The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is planting native seedlings in the Angora area this week.

Planting will occur on 24 acres of National Forest System lands off Tahoe Mountain Road near South Lake Tahoe.

Forest Service crews will plant approximately 4,000 Sugar and Jeffery pine seedlings. Funding for the seedlings came from donations to the Penny Pines program. The Forest Service Placerville Nursery supplied the seedlings, which are about 1 year old and 6-inches tall.

Reforesting the area with native species will speed up progress toward healthier forest conditions. Without this helping hand, little to no natural regeneration of conifers would occur in the high severity burn areas. In areas where natural regeneration occurs, seedlings would mainly consist of white fir, which is susceptible to drought, disease and fire.

Because anywhere from 30 to 60 percent of seedlings may not survive, initial planting is at much higher densities than what is eventually desired. To increase the seedlings’ chance of survival, crews will remove competing vegetation surrounding the seedling during planting and as needed during future years.