{"id":47727,"date":"2021-03-29T05:03:06","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T11:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/forester-who-planted-2-million-trees-uproots-for-next-adventure\/"},"modified":"2021-03-29T11:03:06","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T11:03:06","slug":"forester-who-planted-2-million-trees-uproots-for-next-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/forester-who-planted-2-million-trees-uproots-for-next-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Forester who planted 2 million trees uproots for next adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Gretchen
Gretchen Fitzgerald, a former forester for the U.S. Forest Service, looks over a young tree Tuesday at Vallecito Reservoir that she helped plant in the Missionary Ridge Fire burn area. Fitzgerald recently left the San Juan National Forest to work in California.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The total number of trees Gretchen Fitzgerald has helped plant in the San Juan National Forest during her time as a forester for the U.S. Forest Service topped out at 2,183,557.<\/p>\n

\u201cReforesting areas that used to be forest and bringing that back, it felt like the right thing to do,\u201d Fitzgerald said. \u201cMy part was one little part of that whole picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald started as a forester with the Forest Service in 1998, but it wasn\u2019t until around 2008 that she started to lead reforestation projects throughout Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

During her time, she helped facilitate the replanting of more than 2 million trees across 5,500 acres, focusing on areas such as the burn scar on Missionary Ridge and old clear-cutting zones around Wolf Creek Pass.<\/p>\n

Recently, Fitzgerald decided it was time for the next adventure, taking a job as the ecosystem staff officer with the Sequoia National Forest in California. Still, her legacy, which can be seen across the landscape, will live on.<\/p>\n

\u201cGretchen worked on the San Juan for over 20 years, and during that time facilitated the planting of millions of trees,\u201d said Kara Chadwick, San Juan National Forest supervisor.<\/p>\n

\u201cEqually important, however, are the contributions that Gretchen made in the agency and in local communities, bringing people together in the spirit of learning and helping to restore health and resilience to the SJNF,\u201d Chadwick said.<\/p>\n

\"Gretchen
Gretchen Fitzgerald, a former forester for the San Juan National Forest, has helped facilitate the planting of more than 2 million trees in Southwest Colorado.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Fitzgerald grew up in Bayfield after her parents, Jim and Terri, decided to move West and settled in Southwest Colorado in the 1970s, with her dad taking a job at Fort Lewis College teaching Spanish.<\/p>\n

There, with the HD Mountains looming overhead, Fitzgerald spent a lot of time playing in the woods, developing a love of nature. So when she went to college, she majored in wildlife biology, naturally.<\/p>\n

But over time, Fitzgerald realized wildlife biologists tend to deal with more analyses and paperwork. What she wanted to do was work in the field and get projects done. So she went back to school and got her masters in forestry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I should do something for climate change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Trees have had a tough go of it during the past few decades in the San Juan National Forest. They are under pressure from massive wildfires, a spruce beetle outbreak and prolonged drought.<\/p>\n

\"Gretchen
Gretchen Fitzgerald, a former forester for the U.S. Forest Service, said she focused reforestation efforts in areas that showed no signs of natural regeneration, like the Missionary Ridge Fire burn scar and old clear-cut zones around Wolf Creek Pass.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

At the time Fitzgerald launched her career, there wasn\u2019t a huge emphasis on reforestation projects. But around 2008, Fitzgerald was exposed to her first replanting project, led by the Bureau of Land Management, and it clicked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018This makes so much sense, why aren\u2019t we doing this?\u201d she said. \u201cWe should be doing more reforestation, and I can make this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Fitzgerald got to work.<\/p>\n

The first replanting happened near Vallecito, up Middle Mountain Road, where a fire impacted the area around Bear Creek. Then, around 2010, she focused projects around the burn scar of Missionary Ridge.<\/p>\n

Her projects spread all around \u2013 above Lemon Reservoir, swaths across Missionary Ridge from Vallecito to Durango, Wolf Creek Pass and over to parts of the upper Hermosa Creek.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did a lot of experimenting to get the best survival I could,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I had a failure, I\u2019d figure out why and try something new. I had different challenges to give myself to figure out the best ways to plant trees in the San Juans.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be sure, replanting forests is not an exact science and an ever-evolving field. Fitzgerald, for instance, quickly learned that seedlings from Wolf Creek Pass did not do as well when used on Missionary Ridge, despite the relative proximity.<\/p>\n

And Fitzgerald became even more ambitious as the years wore on. In 2019, for example, she led a project that replanted trees on old mine waste rock piles at an abandoned mine site near Silverton.<\/p>\n

Leading the effort to restore impacted forests, mostly in areas that are not showing signs of natural regeneration, has created a unique bond for Fitzgerald to the landscape around Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love going back and visiting them,\u201d she said. \u201cI can remember when we planted it (and) watch it grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gretchen
Gretchen Fitzgerald, a former forester for the U.S. Forest Service, said she grew up in Bayfield developing a love for nature. For years, she led reforestation projects across Southwest Colorado.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Recently, Fitzgerald said she decided it was time for a new challenge, taking a job on the Sequoia National Forest, which takes her more out of the field and into the office directing all sorts of divisions \u2013 wildlife, hydrology, range, timber.<\/p>\n

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, her move to California was delayed, but is likely to happen this summer. She said she\u2019s excited for the whole new host of issues a new forest brings, especially one with 3,000-year-old trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a little nostalgia for sure,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I feel like I did a good job and it\u2019s time for someone else to take the reins.\u201d<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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