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Getting everyone together

Today is tree planting day! Only I didn't know that until the volunteer crews came up with the USFS and watershed people with what looked like maybe 60 volunteers and some 200 pine saplings about 4 years old (the saplings, not the volunteers.)

This is great stuff! I was clearing pine needles and pine cones from around buildings and generally making things look a little neater, trying to get as much volunteer work done before the heat of the day drove me into Soldier Creek for the rest of the day. Around noon time, USFS, Angeles Volunteer Association people, and watershed reclamation people came up with their trucks followed by many passenger vehicles with lots of volunteers.

It's always neat seeing trees getting planted. It's quite true that many of them don't survive however there's always a percentage of these trees that live, and that makes the effort well worth it. (In fact I have photographs of trees from past tree plantings which I'll include in this article.)

After all of the volunteers were gathered together, Karen (USFS) gave a fairly detailed description of what it was like in the area on the onset of the Curve Fire. At the time there had been somewhere around 10,000 campers, hikers, and other recreating people in the Crystal Lake Recreation Area. Since the fire was sweeping North along Highway 39, the people had to be evacuated to the North to Angeles Crest Highway (Highway 2) to try to stay ahead of the fire.

Planting trees

A massively heroic effort was instigated to save Crystal Lake, and if one looks at the burn maps, one can see how the fire swept through the area surrounding Crystal Lake and Deer Flats Group Campground, working North up to Angeles Crest Highway and encountering enough moister plants to help knock down the fire.

Karen then described how best to extract the pine saplings from their carriers and insert them into the ground at the proper level.

Once the meeting was over (and safety issues were discussed) the volunteers grabbed shovels and picks, grabbed pine saplings, and spread out.

For the most part open areas were treated to new pine saplings and shaded areas received less attention. Care was taken to plant saplings away from picnic tables, toilets, camping areas, and parking areas, and care was taken to plant trees off of paths that people might utilized. Every effort was made to attempt to give the pine saplings an opportunity to survive the coming years.

I should add that buckets of dirt and mulch were brought up and utilized in the tree plantings. Known areas that have a fungus in the dirt and aren't conducive to pines were avoided.

Planting trees

It looked like hard, hot, difficult work so I avoided it. Ha, actually I was raking and bundling up pine needles and pine cones from around the USFS Visitor Center which was also hot, sweaty work, but I had the added advantage of having ice and Coca Cola® resting in the shade to help keep me cool, and a cool creek to climb under when I was done.

When I was finished, I hauled my burlap sacks of raked-up combustibles in to a pickup truck for dumping and declared my volunteer day pretty much finished. Walking around I got photographs of the tree planting volunteers who continued to work in the hot Sun. Along the way I got photographs of many of the other trees that had been planted in years past, happy to note that every season of previous planting had survivors.

It's a shame that these plantings aren't done every month with various areas hit by bark beetle infestation and fires getting re-planted one by one. I like seeing kids working in the forest and getting some time away from the --bleepen-- Idiot Box, Internets, Game Boys, and stink and filth of the city, if even for a couple of hours.

Added to the benefits of getting out of the city for a while, tree planting is one of the nicest things that people can do to make a real, positive, lasting impact for future generations. Sounds cliché, yeah, but the fact that a percentage of these trees will be around decades after the volunteers that planted them have died makes these efforts so wonderfully worthwhile.

Angeles Volunteer Association volunteer

I really appreciate these hard working volunteers and those who have come before them who have assisted in keeping Crystal Lake the shaded paradise that t is today.

If you would like to come out on one of these, contact the San Gabriel River Ranger District office of the United States Forest Service located in Glendora, California, and find out when the next scheduled tree planting effort will be.

* Pine saplings waiting to be planted
* Volunteers will be using these shovels today
* From a distance, a look at the general tree planting area
* Lots of vehicles were used in this tree planting effort
* Most of these efforts tend to take a long time to get started
* Karen (USFS) makes an effort to get everyone gathered for the safety meeting
* Buckets of soil were also brought along which will be used in rocky dirt
* Volunteers start to gather for the safety and orientation meeting
* As you can see, today's tree planting had many, many volunteers
* It'a always great seeing Lois (USFS) our well loved Volunteer Coordinator
* Volunteers stood around waiting for the effort to start
* Another vehicle that had pine saplings waiting inside
* A better ook at the very large crowd of volunteers
* The tree planting finally begins and everyone grabs a tree and a shovel
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 1
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 2
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 3
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 4
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 5
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 6
* Some of the volunteers got to work in the shade -- which helped
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 8
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 9
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 10
* Most of the pine trees were planted in open areas with direct Sunlight
* Care taker showing off new baby to USFS people on the left of the photo
* I was mean and said that the baby looks just like the care taker. }:-}
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 14
* Many of the volunteers were very young and their shovels taller than they
* The USFS Visitor Center after getting brush raked and hauled away -- 1
* The USFS Visitor Center after getting brush raked and hauled away -- 2
* I also removed the brush and stuff from around the fuel tank -- 3
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 16
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 17
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 18
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 19
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 20
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 21
* The best photograph of today, I think
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 23
* Pine saplings waiting to be planted, resting in the shade
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 25
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 26
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 27
* A previous tree planting maybe 2 years ago
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 28
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 29
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 30
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 31
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 32
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 33
* A brave newly planted sapling
* And another sapling waiting to be planted
* The last remaining pine saplings waiting to be carried to their new homes
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 34
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 35
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 36
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 37
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 38
* Taking a look at the general area of where the tree planting is taking place
* Taking a look at the general area of where the tree planting is taking place
* Taking a look at the general area of where the tree planting is taking place
* Taking a look at the general area of where the tree planting is taking place
* Toward the end of the project
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 1
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 2
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 39
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 40
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 41
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 42
* One of the Angeles Volunteer Association volunteers pauses a moment
* Tree planting, general photographs of the effort -- 44
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 3
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 4
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 5
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 6
* This girl wanted to plant one more tree before finishing the day
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 7
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 8
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 9
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 10
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 11
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 12
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 13
* A previous tree planting maybe 6 years ago
* A previous tree planting maybe 6 years ago
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 14
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 15
* The front of the Visitor Center after being cleared of brush
* The side of the Visitor Center after being cleared of brush
* A set of previous tree planting from maybe 2 to 5 years ago
* A previous tree planting from probably last year
* A previous tree planting from probably last year
* Another tree planting going back to probably before the Curve fire
* Another tree planting going back to probably before the Curve fire
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 16
* After everyone else has left, I take some photographs of the general area
* After everyone else has left, I take some photographs of the general area
* Another previous tree planting, maybe done last year
* Photographs of newly planted saplings -- 17
* This tree limb needs to be cut up and the limbs chipped up

Site map is at: Crystal Lake site map
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This web site is not operated or maintained by the US Forest Service, and the USFS does not have any responsibility for the contents of any page provided on the http://CrystalLake.Name/ web site. Also this web site is not connected in any way with any of the volunteer organizations that are mentioned in various web pages, including the San Gabriel Mountains Trailbuilders (SGMTBs) or the Angeles Volunteers Association (AVA.) This web site is privately owned and operated. Please note that information on this web page may be inaccurate.

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