Sometimes Mother Nature needs help.

Because the August 2021 Caldor Fire burned so hot through Sierra-at-Tahoe, humans are being called upon to make the forest a healthy, living organism again.

“Any area with high severity tree loss like Sierra-at-Tahoe and Grizzly Flats is our priority for reforestation,” Jesse Cone, silviculturist with the Placerville Ranger District of the Eldorado National Forest, said.

More than 34,000 charred trees were removed from the ski resort. Salvageable wood was sent to the mill in Carson City.

People plant trees in June in the barren ground at Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort. (Photo: Sierra-at-Tahoe)

“The wind affects us very differently now without those trees,” Sarah Sherman, director of sales and marketing at Sierra, said. Of the resort’s 2,000 acres, 80 percent were affected by the wildfire.

So hot was the inferno—temperatures hit 3,000 degrees—the West Bowl area of the resort was roasted, leaving behind a moonscape that looked even worse than the remnants of a clear-cut forest.

This is where some of the resort’s best tree skiing was. Now, it’s wide open. The wind howls, creating snow drifts and cornices. Trees no longer hold in the snow. Without points of reference—like towering conifers—whiteout conditions are even more dangerous.

Sierra, which has a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service to operate on the Eldorado National Forest, is working with them and El Dorado Resource Conservation District to design the resort for future generations.

“This is a cool opportunity where we get to plant trees with skiing and snowboarding in mind,” Sherman said.

Surveys by the Forest Service proved little to no natural regeneration was occurring in the West Bowl area.

A year from now, more than 55,000 trees are expected to have been planted by experts and volunteers. Of those, about 15,000 went in this year across 70 acres, with 1,000 planted in 2024.

“We are trying to plant a mix that is representative of that site and will be resilient going into the future,” Cone said of the red fir, Jeffrey pine, white fir, Western white pine and sugar pine.

Hemlock was a predominant species on the mountain, but because it is not a timber species the Forest Service doesn’t normally have its seeds at nurseries.

“We had to collect them ourselves. We just completed that last year,” Cone said of the hemlock. “It will probably be 2027 at the soonest that we get those into the ground.”

Plants are primarily coming from the USFS nursery in Camino, with some from the Sugar Pine Foundation.

The survival rate of these young trees, which are 12 to 18 inches tall, is being monitored.

Trees line the slopes of Sierra pre-Caldor Fire, top, while the slopes are barren today. (Photos: Kathryn Reed)

“People will see trees and the mountain coming back, but nobody who plants a tree ever expects to see that tree grow in our lifetime. This is a commitment we make to future generations,” Mark Egbert, district manager of the El Dorado and Georgetown Divide Resource Conservation Districts, said.

In other words, many people who ride at the resort will likely never encounter tree and glade skiing like it was pre-Caldor. After all, some of that was old-growth forest, with trees more than 100-years-old.

“West Bowl is an actively skied area so we wanted to create conditions that are good to ski in,” Cone said. “So we are planting a lower density of trees than we typically would.”

It could be three years before the trees are big enough to poke through the snowpack. At that time the resort and others will figure out if areas are cordoned off to protect the trees.

It may be a decade before any sense of tree skiing is possible.

Ultimately, the tree skiing could be even better than it was. A glade experience is the goal with how the trees are spaced out.

“We want to replant a more sustainable design, which probably means fewer trees than there were before,” Egbert said. “And we don’t want to have high stock around the edges so if fire comes in that area, it is not hitting a huge amount of fuel.”

He said a substantial amount of natural reforestation is occurring by Castle and Jack’s Bowl runs as well as on the Back Side.

“We want to protect the natural regeneration,” Egbert said. “Those are the babies of the trees no longer there.”

The project is also focusing on the soil, ecology of the mountain, and hydrological functions.

The fire has also allowed Sierra to reimagine other aspects of the resort, including looking at the mountain’s service roads and possibly adding trails, Sherman said.

She sees Sierra’s story much like that of the forest’s—one of resilience.

In all, the Caldor Fire consumed 221,835 acres in El Dorado, Alpine and Amador counties. It was started Aug. 14, 2021, by humans, according to authorities, but no one has been prosecuted. The fire ripped through Sierra on Aug. 29. Firefighters fully contained the fire Oct. 21.

Note: A version of this story first appeared in the Tahoe Mountain News.