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Visitor Center
Forest Nursery
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The Regional Forest Nursery, located in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho serves Washington, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah, as well as Idaho and the IPNF.
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The Coeur d'Alene Nursery is located about three miles northwest of
beautiful Coeur d'Alene Lake. This nursery was established in 1960 on 220
acres of rich agricultural land. The Nursery is administered by the Idaho Panhandle National Forests
and is the only Forest Service nursery in
the Northern Region.
Visit the nursery on the web at www.fs.fed.us/ipnf/nurs/wwwpages/wwwpage.htm
The nursery's mission is to provide quality seedlings for national
forests in northern Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota, develop the best possible
methods for producing quality seedlings, and work with cooperative forestry to
demonstrate successful tree growing practices and share new technology.
To fulfill this mission, the Nursery maintains 130 acres of irrigated
seedbeds, along with 15 controlled environment greenhouses. From the seedbeds,
over 16 million seedlings are produced annually, while the greenhouses grow an
additional 4 million containerized seedlings. The primary seedling species
are: Douglas-fir, western white pine, ponderosa pine, Engelmann spruce,
western larch, lodgepole pine, and western redcedar, and western hemlock.
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Whitebark Pine seed germinating - the results of careful preparation. |
In addition to the production of quality seedlings, the Nursery also
provides plant material for the Northern Region's Tree Improvement Program.
Nursery operations in tree improvement include growing and testing white pine
seedlings for blister rust resistance, growing seedlings for genetic test
plantations, and seed orchards. The nursery also provides a portion of the
Region's rust resistant white pine seed from three seed orchards; one at the
Nursery, and two located at the Lone Mountain Tree Improvement site northeast
of Spirit Lake.
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Sorting seedlings. Employment at the nursery may reach 250 people during peak seasons.
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The resources and environment we talk about at Coeur d'Alene Nursery
include: People (employees, neighbors, visitors); soil; water; wildlife; fish;
threatened and endangered species; pests and pest control treatments.
The Nursery also maintains the "seed bank" for the National Forests in
Region 1. In this role the Nursery extracts, cleans, tests and stores seeds
obtained from cones supplied from the National Forests. Then, when a Forest
orders seedlings, the Nursery grows the stock from seeds originating in the
area in which the seedlings will be planted. The nursery currently has
approximately a ten year supply.
Nursery seedbeds are planted in April and May each spring. The seed
germinates in 5-25 days and the seedlings are cultured (irrigated, fertilized,
weeded, and root pruned) for two growing seasons. Greenhouse stock is sown in
styroblocks in January, February, April, and June. The January crop is ready
for outplanting in July (summer); February crop in August/September (fall); and
April and June crops are ready for the following spring.
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A Lundeby tree lifter working in ponderosa pine seedlings. In March 1999 about 1.2 million seedlings were processed. |
Seedlings grown in open seedbeds are lifted and packed in the late fall for
winter storage in the freezer, or are lifted in the early spring. Spring
lifting must be accomplished during about two weeks before the trees break
dormancy and begin to grow. The trees are then refrigerated until they are
sent to the Forests for outplanting.
During peak employment periods the Nursery employs over 250 people. Full
time staff consists of 50 people; professional, technical and business
management specialists.
During the field season, the Nursery hosts numerous tours for audiences
ranging from elementary school children to professionals from all over the
world. While tours are normally scheduled at the Nursery Office for larger
groups, we welcome drop-ins. Business hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.,
Monday through Friday.
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