CCCs Lend a Hand at Badger Hill

A California Conservation Corps — endearingly called CCCs — crew from the Greenwood Center were a welcomed sight at the USDA Forest Service’s Badger Hill Seed Orchard in Pollock Pines in late May 2024.

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The seed orchard, a satellite facility off the Placerville Nursery in Camino, had been understaffed for some time and in much need of landscape management. Luckily, the Greenwood Center focuses on forest health projects in the greater El Dorado County area. According to their website, Corpsmembers assist locations to reduce the risk of wildfire by removing hazardous fire fuels, plant trees and seedlings, collect cones and seeds, fell hazard and dying trees, receive arborist training and certifications.

“We were excited to have them here for a few days,” said Chrissy Mahoney, the Badger Hill Seed Orchard Manager. “They trained in a variety of skills during the projects we had them work on and they targeted focused-training opportunities.”

The crew went through chainsaw and pole saw training, beginner and intermediate tree climbing training, wildland firefighter training, utility line clearance and inspection training, cone collection and monitoring, and more.

“They are very skilled and continue to improve through experiences like these,” said Mahoney. “At the orchard, they helped with vegetation management, where there is much overgrowth, by clearing fence lines, pruning orchard trees, removing volunteer trees and brush, as well as improving site security.

“Vegetation management helps reduce competition for the trees we are growing intentionally and reduces fuels for preventing wildfire spread. Clearing orchard space allows us to drive tractors through the orchard blocks and reduces invasive plant pressure additionally,” said Mahoney.

The work that the CCCs handle at the orchard contribute to the Pacific Southwest Region Seed Orchard Program in California. The seed orchards serve the greater goal of producing high quality, genetically diverse and disease resistant seed for reforesting the burn scars in California. There is a great deficit of seed compared with our needs for reforestation because of recent large-scale wildfires across the region. Much seed is collected from the forest, but there is a need for resilient, locally adapted seed and seed orchards can produce seeds with more management and care than what is found in the wild.

“The impact of the work the CCCs did is incredibly beneficial to make this orchard care possible, especially at Badger Hill where we have needed some crucial work done around the facility,” concluded Mahoney.