Posted on 06/14/2002 3:45:36 PM PDT by Glutton
SALEM -- The Bureau of Land Management wants to log the bulk of the Douglas fir on 28 acres of public land near Sheridan to open up the property to Oregon white oak, a native species that has disappeared in much of the state.
The bureau hopes to remove 80 percent to 90 percent of the fir, which is crowding and shading the oak, ecologist Hugh Snook said. Foresters would either plant additional oak or cut struggling oak trees and allow the remaining stumps to sprout.
The site is about 16 miles west of Salem, on Beck Road north of Oregon 22. The treed acreage is mostly surrounded by farmland, although the road provides access for more than a dozen rural homes.
The bureau is holding a public meeting at 7 p.m. July 10 at Buell Grange to explain the project and solicit opinions. In addition to nearby landowners, some equestrians use the property.
Snook, who works out of the bureau's Salem office, said that oak trees on the property are up to 230 years old but few of the Douglas fir are more than 60 years old.
White oak savanna, a grassy meadow with scattered trees, was widespread at the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition at the turn of the 19th Century. Today, some estimate that as little as 5 percent of Oregon's white oak savanna remains.
Some was harvested by settlers for agriculture and some died as a result of centuries of fire suppression, which allowed Douglas fir and other species to dominate. Oak have thick bark and are fire-resistant. They don't survive in the shade created by faster-growing Douglas fir, Snook said.
A number of public land managers, including Marion, Benton and Lane counties and the BLM in Medford and Eugene, are attempting to restore white oak, Snook said. Those governments, along with federal wildlife refuges, tend to have lower-elevation lands with surviving white oak.
After the fir is cut, which would begin in the late summer of 2003, the bureau will monitor how the oaks grow. "If this is successful then we can show other people what we've done," Snook said.
Some of the logging proceeds could pay for restoring the oaks; the remainder would be returned to the federal government, Snook said. The Salem district of the bureau manages nearly 400,000 acres in the Coast and Cascade mountain ranges. Less than half of one percent of the land contains significant stands of white oak, he estimated. You can reach Cheryl Martinis at 503-399-8540 or by e-mail at cheryl@open.org.
This story is interesting, as fir is a "cah crop," and the oak usually only used for firewood.
I thought the oak could be used for furniture?
It's a silly question all righty. If you plant that tree and successfully nurture it to maturity, the government will then tell you that you can't touch it and may take your property to protect it. We even have a $5,000 fine on the books for "adverse pruning." You think I'm kidding? It's happening in the San Francisco Bay Area right now.
West Coast hardwoods grow too fast to make good furniture without an EXTREMELY pains-taking drying process. Wild Iris is doing some good work developing drying processes for Western tanbark oak.
The big risk is the phytopthora fungus invasion on the West Coast, sometimes called "sudden oak death." Oak forests are in as grave a danger as were American Elms. Getting the fir out of this forest and frequently burning the undergrowth may help this forest survive, especially if it is has sparse stand density.
White Oak native hee have a microbe that helps it unlock water from seemingly dry soil.
If you remember the article about the tree blowdown this Spring in Eugene, most of the White Oak in the parks were kncked down. I examined the roots on many of them, and they were badly rotten. And we are speaking of young trees for the most part.
Whittier Wood Products in Eugene makes unfinished furniture from Alder , mable, and other such hardwoods, but oak on the ground either rots, or is stacked up into neatly cut firewood.
The trouble with the maples,
And they're quite convinced the're right
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light.
But the oaks can"t help their feelings
If they like the way they"re made.
And they wonder why the maples
Can"t be happy in their shade?
There is trouble in the Forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the Maples scream "Oppression!"
And the Oaks just shake their heads
So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights.
"The oaks are just too greedy;
We will make them give us light."
Now there's no more oak oppression,
For they passed a noble law,
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw.
-Rush....
Actually, madrone has TWO problems, phytopthora and botryospheria (two species). Contrary to fable, both are spread by birds.
As for the oak root rot, there are numerous causes. One can be covering the root crown (the usual culprit) that causes girdling roots to sprout. When they grow, they not only inhibit nutrient flow, but they cut into butress roots and graft. That is a site whereing armillaria fungus can enter. I occasionally take a shovel on my walks and dig out root crowns in the forest on more desirable (to me) trees.
I think the least of those enviros who pander to the noteriety they can garner from - say tree sitting for example.
I have areas I have de-English ivyed or blackberryed. I also spent a day doing tree surgery and care to a favorite big-leafed mable damaged by a drunk wino passing out on a couch next to it with a lit cigarette in his hand.
It is doing well in spite of words of doom about it'd future from an arborist whom I asked for advise about it. In fact, it is teaching me things about trees I didn't know before. (With trees, it takes years for them to show you most things.)
Fortunately, the tree doesn't read the science, it just tries to stay alive as ferociously as it can. I admire that in a plant, in fact, the shear endurance of a tree impresses me more then it's size or girth.
One should always get their hands dirty if they are going to raise their voices on environmental issues. Regardless of the side they are on.
There is nothing more satisfying than climbing an oak to clear out the trash prune a few suckers and such. I'm fooling around more with light distribution in my work. I did one experiment this year where I was thinning a stand and left a scraggly junker next to a co-dominant interior live oak with some real potential. The shade will slow the smaller of the two leaders and the bigger tree might balance. Then remove the crappy tree and voila! At least, that's the idea. I've got a lot of stuff like that going on, especially with streambed restoration and down-cutting reversal. Burned up five gallons of chainsaw gas this year.
Freedom Is Worth Fighting For !!
Molon Labe !!
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