B & M Timber nominated for Eastern Oregon Regional Operator of the Year Award

B & M Timber from Burns, Oregon (Brad Clemens) has been nominated for the Eastern Oregon Regional Operator of The Year Award. Each year, the Oregon Department of Forestry selects an outstanding operator from each of the three regions for this award.

B & M Timber’s work has consistently exceeded the Forest Practices Act and Forest Practice rules. Their work has demonstrated the ability to handle difficult circumstances, innovation, and extra effort to consistently produce outstanding results.

On October 26^st a committee consisting of Oregon Department of Forestry employees toured five job sites that B & M Timber had recently completed on private property located within the Canyon Creek Fire. These sites were salvaged logged due to the intensity of the fire along Canyon Creek. The committee also visited sites in Baker County. An announcement will be made in December on which nominee will receive the 2016 Eastern Oregon Operator of the year award.

B & M Timber’s nomination was submitted by Kirk Ausland , Stewardship Forester, from the Central Oregon District of the Oregon Department of Forestry in John Day.

Stewardship Forester Elden Ward Retires



Elden Ward with his badge mounted on his retirement plaque.

Elden Ward has been a Stewardship Forester for the Prineville Unit of the Central Oregon District for nearly fifteen years.  Elden retired today, and stated his only regret was "Not coming to work for ODF sooner".  Elden will be missed by his "ODF Family" and the landowners he helped each day.



Kristin Dodd (Prineville Unit Forester) with Elden.

Fly fishing tops Elden's plans for retirement, but he also mentioned "doing some forestry stuff".  So it is likely we will see him around!


Drought Stress Affecting Trees in Parts of Wasco County

It’s unusual for evergreen trees to turn color in August, or any time of year for that matter, but that’s what we are experiencing in parts of Wasco County.

Over the past three years much of Oregon has experienced abnormal levels of water stress and higher than average temperatures.  This has resulted in greater tree stress and weaker defensive mechanisms to resist bark beetles.  While tree mortality from bark beetles is not uncommon, the number of trees dying is above average for this area.  The Oregon Department of Forestry recently conducted an aerial survey over parts of Wasco County and identified many areas that have been hit particularly hard in terms of drought stress.  Surveyed areas showing heightened levels of mortality range from Mosier to the White River, with the area between Eight Mile Creek and Fifteen Mile Creek being hit the hardest. 

Some forest landowners have taken a proactive approach and are currently salvaging dead and dying trees.  Often times, if salvaged soon after the needles turn color, trees will retain some market value at the mill which can help off-set the cost of removing the trees.  As part of the salvage, many landowners plan to pile the logging slash and burn the piles this fall or winter before the beetle flight occurs in the spring.  During the flight period (April through September), beetles are highly attracted to logging slash, especially newly created slash piles.  Burning slash piles before April 1st removes the food source and greatly reduces the likelihood of beetles moving into your area. 

Actively managing the forest landscape has many benefits to the landowner; for example removing dead and dying trees reduces fuel loading, and reduces the likelihood of large stand-replacing wildfires from sweeping across the landscape.  It removes stressed and weakened trees that bark beetles are largely attracted to, and significantly reduces the likelihood of a bark beetle outbreak.  It can be a source of revenue which can help off-set the costs of equipment used to salvage trees, and can help finance other projects to enhance your forest land such as maintaining or improving road systems, replacing old culverts, or planting new seedlings after harvest.  While salvaging the dead and dying material, forest land owners often take the opportunity (while the equipment is on site) to selectively thin-out competing trees and other vegetation in order to maintain a healthy growing environment for the remaining trees. 

If drought conditions persist, it is likely the situation will worsen and more hillsides will turn from green to red.  The Department of Forestry encourages landowners to be proactive in managing their forests and can provide technical forestry assistance to help in those efforts.  As a reminder, the Department of Forestry must be notified at least 15 days before you plan on harvesting trees in order to review the area for resources that may require protection.  Also, fire tools, a water trailer or water truck, and other fire equipment is required when working during fire season.  For more information contact Chet Behling (Stewardship Forester) at the Oregon Department of Forestry (541) 296-4626.

Seedlings available to local landowners

In partnership with the USFS Malheur National Forest, ODF’s John Day Unit will be redistributing surplus tree seedlings to local private landowners for planting.  Seedlings will be redistributed on a first come first server basis, with a 500 seedling per landowner limit.  Landowners who are interested in more seedlings will be considered after the initial distribution.  Seedlings will be available for pick-up starting May 2nd, at 9:00 am.  Details are available by contacting Shelly Speakman at ODF’s John Day Unit at 541-575-1139.

This is a unique opportunity for landowners in Grant County and the surrounding Blue Mountains to have access to seedlings grown for the region. The seedlings are bare root ponderosa pine.  These seedlings provide a perfect chance to reforest lands which have been affected by recent wildfires.

Store seedlings in a cool moist environment, and plan to plant the seedlings soon after picking them up.  Do not allow the roots to be exposed to air for a prolonged period.  To improve seedling survival carefully select the microsite by considering the following site conditions:

• Plant in mineral soil, not duff.
• Plant near an existing stump.
• Avoid areas with compacted soil.
• Use slight depressions where moisture may collect if available, avoid soil mounds.
• Scrape away existing vegetation near planting site.

For more information on ODF’s Central Oregon District visit www.ODFcentraloregon.com.

Oregon Department of Forestry partners with Ritter landowners

Ritter, Oregon…Folks in Ritter are used to facing the challenges of living in remote Oregon and finding unusual solutions.  Back in 2014 that is exactly what a group of landowners did, forming the Ritter Collaborative.  The collaborative focuses on enhancing land productivity and restoring the landscape.  Landowners formed the collaborative to improve the economics and efficiencies for on the ground work.  This unique collaborative is made up entirely of private landowners.  Landowners vary from working cattle operations, to residential homes, to recreational uses, with full time, part time, and seasonal residents.  The landowner’s passion for the land, and the desire to use science to determine projects across the landscape has united them.  

Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF) Committee for Family Forestlands supported the collaborative early on with the hope of modeling similar projects in other communities around the state.  ODF assisted the collaborative by helping landowners apply for grants, and now serves as the fiscal agent for a Model Watershed Cooperative Grant from the US Forest Service which provided funds to hire Curt Qual as the Ritter Collaborative Coordinator, through Oregon State University Extension Service.  As the coordinator Curt represents the Ritter Collaborative at a larger scale in efforts such as the John Day Basin Partnership which is part of the all lands approach being used on private and public forestlands across Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.  Qual also works with landowner members to help them gather and interpret information and engage additional landowners inside the collaborative area. 

The Ritter Collaborative has developed a Strategic Action Plan to help members prioritize projects across the landscape.  Landowners working cooperatively on projects such as aspen restoration, juniper removal, noxious weed control, and streamside enhancements are able to combine project work across landowners to get a better price from the contractor.  The Strategic Action Plan is designed to be dynamic to adjust to changes in the land.

Late this fall the collaborative partnered with ODF’s John Day Unit and Fossil Sub-Unit.  Firefighters from Fossil used collaborative project work to gain experience using a chainsaw, focusing on falling, limbing, and bucking trees.  Experienced firefighters were able to mentor firefighters who had limited experience using a saw.  Approximately 50 acres were treated for five different landowners.  One project focused on aspen restoration, removing juniper which had encroached and was competing with the aspen grove.  The remaining work was part of larger juniper removal projects to help landowners with their efforts.  Firefighters were available to respond to wildfires while they were working on the projects, but also gaining useful skills.  The Ritter Collaborative has provided funds to ODF’s John Day foresters to collect GPS and photo site monitoring to track the work as it occurs and to monitor the effects of the projects over the landscape.  This data will be provided to the collaborative for use in adapting the Strategic Action Plan.

For more information on the Ritter Collaborative and the partnerships they have developed contact Curt Qual, Ritter Collaborative Coordinator (541)575-1139.