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Retiring manager has turned nursery into 'jewel' Has moved federal facility's work beyond timber species BY PAUL FATTIG CENTRAL POINT -- When John Scholtes first arrived for work at the J. Herbert Stone Nursery 13 years ago next month, the Forest Service facility was growing about 18 species of seedlings. When he left for the last time Friday, the day the nursery manager retired after 36 years with the agency, the nursery's offerings had grown to nearly 80 different species, including a variety of grasses. "Back in 1986, we were primarily growing Douglas fir and ponderosa pine," he recalled. "We grew only small amounts of the other 16 species. "Now we're growing 77 species," he added. "Our mission has changed with the realization we need to do a lot of restoration work on areas that require species other than commercial timber species." Scholtes, 58, was reared on a farm in Brogan, a tiny town in remote Malheur County. He joined the Forest Service in 1963 after graduating from the University of Idaho at Moscow. He majored in forest management. The Medford resident and his wife, Jean, have three children. Prior to arriving at the nursery, he worked in the state and private forestry division of the Forest Service in New England. He was the nursery specialist for 20 northeastern states. Although he has done a variety of jobs in the Forest Service, including serving one summer as a smokejumper out of the agency's Redmond Air Base, he has spent much of his time working at nurseries. He has worked at the agency's Bend Pine Nursery in Central Oregon, the Lucky Peak Nursery in Idaho and the Mount Sopris Nursery in Colorado. At the Central Point nursery, Sholtes was known for supporting alternatives to chemicals. For instance, he encouraged the used of a "bugvac," a vacuum device used to suck insects called lygus off young conifers. The use of the machine has reduced the annual application of insecticides from seven to eight times a year to one. "John's leadership has been critical in developing the nursery as a model for future nurseries," said Jim Gladen, supervisor for the Rogue River National Forest. Under Sholtes' leadership, the facility has become the "jewel of federal nurseries," according to Bob Devlin, director of natural resources for the agency in Oregon and Washington. The 311-acre nursery has 34 permanent employees, with up to another 30 hired as temporary employees each year. This year's budget is $3.6 million. Its regular clients include 28 national forests, five Bureau of Land Management districts and two Indian reservations in Oregon, Washington and Northern California. However, seedlings are periodically grown for sites Montana, Idaho and Nevada. All the plants grown at the nursery are native to the region where they will be distributed, he said. This year, the nursery is growing 7 million seedlings. Its capacity is 24 million. "Requests are on a steep decline because of a lack of timber harvests and the changes taking place," Scholtes said, noting that the nursery was growing a capacity of seedlings in the early 1990s. "We've offset that by going into native grass production," he said. "A fourth of our land is now in native grass seed production." Upon his retirement, Scholtes hopes to do some volunteer work in Mexico. He served as a volunteer for a U.S. aid program in Russia in 1991. While Scholtes looks forward to retirement, he figures his time in the agency was well-spent. "Looking back, I don't know you could better spend 36 years of your life than in the Forest Service," he said. "The mission is changing -- there is some upheaval -- but they are a good bunch of people to work with." Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA