Oregon Natural Forestry

Foresters need to listen, sometimes to eat, often to learn and once in awhile just to stay alive. Managing a forest or woodlot for someone takes listening, understanding, and appreciation of goals, and then ability to create an outcome liked by the owner and others.  Saving the woodlot owner a few steps too is important. Listening isn’t so much about listening to the words but understanding a woodland owners ideas and adjusting them to what fits with a knowledge of present and possible tree growth and forest characteristics.  It’s like a plane in the air, the air has always been there but to fly in a plane it took an adjustment of attitudes, an understanding of aerodynamics, to lift off. Listening in the forest means sometimes just staying alive.  A forest really isn’t just one big theme park, there are real big hungry cats (cougars) and big hungry bears.  These animals are looking for food and while humans are not part of the normal diet, partly because of...

K is for keep.  Aldo Leopold, noted wildlife biologist said "The first rule to intelligent tinkering is to save all the pieces." What he didn’t say was stop doing anything Aldo Leopold was a prolific writer and perhaps his most most famous quote is from his book “Game Management” published in 1933. He said: “The central thesis of game management is this: game can be restored by the creative use of the same tools which have heretofore destroyed it—axe, plow, cow, fire and gun.” But this is tinkering, and what about keep, so where, how?  What’s thought of as easy examples of keep, wilderness and streamside buffer strips are subject to wildfires and windstorm generated blowdown. That does not seem like keep to me.  So how to really keep all the pieces, it may be like predicting the future, you have to create it. The tools Aldo Leopold used to restore wildlife can also be used to restore and creatively prepare our forests to be resilient for whatever may be ahead. ...

The diversity of income opportunities from forests is as diverse as the forests are themselves.  Harvesting and processing of trees into lumber and structural panels support living wage jobs and the high technology infrastructure necessary to be competitive.  Trail construction of environmentally sensitive trials for hiking and ATV use.  Foraging for floral greenery and medicinals. Hunting, birding and fishing guides who share their enthusiasm with clients.Camping facilities that allow people to slow down and create the memories of a lifetime, rather than the flash of the screen.  Healthy forests should be the backbone for communities fortunate enough to be near them. The YMCA in its Community Healthy Living Index notes that “healthy living in communities where individuals of all ages, live, work, learn and play”.  I can think of few places where forests and communities coexist that this goal should not be able to be enjoyed.

An increment borer is like a doctor prescribed blood test when it comes to evaluating a tree’s and by extension a forest’s health.  The increment borer is a hollow steel tube with external cutting teeth that when drilled into a tree can be used to extract a core that reveals the mystery of how the tree grew and what happened along the way.   Growth “rings” can be counted for age and measured in width to determine growth.  Historic wind storms show up as “shake” where the parts of the trunk were physically shaken apart and, if a conifer, filled up with pitch.  Fire damage and animal damage can look the same way.  Even disease expresses itself, and in the case of Swiss Needle Cast in Douglas-fir trees an increase in the ratio of spring and summer wood is present. Beware the person who comes to look at a forest with just tools to determine a trees volume.  What you want is someone who can help you determine if the tree is doing well and give you optio...

When you think about trees like Julianne Skai Arbor in her book Tree Girl: Intimate Encounters with Wild Nature notes “They absorb atmospheric pollutants, prevent soil erosion, fix nitrogen, cycle nutrients, and provide habitat for countless organisms above and below ground” you may want to hug a tree too.  Your may even be one of those above ground organisms that trees provide habitat for.  There are many screen driven distractions today that replace awareness of nature and if you are lucky enough to have one nearby, a tree.  Seize the moment, be present, and go hug a tree.