GUNNISON — The Gunnison Ranger District (RD) of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests (GMUG) will be hosting the 2nd Annual Community Tree Planting Day to allow members of the public to plant tree seedlings in an area severely impacted by the Spruce Beetle epidemic.  

The tree planting day is scheduled for June 10th at Slumgullion Campground—which is on State Highway 149 approximately 10 road miles south of Lake City. Check in time is between 8:30-9:30 a.m. June 17th will serve as a backup day in case of forecasted bad weather on June 10th. Please RSVP to Martin Chavez, (970) 642-4424 ([email protected]) by June 5th.  

The Forest Service will provide the necessary planting tools. Please wear long pants, and boots and bring clothing suitable for changing weather conditions. Also bring gloves, sunscreen and lunch. Volunteers under 18 must be accompanied by an adult to sign the volunteer agreement.

The Forest Service has reserved approximately 1,200 Engelmann spruce seedlings for the Community Planting Day. The seedlings are about 12 inches long (six inches for the roots and six inches for the tops). All of the seedlings to be planted were grown from cones collected on the Gunnison Ranger District by Forest Service crews prior to the current beetle outbreak. Once the cones are collected, they are shipped to the Forest Service’s Charles E. Bessey Nursery in Halsey, Nebraska where the seed is extracted from the cones and subsequently grown in small containers

Since 2008, the spruce beetle (Dendoctronus rufipennis) has impacted approximately 184,000 acres on the Gunnison RD. The spruce beetle attacks trees by creating galleries just below the bark of the tree and these galleries circumvent the tree preventing the uptake of nutrients from the roots to the needles—killing the tree. Under normal circumstances, beetles act as a forest health agent by attacking the oldest weakest trees—allowing the healthier trees to thrive. However, during times of drought and warmer temperatures beetle populations can greatly increase and attack even the healthiest trees in the forest.