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A Place That Grows Trees So That Your Forests Are Forever - One Seed at a Time...
What we do at the Boise National Forest Lucky Peak Nursery.
Annual Spring Seedling Sale at Lucky Peak Nursery
Landowners who need trees to create windbreaks, improve wildlife habitat, and enhance forests on their property are encouraged to come to the Boise National Forest Lucky Peak Nursery’s annual surplus seedling sale. View 2018 News Release about the annual Nursery seedling sale
Trees and shrubs are some of nature's most abundant and beautiful creations in the forest. But aside from their beauty, trees and shrubs are important for other reasons. They protect the soil and keep the rain from washing it away. They also provide shade, protection, and homes for wildlife. They produce the oxygen we need to breathe, and put moisture into the air. And trees provide us with lumber for our homes, and paper for us to write on.
The Lucky Peak Nursery is actually a tree farm that grows trees that will be replanted in forests that need them. Established in 1959, the Lucky Peak Nursery stores seed and grows trees and shrubs for all of the National Forests in Southern Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Western Wyoming, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Every year, the nursery grows about 2-6 million trees on 60 acres of land. The nursery grows many different kinds of trees, such as ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, Douglas-fir, Englemann spruce, and western larch. These trees are used to replant areas that have been damaged by fire, insect attacks, high winds, and decay. They are also used to replant areas that have been harvested to make wood products.
After the fire come the precise planting of seedlings
All great actions start with a seed of an idea. In reforestation, the action starts with a seed. Literally. After a fire, trees that haven’t been destroyed often have the ability of producing the seeds needed to grow into future stands, or clumps of trees. But often nature gets a bit of help from the U.S. Forest Service. “The Forest Service is in the business of managing the people’s land,” said Clark Fleege, manager of the U.S. Forest Service’s Lucky Peak Nursery northeast of Boise, Idaho. “We want to manage the land in such a way that forests are healthy and are sustainable. In some cases what we do is accelerate the rate of restoration through the seeds we have collected and stored.” It sounds simple, but it’s a long and often precise process. It takes a minimum of one year before seeds that have been stored in the 60-acre seed bank – sometimes for decades – become 4-inch seedlings viable enough to be replanted in the forest. (READ MORE)
The Lucky Peak Nursery is also working to protect Sage Grouse for Future Generations… One Seed at a Time.
The need for food and shelter for wildlife to survive is basic, particularly for sage grouse living in a post-wildfire landscape in western states. The U.S. Forest Service is helping this upland game bird survive by growing about 3 million sagebrush shrubs a year to restore the area’s dry, grassy plains, essential for the bird’s nesting grounds. “Our goal is to help accelerate the restoration process on our public lands,” says Clark Fleege, manager of the Lucky Peak Nursery, part of the Boise National Forest.
Our tour season is April through June! Contact us for more information and reservations.
Nursery will Increase Stock and Seed Production Depending on the Demand
Every year the Nursery adjusts their operations with a diversity of products and customers based on needs and demand for a variety of stock. Containerized stock and native seed production is essential in the success of their operations. Some specific products included sage, bitterbrush, grass seed and conifers. Products have been provided to a range of federal and state agency wildfire recovery efforts.
School Tours
School tours are available April through June, Monday-Friday, 10:00-12:00 noon. There is no cost for these tours. This meets first grade and fourth grade science core curriculum.
Reservations are required.
For more information on the tour or to make a reservation contact Kelly DeMasters at: 208-343-1977
