Doug fir nursery seedlings. Increased capacity of forest seedling nurseries is needed to meet the need for planting burned areas.
Photo courtesy of Glenn Ahrens
People who want to plant forest trees for reforestation, restoration, or other purposes are facing extraordinary challenges lately. Forest tree nurseries grew about 135 million trees for Oregon and Washington in 2019. This was enough to plant about 386,000 acres of forest.
While this seems like a lot, the wildfires over the last two years created a big increase in demand for seedlings and reforestation services, so there is now a shortage of both. In Oregon, estimates are about 360,000 acres of the area burned in 2020 will need to be replanted with about 100 million seedlings in over the next few years. And with more than 800,000 acres burned in 2021, there will be another large area in need of planting.
This situation is especially difficult for family forest owners (non-industrial private owners) who collectively own and manage about 3.7 million acres of Oregon’s forests. Even before the 2020-2021 fires, there were problems supplying tree seedlings for family forest owners due to the unpredictability of demand and the need to order seedlings far in advance. The standard advice for people ordering forest tree seedlings is to order one to two years in advance. But for many forest owners, the need for tree seedlings is driven by unforeseen events (fire, wind, ice storms, etc.) or short-term market opportunities.
Most of the larger forest tree nurseries don’t take orders for less than 10,000 trees seedlings at a time. Ensuring adequate supplies of seedlings for family forest owners may require larger bulk orders one or two years in advance on speculation that there will be demand. Private tree nurseries just don’t grow that many seedlings on speculation anymore.
OSU Extension, Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon Small Woodlands Association, Watershed Councils, and other local partners are working together to address the situation. This includes improved estimates of seedling needs, aggregating small landowner orders to make bulk orders, and reaching out to tree nurseries and forestry service providers to expand capacity. But it will take a few years to deal with the backlog in capacity for seedling production, planting, and maintenance.
Millions of dollars are coming to help with tree planting for post-fire recovery and other forest restoration in Oregon. A variety of local, state, federal and non-profit organizations are working on providing grants, incentives, and donated seedlings. Local working groups have formed in most counties in order to help landowners with planting plans, seedling orders, site preparation, planting, and maintenance. Oregon Department of Forestry made some bulk orders for seedlings that are being connected with some of those in need. But there are millions more trees to be ordered and it is best for landowners to get their orders in or contact their local OSU Extension or Oregon Department of Forestry office for assistance.
Thousands of acres of family forest that burned in 2020 are in need of re-forestation.
Photo courtesy of Glenn Ahrens
Heat, drought, and other stress hazards to seedling establishment
In addition to the problems with seedling supplies and services, harsh environmental conditions have also been a challenge for establishing new trees. The 2021 growing season was very hard on tree seedlings due to heat, drought, and planting-quality issues. With air temperature exceeding 105 degrees, soil surface temperatures can often exceed lethal levels of 150 degrees near the base of seedlings. After 90 days with no rain, the rather small rooting zone of new seedlings gets totally dried out. Pines and oaks may survive this drought, but firs, cedars, and hemlocks often do not.
Careful execution of the entire sequence of steps for seedling establishment becomes even more important under these stressful weather conditions. Seedlings that have been compromised at any step of the way — packing at the nursery, shipping and handling, storage, planting, and weed competition — will likely suffer or die during extreme conditions such as we experienced in 2021. Decades of research and operational trials have helped improve success of forest regeneration under the hot dry conditions in southern Oregon and California. Lessons learned in these regions can be applied here in northwest Oregon to improve survival under more extreme heat and drought. Recommended practices include:
• Extra attention to protecting seedlings with shade, behind stumps or slash, or with artificial tree shades.
• Aggressive weed control to conserve soil moisture for new tree seedlings.
• Mulching or retaining dead shade of competing vegetation (killed by control treatments).
• Planting species mixtures that include more heat and drought tolerant choices.
• Matching both species and type of seedlings to local soil and site conditions.
In addition to planting more heat and drought tolerant species that are native to the area, there is increasing consideration of planting species and seed sources from more southerly regions in anticipation of climate stress and climate change. Science-based guidance for this is being developed.
Planting seedlings in shady planting spots can improve seedling survival during summer heat.
Photo courtesy of Glenn Ahrens
•••
If you or someone you know is looking for help with establishing new forest trees, contact your OSU Extension Forester (Glenn Ahrens at 503-655-8631 glenn.ahrens@oregonstate.edu) or the Oregon Department of Forestry (The Dalles Office, 541-296-4626). Tree School Online webinars provide helpful resources supporting successful management of forests, extension.oregonstate.edu/tree-school/tree-school-online.
About the OSU Extension Service
The Oregon State University Extension Service shares research-based knowledge with people and communities in Oregon’s 36 counties. OSU Extension addresses issues that matter to urban and rural Oregonians. OSU Extension’s partnerships and programs contribute to a healthy, prosperous and sustainable future for Oregon.
People who want to plant forest trees for reforestation, restoration, or other purposes are facing extraordinary challenges lately. Forest tree nurseries grew about 135 million trees for Oregon and Washington in 2019. This was enough to plant about 386,000 acres of forest.
While this seems like a lot, the wildfires over the last two years created a big increase in demand for seedlings and reforestation services, so there is now a shortage of both. In Oregon, estimates are about 360,000 acres of the area burned in 2020 will need to be replanted with about 100 million seedlings in over the next few years. And with more than 800,000 acres burned in 2021, there will be another large area in need of planting.
This situation is especially difficult for family forest owners (non-industrial private owners) who collectively own and manage about 3.7 million acres of Oregon’s forests. Even before the 2020-2021 fires, there were problems supplying tree seedlings for family forest owners due to the unpredictability of demand and the need to order seedlings far in advance. The standard advice for people ordering forest tree seedlings is to order one to two years in advance. But for many forest owners, the need for tree seedlings is driven by unforeseen events (fire, wind, ice storms, etc.) or short-term market opportunities.
Most of the larger forest tree nurseries don’t take orders for less than 10,000 trees seedlings at a time. Ensuring adequate supplies of seedlings for family forest owners may require larger bulk orders one or two years in advance on speculation that there will be demand. Private tree nurseries just don’t grow that many seedlings on speculation anymore.
OSU Extension, Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon Small Woodlands Association, Watershed Councils, and other local partners are working together to address the situation. This includes improved estimates of seedling needs, aggregating small landowner orders to make bulk orders, and reaching out to tree nurseries and forestry service providers to expand capacity. But it will take a few years to deal with the backlog in capacity for seedling production, planting, and maintenance.
Millions of dollars are coming to help with tree planting for post-fire recovery and other forest restoration in Oregon. A variety of local, state, federal and non-profit organizations are working on providing grants, incentives, and donated seedlings. Local working groups have formed in most counties in order to help landowners with planting plans, seedling orders, site preparation, planting, and maintenance. Oregon Department of Forestry made some bulk orders for seedlings that are being connected with some of those in need. But there are millions more trees to be ordered and it is best for landowners to get their orders in or contact their local OSU Extension or Oregon Department of Forestry office for assistance.
Heat, drought, and other stress hazards to seedling establishment
In addition to the problems with seedling supplies and services, harsh environmental conditions have also been a challenge for establishing new trees. The 2021 growing season was very hard on tree seedlings due to heat, drought, and planting-quality issues. With air temperature exceeding 105 degrees, soil surface temperatures can often exceed lethal levels of 150 degrees near the base of seedlings. After 90 days with no rain, the rather small rooting zone of new seedlings gets totally dried out. Pines and oaks may survive this drought, but firs, cedars, and hemlocks often do not.
Careful execution of the entire sequence of steps for seedling establishment becomes even more important under these stressful weather conditions. Seedlings that have been compromised at any step of the way — packing at the nursery, shipping and handling, storage, planting, and weed competition — will likely suffer or die during extreme conditions such as we experienced in 2021. Decades of research and operational trials have helped improve success of forest regeneration under the hot dry conditions in southern Oregon and California. Lessons learned in these regions can be applied here in northwest Oregon to improve survival under more extreme heat and drought. Recommended practices include:
• Extra attention to protecting seedlings with shade, behind stumps or slash, or with artificial tree shades.
• Aggressive weed control to conserve soil moisture for new tree seedlings.
• Mulching or retaining dead shade of competing vegetation (killed by control treatments).
• Planting species mixtures that include more heat and drought tolerant choices.
• Matching both species and type of seedlings to local soil and site conditions.
In addition to planting more heat and drought tolerant species that are native to the area, there is increasing consideration of planting species and seed sources from more southerly regions in anticipation of climate stress and climate change. Science-based guidance for this is being developed.
•••
If you or someone you know is looking for help with establishing new forest trees, contact your OSU Extension Forester (Glenn Ahrens at 503-655-8631 glenn.ahrens@oregonstate.edu) or the Oregon Department of Forestry (The Dalles Office, 541-296-4626). Tree School Online webinars provide helpful resources supporting successful management of forests, extension.oregonstate.edu/tree-school/tree-school-online.
About the OSU Extension Service
The Oregon State University Extension Service shares research-based knowledge with people and communities in Oregon’s 36 counties. OSU Extension addresses issues that matter to urban and rural Oregonians. OSU Extension’s partnerships and programs contribute to a healthy, prosperous and sustainable future for Oregon.
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