Arbor Day Foundation to fund 50,000 trees for C Hill area

District Forester Doak Nickerson of Chadron helped secure the $50,000 grant from the Arbor Day Foundation. It will fund 50,000 conservation grade seedlings to be planted in the C Hill area, which was scorched by the 2006 wildfire that approached CSC's campus. The plantings, which will occur on portions of the 263 acres of college land near campus, will begin in April.

Nickerson said the grant is unique because it requires no matching dollars. The Arbor Day Foundation has been working with the National Association of State Foresters this year to fund 3 million trees for reforestation efforts in 11 states.

"Who knows how long the community of Chadron would have waited for a replanting effort of this scale if it had not been for this opportunity from the Arbor Day Foundation," Nickerson said.

CSC horticulturist Lucinda Mays has teamed up with CSC range management professor Chuck Butterfield and CSC facilities coordinator Blair Brennan to select a wide variety of plants from three conservation tree nurseries - Lincoln Oakes Nursery at Bismark, N.D., Colorado State Forest Service Nursery of Fort Collins, Colo., and Bessey Nursery at Halsey, Neb. The new plantings will contain a near even number of evergreens, shrubs and deciduous trees. The seedlings will be enough to cover roughly 30 acres.

The survival rate for the new plantings will be largely influenced by precipitation, grass competition and wildlife damage. Nonetheless, it is hoped that green trees and shrubs will someday adorn the landscape because of the effort.

To date, about 400 ponderosa pines have been planted on C Hill since the wildfire. Mays, who has coordinated those plantings, said the upcoming project differs from previous efforts. In past plantings, seedlings have been covered to prevent damage from wildlife and the trees have been aided by a drip irrigation system. Although such nurturing will not be feasible for a planting of this scale, many of the trees are expected to survive and make a major impact on the landscape. Plant selection also is playing a key role in the success.

"The shrubs will serve as a deer salad and hopefully give those baby trees a couple more years to get established," Mays said.

Mays said the project is a collaborative effort between many parties.

The tree order is being prepared by Charlie Snook, wildlife habitat and tree program manager for the Upper Niobrara White Natural Resources District. The NRD also will provide machinery and assist the CSC grounds crew with many of the plantings. The effort will call upon college students, youth organizations and scores of other volunteers to plant by hand along slopes that are inaccessible by tractor and mechanical tree planter. CSC's geosciences students, under the direction of Professor Mike Leite, will map the area with GPS to determine where tractors can safely travel, Mays said.

The hand planting efforts will come first, Nickerson said.

"It's going to entail a lot of volunteers, a lot of elbow grease, a lot of will power and a lot of sweat," he said.

Nickerson, who earned a master's degree from CSC in 1987, said the forest south of Chadron has always been integral to the community's identity, and that the replanting is a vital part of the recovery process. The opportunity from the Arbor Day Foundation is an important step to rejuvenating that identity, he said.

"In a lot of situations like this, it's just timing. When you see the window of opportunity, you jump at it," he said. "My sense is that the community is ready to move on from the wildfires, and this is the big first step to recovery."

Anyone interested in volunteering in the plantings may contact Mays at lmays@csc.edu.