1,920 Sugar Pines Planted at Burton Creek State Park

On May 3, our partners at the California State Parks (Cal Parks) converged the Sierra District natural resources team to plant 1,920 of our sugar pine seedlings at Burton Creek State Park on Tahoe's north shore. The seedlings were planted across 80 acres that had been thinned and burned by the Fire Management Crew between 2019 and 2023.

Our seedlings come from trees that are not genetically modified, yet have genes that make them naturally more resistant to white pine blister rust. Blister rust is a non-native fungus that kills white pines across North America. It kills over 95% of trees that it infects, but about 5% of sugar pines are fully genetically resistant to its ravages.

With help from the US Forest Service Placerville Nursery, the Sugar Pine Foundation has identified 66 resistant "seed trees." We harvest the cones from these trees and plant their babies. It was great to partner with Foresters Rich Adams and Jack Harvey at CalParks to deploy their Forestry crews plus other staff to plant so many of our seedlings at Burton Creek State Park.

Forestry aides, park aides, California Conservation Corps interns and staff from many different disciplines and departments within CalParks' Sierra District got to enjoy being outside, digging in the dirt to plant baby sugar pines. It took the team a full day to plant nearly 2,000 trees as beef jerky and many smiles were shared during the day’s rewarding work.

We are grateful to CalParks' exceptional team for helping us restore Tahoe's sugar pines and overall forest health. We look forward to partnering with them to plant more sugar pines again soon!

From left to right: Senior Park Aide Will Hamann with shovel over shoulder and a bag of sugar pine seedlings in hand. Forestry Aide Nicole Owens with a sugar pine seedling. Skilled Laborer Adrian Lemke selecting a seedling from the bag to go in this perfect location. A newly planted sugar pine baby getting acquainted with its new home. Photos from Kaytlen Jackson, Sierra District.