A team with the Sawtooth National Forest in August and September collected 75 bushels of pinecones to restore its seed bank at Lucky Peak Nursery. (Courtesy of Elexis Bernstein, U.S. Forest Service)
One organization is aiming to help forest managers recover the trees lost in one of Idaho’s most devastating fires this summer.
On Nov. 3, the nonprofit Daughters of the American Revolution launched a fundraising campaign to raise money to help restore scorched south and central Idaho forests.
The Wapiti Fire , which began on July 24 by a lightning strike two miles southwest of Grandjean, spanned about 130,000 acres across the Boise National Forest, Sawtooth National Forest and the Salmon-Challis National Forest.
Coined Project Pinecone , the funds raised will be used to hire professional tree climbers for the Sawtooth National Forest who will pick pinecones off trees to harvest mature seeds that will be used to grow and eventually replant trees back into the Sawtooth National Forest.