As Tahoe's dead trees double in a year, efforts begin to replant with harvested seeds
Severe and prolonged drought has resulted in extensive tree mortality in Sierra Nevada forests, with more than 100 million dead trees reported, according to UC Davis scientists and the Tahoe Fund.
In the Lake Tahoe Basin, tree mortality doubled from 35,000 in 2015 to 72,000 in 2016, according to scientists. This includes a large number of sugar pine trees on the north shore. A native pine tree, sugar pines are an important component of the area's forests, providing diversity and stability.
Scientists at UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center have begun efforts to help repopulate the hardest hit areas along the north shore of Tahoe. The project allows them to collect seeds from more than 100 different sugar pine trees, and then grow these seeds into 10,000 seedlings that can be planted in the hardest hit areas. The 10,000 seedlings will be distributed to public agencies and private homeowners.
On Friday UC Davis and the Tahoe Fund Team the team used a "Big Shot Launcher" to knock sugar pine cones out of trees more than 50 feet in the air. The live cones dropped and then collected so the seeds can be harvested.
KTVN's Paul Nelson reports on the effort. Go here for the full story.