Figure 9. — Squirrel caches of ponderosa pine cones are convenient sources of seeds 3 



but the parent trees cannot be identified. 



Attempts employing repellents to prevent small rodents and birds from consuming 

 freshly fallen seed have been unsuccessful in central Idaho (Foiles and Curtis 1965b) . 

 Rodent eradication was successful in Oregon but required three distributions of poisoned 

 bait (Stein 1964). In California, five patch cuttings, ranging in size from 7 to 38 

 acres, were baited prior to direct seeding in 1964 and 1965 (Hall 1967). In that exper- 

 iment 175 acres were baited, including buffer zones, to protect 84.5 acres of seeded 

 area. When total costs were applied to the seeded area, labor costs averaged $1.55 per 

 acre and bait $0.67 per acre--a total of $2.22 per acre. Birds, especially grouse, 

 can be a source of disfigurement and mortality to young natural stands and plantations, 

 but such damage is not severe or widespread (Sparhawk 1918; Curtis and Elder 1965). A 

 study in western Montana measured the progress of mortality during the entire cone 

 development period (Shearer and Schmidt 1970). Three- fourths of the potential cones 

 aborted or failed to develop because of some undetermined factors. Squirrels reduced 

 the crop an additional 14 percent, and insects and miscellaneous other factors destroyed 

 another 5 percent. Only 6 percent of the potential cones completed their development 

 and disseminated seeds. 



Seed collection. --Picking cones from trees can be a difficult task. Cones are 

 most abundant near the top of the crown and at branch ends, where they are difficult 

 to reach. They can be collected from squirrel caches on the ground, although their 

 genetic quality is then unknown (fig. 9) . Sometimes cones can be collected conveniently 

 from felled trees on areas that are being logged. If seed orchards and seed production 

 areas are on nearly level ground, truck-mounted mechanical hoists may be an economical 

 method of reaching cones quickly and safely. 



IS 



