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Once the pine cones are collected, they're brought to a network of nurseries, where the seeds are extracted and grown into seedlings. One million seedlings will plant about 4,500 acres of new forest.
The cones get shipped to the U.S. Forest Service's Coeur d'Alene Nursery, where they'll sit on drying racks for a few months. Once the moisture is out, the cones are cracked by hand to extract the ...
Closed-cone forests rely on regular but infrequent fires, often stand-replacing crown fires. Fire opens up space in the canopy or clears away litter on the ground, so there is less competition for germinating seeds. Thus, the fire is an advantageous time for trees to drop their seeds.
Jack Pine cones are serotinous. Serotiny is a seed dispersal strategy in which the dissemination of seeds is stimulated by external triggers (such as fires) rather than by natural maturation. [14] For serotinous plants, seeds are protected by woody structures during fires and will germinate after the fire.
The cones thus grow over a two-year (26-month) cycle, so that newer green and older, seed-bearing or open brown cones are on the tree at the same time. Open cone with empty pine nuts. The seed cones open to 6–9 cm (2 + 1 ⁄ 4 – 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) broad when mature, holding the seeds on the scales after opening.
Longleaf pine seeds are large and nutritious, forming a significant food source for birds (notably the brown-headed nuthatch) and other wildlife. Nine salamander species and 26 frog species are characteristic of pine savannas, along with 56 species of reptiles, 13 of which could be considered specialists on this habitat. [16]
Chilghoza seeds, or pine nuts, are harvested for consumption in autumn and early winter by knocking the cones off of the trees. The trees and seed harvesting rights are owned by local mountain clans and villages in some areas, from which they may be exported to markets in the northern Indian plains.
Distinguishing limber pine from the related whitebark pine (P. albicaulis), also a white pine, is very much more difficult, and can only easily be done by the cones. In limber pine, the cones are 6–15 cm ( 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 –6 in) long [ 7 ] where the species overlap, green when immature, and open to release the seeds; the scales are not fragile.