Snowmobile Seeding

Snow, seeds and snowmobiles are rapidly becoming a working combination for direct seeding on deforested tracts in the North Shore Area of northeastern Minnesota. The Division of Lands and Forestry, State of Minnesota, through the efforts of its field personnel and private individuals have devised and adopted an efficient and economical method of artificial reforestation for several native tree species in this part of the state. This is accomplished by use of an automatic broadcast seeder mounted on a commercial snowmobile. Conventional methods of growing tree seedlings in the Nursery and later transplanting them to field sites is still and will continue to be the main technique for the establishment of plantations in most areas of the State. When seeds are planted properly, a high survival rate can be expected. Climbing combined costs of Nursery operations, wages and transportation plus the poor accessibility and rough terrain which prevails in the glacial drift area of northeastern Minnesota makes standard planting operations very costly and they become almost prohibitive. Direct seeding, under conditions that exist in this part of the State, has shown satisfactory results in the past. It appears to be a simple rapid reforestation method available at greatly reduced costs. This does not mean that direct seeding has totally replaced hand planting but, rather, supplements it on certain difficult sites.

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Author(s): Hubert Larson, Eugene Jamrock

Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Volume 19, Number 4 (1969)

Volume: 19

Number: 4