In this episode of "The Cone Zone," we look at the Placerville Nursery's role in supplying the seeds needed for reforestation in California. The Placerville Nursery is operated by USDA Forest Service and is one of the two main nurseries responsible for growing trees here in California. Plant nurseries are a vital component of the reforestation pipeline in California, as they are directly responsible for seed storage, growth and distribution. The Placerville Nursery is a huge piece of the puzzle that is able to grow at max capacity approximately 2 million seedlings per year! However, there are pinch points in the pipeline that make that hard to achieve. 

Here to help us learn more about the Placerville Nursery’s role in the reforestation pipeline is Meredith Sierra. Meredith currently works as a nursery technician at the USFS Placerville Nursery. Meredith Sierra grew up in the Sierra Nevada foothills and has spent her life protecting and caring for the environment. Meredith pursued her passion for the natural world as an Environmental Studies major at Sacramento State. After graduation, she dove head first into the workforce as a park aide, wildlife technician, watershed conservation advocate, and now as a nursery technician at the USFS Placerville Nursery. 

During her 2 year fellowship at the Placerville Nursery she has hosted nursery tours and tree planting events for program partners, assisted the container horticulturist with growing over 2 million seedlings, worked with El Dorado Resource Conservation District to sell over 90,000 surplus seedlings to private non-industrial landowners across the state, and participates in a tree climbing and cone collection trainings to further her skill pool. We are thrilled to have Meredith here to dive deeper into the world of seed banking, reforestation, and nursery production! 

References

“Barriers to Increased Tree Seedling Production in California.” American Forests, d3f9k0n15ckvhe.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FINAL_Reforestation-Factsheets-California.pdf. 

“Placerville Nursery.” Eldorado National Forest Website , US Forest Service , 2019, www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd624914.pdf. 

AArtle. “California’s Reforestation Pipeline in Action.” Sierra Nevada Alliance, 21 Sept. 2023, sierranevadaalliance.org/californias-reforestation-pipeline-in-action/.