Local Students Reforest Slater Fire Burn Area in Klamath National Forest
June 24, 2025
Students from Happy Camp Elementary School and Seiad Valley Elementary School recently joined Happy Camp/Oak Knoll Ranger District employees to plant Brewer spruce trees in the Slater Fire burned area.
Over two activity-filled days, students and staff planted about 1,000 Brewer spruce seedlings that had been collected before the 2020 Slater Fire. One student planted more than 100 seedlings alone.
Students planting tree above Grayback Road. (USDA Forest Service by Lisa Bousfield)
The replanting site, located above Grayback Road within the Happy Camp/Oak Knoll Ranger District, was heavily damaged by the 2020 Slater Fire. The effort to replant Brewer spruce trees marks a meaningful step forward for the local community.
Two students making room for a Brewer Spruce. (USDA Forest Service by Lisa Bousfield)
Inspired by the example of local children helping to reforest burned areas following 1987 wildfires, Klamath National Forest employees Todd Drake and Lisa Bousfield organized a similar effort in the Slater Fire burned area.
“The Brewer spruce area holds important memories for our communities, and it means even more that local kids planted them,” Bousfield said. “We’ve heard from parents and grandparents who planted after the ’87 fires, and they’ve said how exciting it is that their kids and grandkids are doing the same now. We see it as a way to heal — for the kids, the employees, and the community.”
More planting events are planned in the burn scars of the Slater Fire and the McKinney Fire in the years ahead.
For more information about the Klamath National Forest, visit fs.usda.gov/r05/klamath.
A student plants a tree with the help of a Forest Service employee. (USDA Forest Service by Lisa Bousfield)
Happy Camp Elementary School Grades K to 3. (USDA Forest Service by Lisa Bousfield)
Seiad Valley Elementary School Grades K-8. (USDA Forest Service by Lisa Bousfield)