2009 Sow & Grow Seeds for Lolo National Forest

Project: Sow & Grow Seed for Lolo National Forest

Agency/Forest or Park/District: Plains/Thompson Falls RD, Lolo NF, Sanders County, MT

Project coordinator: Valerie Walker

Contact: Valerie Walker vwalker@fs.fed.us, (406) 826-4343

Cooperators

Source of funding /amount

FHP: $6,500, and $15,000 from SPS4 and $1,300 from WPEF

Supplemental funding: $3,500.00 NFVW

Dates of restoration efforts: September 2009

Objectives

Providing funding to restore approximately 150 acres to whitebark pine.

Acres/ha treated

100-200 acres planned.  Partial funding provided us with enough seedlings to plant about 30 acres.

Methods

This project funded the Coeur d’Alene Nursery to sow seeds to produce approximately 5,500 seedlings.  The seedlings were available in 2010 and planted in the fall of 2010 on the Plains/T.Falls District of the Lolo N.F.

Planting? If so, source of seedlings? Resistance? 

Yes, planting.  Seeds were collected from a stand showing higher than average resistance based on the Phase I 110-seed study.

Outcome

Seeds were sown and will be outplanted in the fall of 2010.

As a result of seedlings grown for 2009, the nursery is constantly refining its protocols for sowing and growing WBP seedlings.  We expect increased seedling numbers from the seed provided as this program develops.

Liverwort control in 2010 will continue to be monitored. The new Botanical Oil treatment tried in 2009 worked well when the seedlings are dormant. We will be looking at a different seed covering (granite grit) to see if further control can be reached while the seedlings are growing. Results from the liverwort tests and any new treatments going to be tried with seed stratification with this year’s new sowing will be presented at up-coming meetings and posted on the Nursery Web pages.