A Journey Through Time

I began my career with the US Forest Service in 1976 as a seasonal worker on the timber crew. We were "Cruise-Markers". Our job was to mark and measure trees that were designated for cutting and sale to a lumber company. My boss was a man named Don Errington. I was introduced to Don (by Rich Platt) just prior to my graduation from Cal Poly SLO with a degree in natural resource management. Don hired me as a seasonal employee on the Hot Springs Ranger District of the Sequoia National Forest. Kim and I spent that summer there together in a little single wide trailer . After that summer, Don got a promotion and transferred to the Eldorado National Forest out of Pollock Pines and I followed him there for another season as a temporary employee.

In 1978 I received a career appointment with the Forest Service there thanks to a big assist from Mr. Errington. My job title was "Junior Forester". As a "JF" (the Forest Service is big into acronyms!) my duties were varied and designed to give me a strong foundation with the agency's timber management mission. I ran the marking crew, supervised logging contracts, prepared timber contracts, learned to fight fire, and assisted in reforestation (planting and caring for trees). My personal career mission was to steward and conserve public forests for the use and enjoyment of Americans. I was a raving environmentalist, before it became synonymous with anti-development/anti-capitalist tree hugging.

I retired after 30 years in 2008, but my time with Don Errington there on the Pacific Ranger District influenced me more than any other episode of my tenure with the "Forest Circus". Amazingly, Don is still hard at work, managing the timber resource there on the Pacific District. He chose to stay with that job rather than accept a promotion to more desk-oriented work. I had not seen Don since my retirement, and I often wondered how some of the projects we worked on turned out, especially how the thousands of little trees we planted did. So, last Tuesday I met Don at his office in Fresh Pond, just off Highway 50 to take a "ride through the woods" together. It was an amazing day.

Don and I had a fantastic day. He has been a huge influence in my life.

I arrived at the Ranger Station in Fresh Pond at about 9:30 am. After a few handshakes and hugs we piled into a government rig and headed out. Don and I started with a quick ride through the aftermath of last summer's Caldor Fire to get a feel for how restoration efforts were going. There are tens of thousands of acres that need site preparation and planting. Today, there are few if any "JF's" to help out and learn their craft. The Forest Service is struggling with the will and the wherewithal to get that herculean task started let alone completed. Time will tell, but getting a thriving young forest re-established quickly accrues all of the benefits that the forest provides including carbon capture. Seems like sooner should be better.

We drove back on to my old district on the Wright’s Lake Road, crossing highway50 near Kyburz where Kim taught school for a few years.  We navigated up through a fire that I helped to fight in 1981: the Wright's Fire. Many of the plantations of young trees that I helped establish after this fire had been burned again during Caldor. However, it appears that many of the trees were large enough (10 to 14 inches around and 20 to 40 feet tall) to withstand the fire and should  survive. I felt some pride seeing that a young forest that I had helped establish had become somewhat fire resilient. Now, after surviving the Caldor fire this young forest will grow into an even more resilient state. 

As we drove, I recognized some landmarks, like large boulders and ridges that remained unchanged, but the forest vegetation we were driving through was unrecognizable. It had changed so much over the years, thicker and more overgrown, I would have gotten completely lost if I'd had to drive. 

From the Wright's Lake Road, we turned onto the Icehouse Road heading towards Icehouse Reservoir. As we drove, some blurry memories begin to materialize in my mind. We crested a rise, and as Icehouse reservoir came into view, the images began to clarify: 

It was an early spring morning in 1979 along the shore of the lake. The mist was rising off the water as the sun peeked above the mountainous horizon that encircled us. We always got an early start when planting trees. The cooler and moister the air, the less shock to the sensitive little one year old baby pine seedlings. Of course, those early 4 o'clock mornings kind of maximized the shock to my system, but that was beside the point. 

We arrived at the planting site around 5am. The sound of slamming truck doors echoed across the reservoir as we parked and began loading up our planting bags with their precious cargo. The previous summer the area had been prepared for planting. It had been a large brush field, with few if any trees, primarily composed of "Whitethorn" (Ceanothus Cordulatas). It's a nasty bush with long, very sharp spines that tended to get buried into our legs when we had to hike through it. Sometimes we wouldn’t realize that the thorn was embedded in our leg until it festered and popped out on its own. That might take a week or more. The Whitethorn where we were planting had been dense, tall, and thriving, all indicators that this area could support excellent tree growth. We pushed all the whitethorn into piles with a bulldozer tractor and burned the piles leaving a large open area with rich deep soil to plant our trees in. 

So, for planting that day, we used a tool called a "Hoedad". You swung the Hoedad into the ground to cut an 8 to ten inch deep slit, pried it open, inserted the baby tree, then stomped it closed tightly around the roots. It was hard work. We worked all day swinging our Hoedads, I'd kneel to insert the seedling, stand up, take four strides (12 foot spacing) to the next planting spot, then do it all again. Hundreds of times...over and over. It was fun, sort of...NOT! But I wasn't doing it for fun, I wanted to make the world a better place, protect our planet, improve people’s lives, yada, yada, yada! The best part was getting back home a little early and cracking open an ice-cold beer!

 

The Hoedad is an effective but cruel tool!

It was just one area of many that I planted over the course of 7 years on the Pacific District. I remember that we applied some herbicides to the area a year or so after we planted it, but after that I never returned. But Don and I knew the general location of that project, and we felt that we were getting close.

The chip sealed road wound down closer to the reservoir. It had been just a dirt and gravel road back when I had worked here. There have been many improvements to the area around the reservoir. As camping and outdoor recreation have gotten more popular, the roads have been much improved, campgrounds modernized and expanded, and new units added. 

The trees growing in and around the
campground were well spaced and
probably up to 80 feet tall.

We pulled the truck up to a campground entrance. The ubiquitous brown and yellow Forest Service sign announced "Strawberry Point Campground". There were many well-spaced young pine trees with the occasional incense cedar and white fir interspersed amongst them. It was a very attractive spot. The gate was open, so we turned in. As we slowly cruised the campground loop, attempting to get closer to the shoreline, we realized that this was the site of that planting project so many years before. It was amazing! The pines that I had helped to plant and nurture had grown to between one to two feet in diameter. 

Here is a campsite nestled in amongst
 the trees that I planted.

At some point maybe 15 years ago, someone had thought this was a nice spot and would make an attractive campground. So, they built it. Scattering picnic tables, fire rings, and bear proof food storage boxes in the shade of the now 60- to 80-foot-tall pines. It was amazing. We stopped the truck to get a closer look, and to revel in the success of our efforts those many years ago. It is hard to describe the feeling that came over me. To see a young forest that I had helped to regenerate from a field of thorny brush, that had been selected as a spot for people to come and enjoy nature and be rejuvenated from their everyday lives. It doesn’t' get much better than that! 

This tree was over a foot in diameter

Many times in my life I have thought about how to make a lasting difference to improve the world. My career was dedicated to that proposition. Putting out wildfires, designing projects to make the forests more healthy and fire resistant, influencing regional (and a few times National) policy to help other Forest Service managers do a better job, and of course planting trees.

It was a great run, and I am proud of what I accomplished. But to see a young forest that I helped to plant thriving was absolutely amazing. We visited several other areas that day, and maybe I'll add some pictures to another post, but this one has got to be done. I started it months ago.

Thanks Mr. Errington! You are one of many people that influenced my career and life in the USFS. I took a lot in from you and others, and put it to good use.

That's All!