New life at Plumas National Forest
In 2007, Plumas National Forest in Northern California was besieged by devastating wildfire. By the time more than 2,000 firefighters could contain the massive blaze, thousands of acres of forest had burned.
Recently, the Arbor Day Foundation partnered with the U.S. Forest Service to help in the replanting of these trees.
Linda Smith, a district culturist at Plumas, is charged with overseeing the complex replanting process in a portion of the park — and helping to ensure protection of new and old trees into the future. This week, Linda sat down with me to discuss the devastation caused by the 2007 fires to the Moonlight and Antelope districts of the forest.
“The Moonlight Fire basically took out 45,000 acres of federal land,” she said. “It’s intensely burned. There’s very little green left in that area, it’s just a big black hole.”
And as far as replanting these burned out areas? It’s a massive undertaking.
“It’s unheard of,” Smith told me. “It’s much larger than what we’re us
ed to dealing with. We’re working on two different fire complexes from two years ago … we’ve combined them into one effort. It’s what we’re terming ‘the largest reforestation effort ever’.”
By the end of this spring, the project at Plumas will have planted approximately 12,000 acres of forest – that’s about 1.6 million trees. The Arbor Day Foundation will assist in the planting of almost 800,000 of those trees.
Smith said that, because so much manpower is necessary to continue the project, every bit of help (such as tree-planting assistance from the Arbor Day Foundation’s members) is vital.
“We certainly appreciate [Arbor Day Foundation members’] desire to help,” Smith said. “The national forests belong to the people. It’s a part of their future as well as all of ours.”
Want to learn more about the replanting at Plumas National Forest? This short video will give you another look at what’s being done today, with your support, to help this majestic place recover from the devastation of wildfire.
