[Billoutwest]

I'm retired but had a 40 year career. One thing that some may wish to follow is the cycle of events that will continue in western forests. Growth. Death started by insect, disease with perhaps an assist by drought. The first large fire. THE SECOND LARGE FIRE. Don't think of the large fires in this area of Washington over the last few years as being an end to a chapter. In the first fire many trees are killed. Time. Then those snags fall over onto new growth. This creates a complex fuel bed that can be more damaging to the soil. Because larger fuels, crisscrossed logs, will impart more heat over a period of time and 'nuke' the soils. Removing nutrients. At elevation in particular the recoveries are well beyond our life spans. ======= We have had three land managers. Nature. Native Americans. Anglos. Guess who's screwed it up the most? The European Forestry practice of all fires are bad and all need to be suppressed has created larger more destructive fires. Every time we suppress a small fire we add fuel to the next fire. Having painted ourselves into a corner with people educated by Smokey and Bambi who moved into the forest this isn't going to change. Look forward to these areas burning again in roughly a little over a decade. Then a very slow recovery back to forest. View lots coming.

[Billoutwest]

Though I haven't done the gig for 8 years I know the FS is aware of those individual trees that you give the complimentary label orchards. Nicely done. They're obvious in the field and are on the GIS maps. They are somewhat protected from fire and insects. The metal band around them was to stop porcies and squirrels from climbing. But for those to work the trees had to be well spaced to prevent squirrels from jumping over to a genetically preferred tree. That space does help with some heat reduction and when most species get more sun, water and nutrients for themselves they are healthier. To take things a step further those cones need to be taken to a nursery where the initial stock is cross pollinated with other genetically superior stock and then their best kids are identified. Not to worry. Since the USFS doesn't plant that much anymore there isn't the 'emphasis' here there should be. Look. If you can't manage the land while being made to be unnatural with excessive fire suppression, why bother? They won't tell you that but my study of human nature, unprofessionally, tells me that is what congress also says with budgets. as you were

[treeswarper]

Most of those banded trees were not picked anymore because their offspring was planted and growing amongst others, in a fenced in area called The Seed Orchard. Our area has had good success with it and if there is a need, we have a source for local seed grown for the proper elevation. Seed has to be sent to a private nursery to get started. Interesting factoid, the Wind River Nursery, which is no longer in production, was developed to reforest the Yacolt and Cispus burns. The other big nursery was by Cottage Grove, OR. There's nothing quite like filling two picking bags with trees--we wet them before putting them in the bags, fastening the bags to your waist along with a pack with water and munchies and waddling away to plant trees. Hey, it paid more than working in the fruit orchards.