MDF Chapter Rewards
Planting Oaks in the Heart of Critical Winter Range
By Kevin Townsend
MDF volunteers hard at work.
On March 29, 2003, the Mother Lode Chapter of MDF planted 75 oak trees and countless acorns near the Jawbone Ranger Station 30 miles east of Groveland, Calif.
This area, considered critical deer winter range, is on the edge of the Stanislaus Complex fire. The 1987 fire was started by hundreds of lightning strikes into overgrown forest. The extremely hot fire devastated native oaks on 147,000 acres. It may be decades before the area has an acorn crop comparable to those of the past.
Local cattle rancher and landowner Stuart Crook agreed to let the Mother Lode Chapter plant 75 oak trees on his land. The Crook family owns ranch land in the heart of this critical winter range and the local wildlife has benefited from their land management practices for many years.
Five-year-old Jessica Murphy
helps her grandfather Steve
Goforth plant oak trees.
The replanting project started under an American flag, brought to the site by volunteer John Kroeker in honor of our armed forces engaged in Iraq. The works and Rich Day split into groups to plant and water the small oak trees. Five-year-old Jessica Murphy, the youngest volunteer, turned out to be a very good helper! The groups installed protective tubes over the trees to help protect them from deer and cattle for a few years. The volunteers also planted acorns in an effort to boost the number of trees per acre.
Bobby Klein cooked up a great lunch of Tri-Tip steak, beans, salad and garlic bread for the work crew that included Bob Terry, John and Teresa Terry, John Kroeker, Steve and Cyndy Goforth and their granddaughter Jessica Murphy, Gary Meador, Kevin and Robbie Townsend, Jim Phelan, Lawrence Allen, Bobby Klein, Bill and Billy Youngman, Adam Rich, Fred Vigil and Rich Day.