Forest Service to plant intensely
burned area
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
The U.S. Forest Service is taking steps to
speed up the natural processes at work in an area that was charred during
Idaho’s hot and dry 2000 fire season.
Approximately 950 acres of the 6,700-acre
Rankin Creek burn area in the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River canyon are
scheduled to be planted in the coming year and a half. The Rankin Creek fire, a
lightning-caused wildfire that burned out of control in thick stands of
lodgepole pine for more than a week in August 2000, smoked out rafters on the
upper Salmon River and forced two Sunbeam-based rafting companies to close shop
for several days.
The fire began when a lightning bolt
struck the tinder-dry trees in Rankin Creek, a tributary of the Yankee Fork.
"The places we’re going to plant are like
total clear cuts," said Sharon Bradley, Challis Ranger District timber
management officer. "We’re going to plant in areas larger than 1,000 acres where
the trees are totally nuked off."
Bradley said it would take the trees 17
years to grow back under natural circumstances, and planting the areas will
prevent accelerated erosion, landslides or sedimentation in the area’s creeks
and river in the meantime.
"The bulk of the project area is located
on steep slopes and, where soils are derived from rhyolite, prone to sliding,"
said forester Dave Faike, the project’s manager.
Second, the planting is needed to shorten
the duration of visual impacts associated with completely denuded, high
intensity burn areas that are visible from the Custer Motorway, a popular scenic
drive that accesses nearby historic ghost towns and a restored mining dredge.
The Yankee Fork of the Salmon River canyon
is home to many developed and undeveloped campsites and is also popular among
hunters, anglers, hikers, boaters and recreational miners, said Faike.
Yet another benefit derived from planting
the area will be restoration of wildlife cover and forage habitat.
"Trees provide both hiding and thermal
cover for a variety of wildlife," Faike said.
Lodgepole pine seedlings will be planted
every 12 inches in six areas within the burn that experienced high intensity
wildfire. Approximately 303 trees will be planted per acre.
This spring and summer, 67,100 seedlings
and 134,400 one-year-old container grown "plugs" will be planted. In the spring
of 2004, another 85,500 seedlings will go in the ground.
Faike said planting crews would walk the
burn areas and use hand tools to plant. Planting is scheduled to occur on May 15
and July 1 this summer but could change because of weather.
First year survival is expected to be in
the 90 percent range, and second-year survival should be around 80 percent,
Faike said.