Trees for tomorrow

American Forests, Autumn, 1996 by Kathryn Tenusak, Michelle Robbins

The 1997 global releaf forests projects have just been announced, and the beneficiaries are as diverse as the areas where they are located. Your $1-per-tree contributions will help plant more than 1 million trees on 23 sites in 19 states and two Canadian provinces. And while there are always more deserving projects than there is money available, staffers say they like the wealth of possibilities in this list, which includes national wildlife refuges, areas burned by wildfire, and closed landfills. Numerous endangered animals and plants will benefit, along with ecosystems and even recreational users. Projects include:

California: King Range Conservation Area

This parcel, in the King Range Conservation Area, burned more than than 20 years ago while privately owned. It was subsequently logged and acquired in its present state by the federal Bureau of Land Management. The agency expects to see a variety of benefits from restoring native Douglas-fir to the parcel. This Global ReLeaf Forest will plant 25,000 trees on a 100-acre parcel with help from local students.

Colorado: Black Ridge Fire Site

This Global ReLeaf Forest project will help a section of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation recover from the July 1994 Black Ridge wildfire, which burned more than 14,000 acres of semi-arid foothills. Plans are to plant 63,983 pinyon pines on 587 acres of fire-damaged land. Seedlings will be grown and donated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs' nursery and then planted by the Southern Ute Tribal Conservation Corps and private contractors. Reestablishing valuable forests and woodlands will provide multiple benefits, including quality winter range for deer and elk. Unemployment in the area is high, and the project will provide short-term employment in the nursery and for the planting.

Florida: Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve

AMERICAN FORESTS and The Nature Conservancy are sponsoring a three-year project to convert what is considered to be a "crown jewel" preserve on Florida's panhandle from flash pine to native longleaf pine and wiregrass. The project goal is to plant 25,000 longleaf pine and 25,000 understory species, mostly wire-grass, over each of the three years. The preserve is home to more than 15 threatened/endangered plant and animal species, such as the Florida torreya tree, the gopher tortoise, and the red-cockaded woodpecker. Site preparation, nursery maintenance, and planting will be done by Nature Conservancy staff with the help of more than 150 volunteers.

Florida: Tamiami Pine Preserve/Miami Rock Ridge Area

The last of Dade County's slash pine was devastated by Hurricane Andrew. This restoration project, begun in 1994, has so far planted 63,500 seedlings toward its goal of 500,000 slash pine on 1,000 acres. Because the seed cone crops have been poor, project organizers used a bucket truck to pick cones, gathering enough to grow 80,000 trees. This project is one of the tougher Global ReLeaf Forests: The planting site is rugged, seed cones are scarce, and invasive species must be carefully monitored and controlled. These problems are being overcome together with agency partners and volunteers.

Florida: Withlacoochee State Forest

One hundred acres of the Withlacoochee State Forest, located west of Orlando, will be planted with 75,000 longleaf pine seedlings to restore habitat for a number of endangered and threatened species, including red-cockaded woodpeckers. Before planting, though, the Division of Forestry must eradicate an invasive exotic, cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica), which has taken over about 5,000 acres of state land.

Kentucky: Bell Farm

On Bell Farm, part of Daniel Boone National Forest in McCreary County, the planting of 7,000 red oak seedlings across 35 acres is expected to benefit a variety of endangered and threatened species, including the fresh water mussel, Indiana bat, and red-cockaded woodpecker. Reforestation also will improve the quality of water draining from abandoned fields, which in turn will decrease the amount of sediment entering local streams. The Bell Farm, bottomland formerly used for grazing, is within a state-designated Wild and Scenic River corridor and was acquired by the U.S. Forest Service several years ago.

Maryland: Glades Preserve

AMERICAN FORESTS and The Nature Conservancy last year began a three-year project to plant at least 10,000 red spruce seed and seedlings around a rain-fed Western Maryland mountain bog. The site is home to black bear and supports the bog copper butterfly and at least a dozen other species of plants, insects, and birds that are uncommon, rare, threatened, or endangered in the state.

Michigan: Betsie River Riparian Corridor

After a dam washed out in 1989 and unleashed seven decades of erosion in one day, riverbanks were destroyed, fish killed, and sediment filled the water. The project goals are to plant grass, shrubs, and 108,900 seedlings on 150 acres along the river and to stabilize the bottom with rocks and gravel. The trees will provide shade to cool water temperatures and improve conditions for fish. The Northwest Michigan RC&D Council will work with the Betsie River Watershed Restoration Committee to improve both water quality and the river's aesthetic and recreational qualities, including conditions for canoeing and fishing. The venture has 25 partners.