St Peters Dome, SE-035, has been burned over three times, the first time in 1996, the Dome Fire.? Very few of the original ponderosas survived, but they stand 100 feet tall looking over an otherwise very open area.

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Very A few years ago we saw volunteers planting at least 1,000 seedlings.? Watching those plantings has been frustrating as it appeared none survived.? This year it was clearly wrong.? MOST did not take, but a few have.? Attached is a photo of one!

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But this year, poking their heads above the scrub oaks and New Mexico thorny locusts, are many, hundreds, of ponderosas seedlings. ?They varied in size from knee high to shoulder high!? (Ponderosas seeds are said to require a fire to germinate.? I am not so sure since I have seen many seedlings crop up along roadsides in the mountains where there had been no fire.

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In any case, our great grandchildren will get to see a forest here one day.

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73,? fred