Replanting a historic apple orchard at Whiskeytown after the Carr Fire

After the 2018 Carr Fire burned all four historic orchard areas in the Tower House Historic District at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, park staff took cuttings from about 30 surviving apple trees, grafted them onto rootstock and, in November 2021, replanted 50 of the young trees in the park’s Back Field. Many of the lost trees had dated to the late 1800s.

Historic apple tree in the Tower House District at Whiskeytown, March 2022. NPS.

What burned

In November 2021, staff from Whiskeytown, John Muir National Historic Site and the SMART Workforce Center in Redding, California, met at Tower House to re-establish an apple orchard in the Back Field, once home to a large fruit orchard. An Interim Orchard Management Plan had been completed for the district in 2016, and the park had also carried out genetic testing and phenotypic identification of the fruit trees to prepare for future treatments. Then the Carr Fire, which burned over 200,000 acres, took all four historic orchard areas. The historic Camden House was saved.

The Existing Conditions Map in the Interim Orchard Management Plan, 2016. NPS / Park Cultural Landscapes Program.

Levi Tower's orchards

Levi Tower posted a claim in 1851 on land in what is now Whiskeytown, at the confluence of three drainages and the junction of two trails to new mining districts, and set up a hotel. He planted extensive orchards and gardens to supply it, raised hogs and chickens and grew hay for his own and his customers’ livestock. The California Stage Company chose the site for a stage stop and a transfer point on its line north toward Yreka. Fruit and nut cultivation there began as early as 1853, with stock from many sources. After Tower died in 1865, his best friend and business partner, Charles Camden, took over management of the orchards, and the NPS says the daily labor at that time likely involved Chinese immigrants, Native Americans and new arrivals from the eastern United States.

Levi Tower holding a branch of peaches, no date. NPS / Whiskeytown National Recreation Area.

Two periods of orchard history

The district’s trees represent two periods of orchard culture in the United States:

The Tower House orchards held remnants of both and mark a transition in orchard culture in the western United States. Under Camden the orchards expanded, and he likely brought in new scientific approaches, such as large single-species blocks.

Saving the genetics

After the fire, Resource Management staff, helped by a volunteer local horticulturalist, collected cuttings to preserve the germplasm. Grafting combines rootstock with cuttings from the parent tree, so it keeps the parent’s exact genetics. Cuttings from about 30 surviving apple trees at the Camden House site were grafted onto historically appropriate rootstock and grown in a nursery in Eureka. Many of the old varieties are rare or hard to find commercially, so cloning them is the best, and sometimes the only, way to make the future orchards historically accurate. The varieties include Snow Apple, York Imperial, Carolina Red June, Rosebrook Gravenstein and Sheepnose.

Planting day

In November 2021, 50 of the grafted trees were dug up and brought back to Whiskeytown.

Replanting the orchard at Whiskeytown, November 2021. NPS.

• Fence. The Trails Crew built a rectangular 8-foot fence around the orchard to keep out deer and bears.
• Spacing. Tree locations were flagged at regular intervals, similar to the historic spacing.
• Water. Irrigation lines and emitters were laid and will connect to an existing historic water tank and spring, which has been a reliable source for the Tower House orchard since the 1850s. A new tank and pump will add storage in drought and cut or end hand watering.
• Support and care. Wooden stakes keep the wind from pushing trees over; mulch, from hazard trees removed in the park’s Oak Bottom area, conserves soil moisture and cuts weed competition; each tree got a coat of white latex paint against sunscald.

The park’s existing documentation of the orchards, along with support from local groups, mattered a great deal: knowing the types of fruit, where they grew and how far apart let the park recreate the historic character as accurately as possible. Once the trees are well established, the orchard will be open to the public.

From report to reality

A Cultural Landscape Report for the Camden and Tower House Historic District was completed in 2022 in response to the fire. The orchard project came out of its workshop, and replanting was one of its treatment recommendations.

Sources

• National Park Service, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, “Orchard Rehabilitation Planting at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area” (https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/whis-orchard-rehabilitation-planting-plant-story.htm); rewritten in hubnx's own words.