Shasta Environmental Alliance (SEA) has been planting and watering acorns on BLM land just west of the Mary Lake subdivision in west Redding. Shasta Chapter CNPS planted about 30 sets (three acorns per planting set) of blue oak acorns on our annual New Year’s Day Hike in 2019. In 2020, Shasta Chapter CNPS and SEA together planted about 100 sets. This year, SEA planted 23 acorn sets and put small berms and fencing around each site. Since then, we have been out three additional times to water the seedlings because of the drought. On our watering day on April 17, we also put up burlap sacks around the fencing to keep the plants shaded, simulating acorn seedlings under larger trees or shrubs.
Few blue oaks have been resprouting in this section of the Carr Fire burned area; however, interior live oak and black oak have been resprouting profusely. We plan to plant more blue oaks next year along with a few interior live oaks as they are faster growing and can sequester more CO2, making this is a combined habitat restoration and carbon sequestration project. Over the last two years, we have also poked a few gray pine seeds in the ground and are hoping a few will sprout.
Due to the drought, we will need to water at least through June and could use some volunteers. It only takes about an hour to water all of the fenced seedlings if we have at least six people. If you would like to help, contact me at dledger@sbcglobal.net ~David Ledger
