Planting Season

New Doug-fir seedling

From Ridgeback Tree Farm:

The cycle of renewal on our tree farm begins early, in February when it's still cold and wet in western Oregon. It's the time of year when we plant out tree seedlings to create new, or supplement existing, forests.

This year we bought a mix of both hardwood and conifer seedlings: Bigleaf Maple, Doug-fir, Western Hemlock, Red Alder and Incense Cedar; about 200 in all. We got good seedlings through the Washington Co. Small Woodlands Association and Brooks Tree Farm.

We're creating a new, mixed-species stand on ground formerly in Christmas trees. There are groups of conifers, including the species above plus Western red cedar and Ponderosa pine, with maple and red alder planted around the edges. The conifers will someday be harvested for timber and the hardwoods thinned to for firewood, while the diverse stand provides habitat for wildlife.

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