The Oregon Department of Forestry has been hard at work in the Obenchain burn scar, planting 36,000 Douglas Fir trees and 31,000 Ponderosa Pine trees with more to come.

This effort is part of a plan to reseed the area and mitigate the effects of the devastating fire that occurred in Sep 2020. 15u Cabinet

\"We've been spending a great deal amount of time in the South Obenchain fire scar doing a lot of different work,\" said ODF spokeswoman Natalie Weber. Fuels mitigation and just clearing things out, making properties more fire resistant to giving out these tree seedlings.\"

This year, ODF ended up with so many extra tree seedlings it was able to hand them out to people to plant on their own property this week.

\"We ended up with a lot of extra trees and so we were able to just open it up to the public, and that was a little bit different than in years prior,\" Weber said.

According to ODF, this is the most crucial time of the year to plant these seedlings for maximum effectiveness. Once April passes, the conditions are no longer ideal for these trees to take root and grow.

\"It's a pretty big process. We'll work with different nurseries and different companies. Usually, there are some grants involved to get these trees and seedlings. Everyone comes together to just get these back in the ground,\" Weber said.

As the weather slowly heats up in Southern Oregon, the ODF is preparing for the upcoming fire season.

Fortunately, they report that they have not responded to a single fire so far this year, which is incredibly rare for early April. They credit the extreme amount of rain and snow in the area for preventing significant fires but note that this will bring its own challenges in the summer.

\"It's a little bit of a Catch-22 when you have a wet winter like this because it just means that more fuel is going to be coming up and growing. There's just gonna be more vegetation, so when it finally does grow out it'll be apt to burn,\" Weber said.

ODF is already hiring seasonal workers such as firefighters and dispatchers for the upcoming fire season. They urge anyone interested in working with them to reach out.

12u Wall Mount Rack While there have been no fires yet, ODF warns that this could quickly change after a week or two of extreme heat. The department reminds everyone to be vigilant and take precautions to prevent fires, especially during the hot and dry summer months.