Pike & San Isabel National Forests
Cimarron & Comanche National Grasslands

USDA Forest Service
Pike & San Isabel
National Forests
Cimarron & Comanche
National Grasslands
2840 Kachina Drive
Pueblo, CO 81008
719-553-1400

Telephone for the
Hearing Impaired
719-553-1404

Local Editorials

USDA Forest Service
Rocky Mountain Region
Pike, San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron, Comanche National Grasslands

Trees Breathe Life

Editorial: Pike and San Isabel National Forests

Over one million trees were planted on the first Arbor Day in 1872, bringing attention to their role as shade providers and windbreaks. Today, trees are gaining renewed attention for their role as critical filters of carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming and as protectors of our water supply.

Arbor Day, traditionally the last Friday in April, gives us a chance to reflect on the majestic symbol of the tree, as well as to better understand how trees do their job.

The same internal “plumbing” that pumps water through tree roots to pine needles and leaves also helps them to inhale carbon dioxide, and to exhale water vapor and oxygen. Trees absorb lots of carbon from the air as they grow and store it in their wood—carbon that would otherwise contribute to global warming. This is why forests are vital in dealing with the effects of burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas that emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

On the Pike and San Isabel National Forests, we are planting more than 150,000 seedlings this season in the Hayman burn area and near Leadville in Lake County. The Arbor Day Foundation contributed more than $200,000 over the past five years to help us plant trees.

The most common trees planted in Rocky Mountain national forests are ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir at moderate elevations and lodgepole pine and Engelmann spruce in the high country. Each year, many more trees are planted on our national forests than are cut, helping augment natural re-seeding, conserving the forests’ role as nature’s sponge, and protecting the integrity of our water supplies.

A major goal of harvesting and planting trees in the national forests is to diversify the makeup of the future forest. A varied mosaic of trees benefits wildlife habitats and helps fortify the forest from damage by forest fires.

To plant new trees in our forest, native seeds are collected from geographic and elevation zones and taken to the Bessey Nursery in Halsey, Nebraska. Founded in 1902, this oldest tree nursery in the nation serves our 5-state Rocky Mountain Region.

The seedlings are typically grown in the nursery for one or two years, when they reach a height of six to twelve inches. They are returned to our forest in a frozen dormant state, to be planted in the same elevation from which they were collected. We do this because young trees are best adapted to local climate and less prone to insects and disease. More than 80% of the seedlings we plant continue growing.

Since that first Arbor Day in 1872, nurturing trees and forests has become an increasingly integral part of our American national character. We need healthy forests more than ever to clean our air and protect our water supplies.

When you look at a tree, you can value its role in filtering our air and tempering our climate. When you think of the Pike and San Isabel National Forests, you can enjoy the role the forests are playing in supplying local communities and beyond with clean air and abundant water.

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Bob Leaverton is the Forest Supervisor of the nearly 3-milion acre Pike and San Isabel National Forests, Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands and lives in Pueblo.