OLYMPIA, Wash. — As residents are winterizing their pipes and homes, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources is doing the same thing but for their baby trees!
At the Webster Forest Nursery in Olympia, the nursery staff welcomes ice instead of attempting to prevent it.
As many residents see frozen plants as a negative, for the staff at Webster Forest Nursery it is a way to protect them. By irrigating these planted seedlings, the ice cover protects them from the bitter cold. The frozen seedlings are called “forbidden popsicles!“
The nursery staff “gently showers the seedlings with a mist of water, and – after multiple applications – several layers of light ice build up to protect the seedlings from a freeze.”
These seedlings play a big role in the sustainable forestry practices for the Department of Natural Resources. In the winter and spring, DNR crews replant on state trust lands where timber has been harvested. There are 2.1 million acres of state trust forests statewide!
To replant on all this land, it takes millions of seedlings each year, with 14 species custom-grown for numerous different growing zones across the state.
This is in part with Washington’s State Trust Lands Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). This is an ecosystem-based forest management plan that helps DNR develop and protect habitat for at-risk species while carrying out forest management and other activities on the state trust lands it manages.
DNR provides habitats for species such as the northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, and riparian-dependent species (such as salmon and bull trout) in this long-term plan. All of these species are listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.
For more information about the Lands Habitat Conservation Plan, go to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources website.
