As the U.S. Department of Agriculture grant-funded Chilkat Valley Orchard Project nears the end of its educational workshop series, several residents are planning to apply their knowledge to orchards this spring.
“We had already cleared trees to put in an orchard, so the lecture series was serendipitous,” Haines Borough interim manager Alekka Fullerton said. She said the workshop has changed her family’s thinking about orchard layout.
“Our design concept has changed since taking part in the workshops, with respect to orientation and spacing, both because of bears and optimizing due to weather,” Fullerton said. She said she and her husband plan to put in 10-12 trees, mostly apple and cherry, but this year they’ll likely concentrate on retooling the layout.
Other participants included residents already growing fruit trees.
“I learned more than I knew about pruning, which wasn’t much—how to decide which branch may need to be cut off in order for the tree to get proper air, and also for the shape and to be able to manage it so it doesn’t get too out of hand,” workshop attendee Larry Jurgeleit said. He has a number of fruit trees on his property including sour cherry, apple and sea buckthorn, which produces bright orange berries.
“This summer, we’re just concentrating on maintaining what we already have and putting in a better electric fence system to keep out pests,” Jurgeleit said.
The workshop series has provided a great forum for learning about other local orchard enthusiasts’ activities, Jurgeleit said. “It’s neat to see what other people around town, and around Southeast, are doing.”
The workshops, hosted via Zoom, have drawn an average of 60 participants from across Alaska—half Chilkat Valley locals and half from other places in the state, according to project manager Burl Sheldon.
Funding for the project came from a two-year, $27,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant the Chilkat Valley Historical Society received last April to further long-term goals of increasing food security and economic development.
“The orchard project is about making sure that people have the educational background to succeed in growing fruit trees and then helping them put in small orchards successfully,” Sheldon said, adding that fencing will be an important piece as participants transition to cultivating their own orchards.
On April 17, the program will host its seventh workshop, a pruning field day at locations around town. Later this spring, the project will host a grafting workshop, giving participants the ability to practice grafting scion wood onto rootstock.
Year one of the Chilkat Valley Orchard Project focuses on educating those interested in starting orchards about fruit tree cultivation and gathering data about local growing potential. Year two will focus on applying knowledge and Haines-specific data to begin orchards, including an experimental orchard at the Henderson Farm with support from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.
Long-term project goals include establishing a Haines fruit growers association and developing a regional guide to growing fruit trees, according to Sheldon.
Recordings of past workshops can be viewed online at https://cvorchardproject.org/resources/.