Chico Genetic Resource and Conservation Center Produces Record Crop

  • Thomas D. Blush, Regional Geneticist
Photograph of a woman near a rack piled with several burlap bags containing cones.

Robyn Scibilio in front of a drying rack with bags of cones.

Robyn Scibilio and her staff, Lisa Crane and Mike Brandt, at the Chico Genetic Resource and Conservation Center on the Mendocino National Forest have produced a record crop of ponderosa pine and Douglas–fir cones for Regional seed needs this year.

Chico seed orchards yielded 2012 bushels of ponderosa pine and 498 bushels of Douglas–fir cones, enough to plant 50,000 acres. The cones were sent to the Placerville Nursery for processing.

Seeds will be available for reforestation and restoration needs on the Six Rivers, Klamath, Shasta–Trinity, Mendocino, Lassen, Plumas, Tahoe, Eldorado, Stanislaus, and Sierra National Forests. One of every seven seedlings scheduled for planting in 2010 originates from seed orchards managed by the Regional Genetic Resources Program. Seeds from these seed orchards come from parents selected to produce broadly adapted, fast growing, disease resistant progeny.

Our seed orchards of ponderosa pine, Douglas–fir, sugar pine, and white fir are the product of work started in the 1970s. The orchards will provide the Region with seedlings that are better able to adapt to a changing climate.