I covered while working for The Union Democrat in Sonora, but it was outdone last year by the Rim fire. That blaze spread across about a quarter-million acres of the Stanislaus National Forest, Yosemite National Park and private timberland.

Now it’s time to plan for the Rim fire reforestation. The national forest will host an open house from 4 to 6 p.m. Dec. 16 at Stanislaus National Forest headquarters, 19777 Greenley Road in Sonora to hear public ideas.

National forests are part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, reflecting the view that they should provide timber and other resources along with wildlife habitat, recreation and scenery. The national parks, part of the Interior Department, have a different mission.

The reforestation will cover just 30,000 to 40,000 acres, as Georgia Dempsey, public affairs officer for the Rim Fire Recovery Team, told me last month. The portion of the burn inside Yosemite will be left to recover naturally. Private timberland owners, mainly Sierra Pacific Industries, have their own replanting plans.

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 grow back fast.

Reforestation is not without controversy, notably over spraying 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.

This work will be under the direction of a USDA agency, but that doesn’t mean the conifers will be planted in evenly spaced blocks like fruit and nut orchards. Foresters try for a more natural look, both to please the eye of visitors and to provide homes for wildlife.

This story was originally published December 6, 2014 at 4:00 AM with the headline "Stanislaus forest seeks ideas on Rim-fire replanting."