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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us April 26, 2005 Planting for the future Lomakatsi hopes to plant thousands of potted trees in fall By Robert Plain Ashland Daily Tidings If the Lomakatsi Restoration Project is to rehabilitate Southern Oregon’s watersheds to their native habitats and help to protect the people living in them from wildfire, then some of the work must be done away from the urban interface with the forest. Hannah Darling, 17 , pots ponderosa pines Friday at the Lomakatsi shadehouse near the Jackson Wellsprings during the first of three sessions the group will hold this spring. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings To this end, the Ashland-based, nonprofit sustainable forestry outfit held its first of three springtime community plant-potting gatherings at its shadehouse near the Jackson Wellsprings on Highway 99. “This is just one of the ways that we involve the community in what we do,” said Aaron Nauth, who manages Lomakatsi’s native tree and shrub nursery. “This is hands-on ecological work that everyone can practice right here in the community.” Nauth said that with the help of the close to 30 volunteers that showed up on a hot Friday afternoon, the group potted more than 1,300 six-inch-tall cedars, Douglas firs and other varieties of native trees. By this fall, said Nauth, the baby trees planted on Friday will be ready to be replanted in the Bear Creek and Ashland watersheds, as well as all over Southern Oregon. “All the trees we grow in here are for restoration planting,” Nauth said of the shadehouse — which is a greenhouse with a light mesh cover that protects the young trees from the hot sun and keeps them hydrated. “Part of community forestry is growing and nursing native trees.” The group was taking small native tree cuttings, donated by bigger nurseries from all over Oregon, and potting them in tall, cylindrical plastic containers, where they will grow tall and strong enough to one day be transplanted into their native ecosystem. In the shadehouse there are several different sized trees in several different sized containers. “When tress are started under these conditions they have a higher than 90 percent chance of survival when they are planted in the field,” Nauth said. “They can be planted as soon as the rains come in the fall.” Lomakatsi is better known for practicing hazardous fuels reduction in areas where populations come in contact with forests. But, said Oshana Cantranides, the executive director of the non-profit group, in order to restore ecosystems to their natural fire-adapted habitat, the organization must do much more than thin out woodlands. “Our principles explain how fuel reduction is just the first step in recovery from fire suppression,” she said. “We turn fuels reduction into restoration by replanting native trees.” Nauth echoed this sentiment. “There are many wings to our organization that all serve the purpose of holistic restoration,” he said. Lomakatsi has been active in this area since 1995, when the group began organizing community restoration projects. Since then, it has grown into one of the most dedicated and well-established forestry nonprofits in the area. “We’ve been planting trees in Southern Oregon for 10 years,” Nauth said. “We’re an ecological movement. It’s not just a job.” Friday was the first plant potting day of the spring. The next event will be on Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the season finale will be on May 7, beginning at 10 a.m. All three events are held at Lomakatsi’s nursery, donated to the group by Gerry Lehrburger. The nursery is behind the Jackson Wellsprings. Turn off Highway 99 onto Jackson Road and look for the large greenhouse. Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x 3040 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Free Musick Downloads Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress tcg student loan consolidation home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms cortisol weight loss Tatoos website design & marketing student loans African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems diamonds Currancy Exchange Online Casinos Community Student Loans Tatoo Poker Games Homeschooling Click Here .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams