The Flathead National Forest is proposing a long-term plan for gathering western larch cones and seeds to meet anticipated reforestation needs on the forest.

Forest officials recommend felling about 270 larch trees over a 10-year span in select areas during seasons with robust cone growth. Climbing trees for cone collection was considered along with other methods, but felling trees is considered the most efficient option for collecting the walnut-sized cones over a two-to-three week season.

To maximize cone collection and minimize tree mortality, larger diameter trees with healthy genetic characteristics would be preferred.

Marsha Moore, the project leader, explained that some years there may not be any cone collection.

“It all depends on how abundant the crops are,” she said. “You could have a bumper crop of seeds and when that happens you don’t need to fell so many trees.”

The location of seed collection areas will not be determined until a cone survey is done in the summer to determine if there is a sufficient cone crop. Cones would be collected from trees at different elevations within one mile of a road, typically over a two- or three-week period in September. No more than one tree would be felled per acre, and where possible, cone collection would occur in existing timber sale areas. Otherwise, cone collection could occur across the forest.

Melissa Jenkins, a Flathead Forest silviculturist, said there is currently a shortage of larch seeds for reforestation.

“The amount of seed on hand is well below levels necessary to meet our planting needs,” she said. “Because western larch cone crops do not occur on a regular basis in Western Montana, we need to capture larch seed when a sufficient cone crop does occur.”

Moore said cones that are collected will be transported a Forest Service nursery in Couer d’Alene, Idaho, that rears seedlings for reforestation work across the agency’s Northern Region.

“They grow the seedlings for us and that’s what we would plant,” Moore said, explaining how the plants are returned to habitats similar to areas where they originated for optimum genetic conditions for survival.

“They are site-specific and we have specific elevation bans that we collect from and we plant back in those elevation bans,” she said.

The Flathead Forest is soliciting public input on the proposed project through April 16. Any comments or questions should be directed to Marsha Moore at 758-5325 at the supervisors on Wolfpack Way in Kalispell.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.