FY28 Tree Planting

This project is to pay contractors to plant trees in the forest. The BLM will also pay contractors to install vexar tubes around the planted trees to prevent browse and they will install mulch mats around the planted trees to prevent shrubs from overtopping the planted trees. The contractors plant the trees in specified densities prescribed by the BLM. After a timber harvest or disturbance such as a wildfire, the BLM routinely plants trees in these areas to perpetuate a forested condition. Without planting, these areas will turn in brush fields which do not meet our land use objectives. Once the trees are planted, the BLM manages the young forest in such a way that these areas will contribute timber volume to meet our timber targets which comes from the 1937 Oregon and California (O&C) act. This package is directly related to the recent Executive action on timber production from this administration. If these areas are not planted, close to 7,000 acres of prime growing timberland will turn in brush fields. If we choose to plant these areas at a later time, we will be required to spend millions of dollars to conduct site preparations to remove the brush prior to planting.