Competing vegetation surges while tree planting efforts are delayed

Over recent decades, tens of thousands of acres of conifer forest across vast areas of the Groveland and MiWok districts of the Stanislaus Forest have been converted from forest to brush fields by the giant 1987 Complex fire along with the Pilot fire, Ackerson Fire, Rogge Fire, Ever Fire, and other local wildfires. The exceptionally large 2013 Rim Fire scorched tens of thousands of additional acres of forest, leaving many areas with few surviving trees.

As a result of those fires, there are already extensive areas of chaparral and early seral stage habitat that dominate the lower elevations and steep canyons of the Stanislaus Forest. What has been lost (due to the fires) is mature conifer forest habitat that is needed by California spotted owls, goshawks, pileated woodpeckers, northern flying squirrels, American martens, and other forest dependent species.

Recognizing the value of forest habitat for wildlife, recreation, wood production, watershed health, and scenic beauty, the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions (YSS) collaborative group, along with CSERC and other local groups, supported Rim reforestation (planting conifer seedlings to get a new forest growing). But the Forest Service created controversy by putting forward a plan to spray herbicides across all reforestation sites, allowing every planted area to be sprayed up to four times.

CSERC joined with YSS to endorse a compromise proposal with less herbicide use and at least some areas planted in a more natural mosaic pattern instead of row after row of tree seedlings. The Forest Service eventually agreed to tentatively approve the plan that was endorsed by YSS and CSERC. Half of all the reforestation areas would have herbicides applied intensely; ¼ of reforested acres would have limited herbicide use; and ¼ of the units would have no herbicides or the lowest chemical use.

As CSERC staff monitors USFS land in the Rim Fire area, we’ve found that many areas with few surviving trees have dense brush growing that will shade out or compete with any planted conifer seedlings. On SPI’s private timberland in the fire, intensive herbicide treatments eliminated almost all the competing vegetation. The photo below shows the sharp contrast between chemically denuded SPI land and adjacent USFS land. Rather than accept SPI’s level of chemical treatment on USFS land, CSERC has advocated for limited, one-time use only where other treatments can’t be effective.

As this newsletter goes to press, two out-of-area organizations have appealed the Rim Reforestation plan and may try to further delay tree planting with litigation. CSERC sees the overall benefit of getting a new young forest growing as justification to support the current compromise plan despite our staff’s opposition to wide-spread herbicide use and the creation of sterile tree plantations. With each year of delay, the brush, grass, groundcovers, and other competing vegetation grow higher and thicker, making it that much harder for young conifer seedlings to survive. With each year of delay, the ability for treeless areas to become new forest without intensive use of herbicides also becomes more difficult.

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