By Thembi Borras
Past management has shaped the forests we see today, just as current forest management will shape the forests, future generations will see. The history of forest management has been driven by many factors. More than a hundred years ago, forests were considered by many white settlers as an obstacle and cleared for homesteads and to increase the area in which livestock could graze. After World War II, the demand for housing spurred widespread timber harvesting. Decades later, when I came of age in the early 1990's, deteriorating forest conditions had galvanized a movement. Much of the disgust associated with the deteriorating forest conditions was directed at the large corporation's desirous of maximizing short term profit, but prior to the mid 1970's, tax regulation was also to blame.
According to one old-time forester, one of the most severe pressures on forestland owners, prior to 1970, was the ad valorem tax where the whole stand was taxed at 2% real current money each year. Properties throughout the State were essentially clear cut to reduce the tax basis.
The ad valorem tax law provoked property owners to harvest trees to reduce their property taxes, which undermined the integrity of the timber base of California. Given this unintended consequence, the ad valorem tax on standing timber was replaced with a yield tax on felled timber, which remains in effect today. The 1976 Timber Yield Tax Law is imposed only when a timber owner harvests timber. It also, encourages the continued use of timberlands for the production of trees for timber products, and provides restrictions on the use of timberland to the production of timber products and compatible uses.
A portion of this production was gleaned from the November 2005 Timber and Timberland Values Manual, which can be viewed at http://www.boe.ca.gov/proptaxes/pdf/timbermanualfinal.pdf
November 19, 2006
November 12, 2006
Buying Wood from Well Managed Forests
By Thembi Borras
You don't have to be a landowner, forester, or logger to influence forest management, as a consumer what you buy or don't buy is just as important. Every 2"X4", fence post and sheet of plywood comes from somewhere. When we built our home we specified wood from well managed forests or reclaimed wood, plywood glued with formaldehyde-free glue, fasteners made in the US, low VOC water based surfactants and high quality appliances that are energy efficient. Despite my knowing something about wood, the learning curve was steep and finding a retail outlet close to home that had the product in stock was not typical.
How do you know the wood you buy is from a well managed forest? I can tell you what we did. We cut all of the redwood we used from our land and had it milled on the property into 2"X6" decking and fascias, 2"X12" stringers for the outdoor stairway and boards and battens for the siding. In total, we processed one 38"diameter redwood and eight more ranging in size from 18" to 28". We bought a logging truck load of Douglas-fir logs from a local well managed forest, which we had delivered to a local mill from which our beam stock, headers, and some rafter and joist stock were milled. The balance of the Douglas-fir lumber we purchased was Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, from a retail lumberyard out of Monterey and Blue Lake. From the Monterey outlet, we also bought all of our construction grade and sturdifloor plywood, which was also FSC certified. We purchased our 2"X6" tongue and groove Douglas-fir flooring reclaimed from the ceiling and wall of an Arcata mill from a retail yard in Arcata. We bought the pine trees we had milled into tongue and groove 1"X8" ceiling material from a local working forest. We bought tanoak lumber that we finished into trim, windowsills and cabinet faces from a local Company that had harvested it from their land, locally. Finally, we bought the FSC certified hardwood plywood we used for cabinet carcasses and some built-in furniture from a large home improvement chain.
Minimizing the distance the material we used in our home traveled and living near and with the consequences and benefits of our consumption seemed right to us. However, logistics and connections may not allow you to get as close to the source. In which case, we found a level of comfort in buying FSC certified wood. Wood from FSC certified sources is evaluated by a third party initially, then again every five years according to 10 Principles and 57 Criteria that address legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts surrounding forest management and annually according to a subset of those criteria. Certifying the source is done either by certifying the Forest Manager or on a property by property basis. On the manufacturing end, the mill or plant, in order for it to use the FSC label must keep the wood from the FSC certified source separate. This is called Chain of Custody certification. To view the criteria used in our region go to http://www.fscus.org/, click on standards and policies and click on Pacific Coast Standards. To help you find the retail outlet closest to you that sells FSC certified wood go to the same website and click on product search, click on Metafore International Database , select the product, specify FSC certification, select the country and go.
You don't have to be a landowner, forester, or logger to influence forest management, as a consumer what you buy or don't buy is just as important. Every 2"X4", fence post and sheet of plywood comes from somewhere. When we built our home we specified wood from well managed forests or reclaimed wood, plywood glued with formaldehyde-free glue, fasteners made in the US, low VOC water based surfactants and high quality appliances that are energy efficient. Despite my knowing something about wood, the learning curve was steep and finding a retail outlet close to home that had the product in stock was not typical.
How do you know the wood you buy is from a well managed forest? I can tell you what we did. We cut all of the redwood we used from our land and had it milled on the property into 2"X6" decking and fascias, 2"X12" stringers for the outdoor stairway and boards and battens for the siding. In total, we processed one 38"diameter redwood and eight more ranging in size from 18" to 28". We bought a logging truck load of Douglas-fir logs from a local well managed forest, which we had delivered to a local mill from which our beam stock, headers, and some rafter and joist stock were milled. The balance of the Douglas-fir lumber we purchased was Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, from a retail lumberyard out of Monterey and Blue Lake. From the Monterey outlet, we also bought all of our construction grade and sturdifloor plywood, which was also FSC certified. We purchased our 2"X6" tongue and groove Douglas-fir flooring reclaimed from the ceiling and wall of an Arcata mill from a retail yard in Arcata. We bought the pine trees we had milled into tongue and groove 1"X8" ceiling material from a local working forest. We bought tanoak lumber that we finished into trim, windowsills and cabinet faces from a local Company that had harvested it from their land, locally. Finally, we bought the FSC certified hardwood plywood we used for cabinet carcasses and some built-in furniture from a large home improvement chain.
Minimizing the distance the material we used in our home traveled and living near and with the consequences and benefits of our consumption seemed right to us. However, logistics and connections may not allow you to get as close to the source. In which case, we found a level of comfort in buying FSC certified wood. Wood from FSC certified sources is evaluated by a third party initially, then again every five years according to 10 Principles and 57 Criteria that address legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts surrounding forest management and annually according to a subset of those criteria. Certifying the source is done either by certifying the Forest Manager or on a property by property basis. On the manufacturing end, the mill or plant, in order for it to use the FSC label must keep the wood from the FSC certified source separate. This is called Chain of Custody certification. To view the criteria used in our region go to http://www.fscus.org/, click on standards and policies and click on Pacific Coast Standards. To help you find the retail outlet closest to you that sells FSC certified wood go to the same website and click on product search, click on Metafore International Database , select the product, specify FSC certification, select the country and go.
October 29, 2006
The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council Needs Your Help
By Thembi Borras
Fall is here and many of you are switching gears preparing for the winter ahead. However, despite the cooler weather, we are not beyond the fire season. In fact, this is the worst time of year for fire because the vegetation has been drying out since the spring and until we get a good soaking, we are not out of the woods. Memorable fires that started in the latter part of October include the Oakland Hills Fire of October 20, 1991, in which 25 people died and almost 3,000 homes were burned and the Southern California Firestorm of 2003, which began on October 25, in which 22 people died and 4,000 homes were burned.
In January 2004, three months after the Southern California Firestorm, 90 Mendocino County residents gathered to express their concerns about wildfire. Attendees waved both hands and money in the air to support founding a countywide Fire Safe Council.
Nearly three years old, the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council is now a recognized, effective, and efficient fire safety organization ready to tackle the projects laid out in the recently completed countywide Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), which can be viewed on the web at www.fire.ca.gov/FireEmergencyResponse/FirePlan/pdf/Mendocino.pdf. But because expected funds were diverted elsewhere they lack the financial resources to implement those projects sooner than later. Projects awaiting funds include (1) the development of local chipper programs; (2) wildfire education, including for children, new residents, and absentee landowners and (3) improved address signs because every year lives and property are lost when emergency responders can't find the locations.
The Allen-Heath Memorial Foundation, a charitable family foundation, has pledged $20,000 for the Fire Safe Council's projects in 2007. The foundation is challenging local residents and businesses to match that amount.
Approximately 70% of County residents live in the wildland/urban interface, areas that are at very high risk of wildfires. The task of educating the County’s residents and protecting its 3,500 square miles will take your help. To lend your support, send your donation to POB 1488, Ukiah, CA 95482. If you'd like to become involved in local fire safety activities, contact the council at 462-3662 or firesafe@pacific.net.
Fall is here and many of you are switching gears preparing for the winter ahead. However, despite the cooler weather, we are not beyond the fire season. In fact, this is the worst time of year for fire because the vegetation has been drying out since the spring and until we get a good soaking, we are not out of the woods. Memorable fires that started in the latter part of October include the Oakland Hills Fire of October 20, 1991, in which 25 people died and almost 3,000 homes were burned and the Southern California Firestorm of 2003, which began on October 25, in which 22 people died and 4,000 homes were burned.
In January 2004, three months after the Southern California Firestorm, 90 Mendocino County residents gathered to express their concerns about wildfire. Attendees waved both hands and money in the air to support founding a countywide Fire Safe Council.
Nearly three years old, the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council is now a recognized, effective, and efficient fire safety organization ready to tackle the projects laid out in the recently completed countywide Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), which can be viewed on the web at www.fire.ca.gov/FireEmergencyResponse/FirePlan/pdf/Mendocino.pdf. But because expected funds were diverted elsewhere they lack the financial resources to implement those projects sooner than later. Projects awaiting funds include (1) the development of local chipper programs; (2) wildfire education, including for children, new residents, and absentee landowners and (3) improved address signs because every year lives and property are lost when emergency responders can't find the locations.
The Allen-Heath Memorial Foundation, a charitable family foundation, has pledged $20,000 for the Fire Safe Council's projects in 2007. The foundation is challenging local residents and businesses to match that amount.
Approximately 70% of County residents live in the wildland/urban interface, areas that are at very high risk of wildfires. The task of educating the County’s residents and protecting its 3,500 square miles will take your help. To lend your support, send your donation to POB 1488, Ukiah, CA 95482. If you'd like to become involved in local fire safety activities, contact the council at 462-3662 or firesafe@pacific.net.
October 15, 2006
Measuring Growth and Age of Second-growth Coast Redwood
By Thembi Borras
A while ago I was told the outrageous story of a man who cut down the oldest tree to the remove the increment borer he had gotten stuck attempting to determine it's age. It was a bristlecone pine tree in Southern California that was approximated to be 4,000 years old. An increment borer is a long cylindrical hollow steel tube with a drill on one end and a handle on the other. An extractor as long as the tube is used to remove the core. Foresters use increment borers to measure a trees total age and/ or radial increment, a means to ascertain volume growth. Total age is used to recreate stand management history, history and pattern of natural disturbance and with tree height determine site productivity. To measure total age, the increment borer must be long enough to reach the center of the tree. I carry a 12" increment borer, which is comfortable and adequate for measuring the increment of the last ten years and with it, I can also get total age on a tree less than 18" in diameter at breast height.
A tree grows by laying a cone of xylem, within the bark, each year atop the previous years cone of xylem. When viewed in cross section these rings are easily distinguishable by the growth ring boundary, which is where the previous years small, thick walled cells of the latewood meet next years large, thin walled cells of the earlywood. So it is logical to think when the rings of a tree core taken at the base of the tree from bark to center are counted that the result will be the age of the tree.
However, in a paper recently published in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research, authors Kristen Waring and Kevin O'Hara caution drawing conclusions about a trees age from increment cores of second-growth coast redwood due to discontinuous or missing rings. A total of 157 cross sections were analyzed from 22 trees to reach several conclusions including, 40% of the time the rings counted in a core of a codominant second-growth redwood will be less than the trees actual age. For a suppressed tree this number climbs to 85%. This error can be minimized, but not eliminated, by modifying collection methods, which include taking the core on the outside of a sprout clump where growth rings are usually larger. How many rings are missing in a core? According to Dr. Kevin O'Hara, in his experience, more than a few, but this number is more difficult to quantify. Ultimately the concern is that, "growth and yield estimates based on tree cores will overestimate growth, because ages or time intervals are underestimated."
A portion of this production was gleaned from the paper entitled, "Estimating relative error in growth ring analyses of second-growth coast redwood", written by Kristen Waring and Kevin O'Hara.
A while ago I was told the outrageous story of a man who cut down the oldest tree to the remove the increment borer he had gotten stuck attempting to determine it's age. It was a bristlecone pine tree in Southern California that was approximated to be 4,000 years old. An increment borer is a long cylindrical hollow steel tube with a drill on one end and a handle on the other. An extractor as long as the tube is used to remove the core. Foresters use increment borers to measure a trees total age and/ or radial increment, a means to ascertain volume growth. Total age is used to recreate stand management history, history and pattern of natural disturbance and with tree height determine site productivity. To measure total age, the increment borer must be long enough to reach the center of the tree. I carry a 12" increment borer, which is comfortable and adequate for measuring the increment of the last ten years and with it, I can also get total age on a tree less than 18" in diameter at breast height.
A tree grows by laying a cone of xylem, within the bark, each year atop the previous years cone of xylem. When viewed in cross section these rings are easily distinguishable by the growth ring boundary, which is where the previous years small, thick walled cells of the latewood meet next years large, thin walled cells of the earlywood. So it is logical to think when the rings of a tree core taken at the base of the tree from bark to center are counted that the result will be the age of the tree.
However, in a paper recently published in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research, authors Kristen Waring and Kevin O'Hara caution drawing conclusions about a trees age from increment cores of second-growth coast redwood due to discontinuous or missing rings. A total of 157 cross sections were analyzed from 22 trees to reach several conclusions including, 40% of the time the rings counted in a core of a codominant second-growth redwood will be less than the trees actual age. For a suppressed tree this number climbs to 85%. This error can be minimized, but not eliminated, by modifying collection methods, which include taking the core on the outside of a sprout clump where growth rings are usually larger. How many rings are missing in a core? According to Dr. Kevin O'Hara, in his experience, more than a few, but this number is more difficult to quantify. Ultimately the concern is that, "growth and yield estimates based on tree cores will overestimate growth, because ages or time intervals are underestimated."
A portion of this production was gleaned from the paper entitled, "Estimating relative error in growth ring analyses of second-growth coast redwood", written by Kristen Waring and Kevin O'Hara.
October 8, 2006
Forestry and Logging
By Thembi Borras
Forestry and logging go hand in hand. Forestry ultimately comes down to cutting and growing trees, the forester usually has a vision of what a forest in the future will look like and outlines steps to reach it. Without the logger, the vision would not become a reality.
After the forester has finished marking the trees, infrastructure and sensitive areas, the logging starts with the timber faller. The timber faller is responsible for falling the tree and limbing and bucking it into preferred lengths. On a good day all the trees go exactly where they are aimed, there is minimal breakage, the leave stand is not damaged and no one gets hurt.
Once the trees are on the ground and made into logs, logs are picked up by grapples, large ice tong like devices, on the back of cats, skidders or on a helicopter line. Or more commonly, where the skill of a choker setter is employed, the bell end of a cable, called a choker, is wrapped around one end of the log. Then the eye end of the choker is attached to a hook on the skidder, cat, carriage or helicopter. The operators of these machines then navigate skid trails, cable corridors or the air to bring the turn of logs to the log landing. The type of skidding equipment used is, in part, a function of skidding distance, steepness of slope, density of logs, lay of the land, accessibility and location of sensitive resources, such as watercourses.
At the landing, landing men unhook the turn from the machine. Depending on the size of the operation the same person may also be the knot bumper who cuts any remaining limbs off the logs. A loader then loads enough logs onto the truck to make a load, determined by weight. The landing is connected to the truck road by which logging trucks travel to the highway and to the mills, where they are unloaded and the cycle begins again.
Because soil, sun and water enable the leave trees and new trees that are planted or naturally regenerate in the openings created by the disturbance to grow, it makes sense to protect the leave stand, leave nutrients on site, minimize the movement of soil and slow, disperse and collect water. All of which can be enhanced or diminished by the skill of both the forester and the logger.
Forestry and logging go hand in hand. Forestry ultimately comes down to cutting and growing trees, the forester usually has a vision of what a forest in the future will look like and outlines steps to reach it. Without the logger, the vision would not become a reality.
After the forester has finished marking the trees, infrastructure and sensitive areas, the logging starts with the timber faller. The timber faller is responsible for falling the tree and limbing and bucking it into preferred lengths. On a good day all the trees go exactly where they are aimed, there is minimal breakage, the leave stand is not damaged and no one gets hurt.
Once the trees are on the ground and made into logs, logs are picked up by grapples, large ice tong like devices, on the back of cats, skidders or on a helicopter line. Or more commonly, where the skill of a choker setter is employed, the bell end of a cable, called a choker, is wrapped around one end of the log. Then the eye end of the choker is attached to a hook on the skidder, cat, carriage or helicopter. The operators of these machines then navigate skid trails, cable corridors or the air to bring the turn of logs to the log landing. The type of skidding equipment used is, in part, a function of skidding distance, steepness of slope, density of logs, lay of the land, accessibility and location of sensitive resources, such as watercourses.
At the landing, landing men unhook the turn from the machine. Depending on the size of the operation the same person may also be the knot bumper who cuts any remaining limbs off the logs. A loader then loads enough logs onto the truck to make a load, determined by weight. The landing is connected to the truck road by which logging trucks travel to the highway and to the mills, where they are unloaded and the cycle begins again.
Because soil, sun and water enable the leave trees and new trees that are planted or naturally regenerate in the openings created by the disturbance to grow, it makes sense to protect the leave stand, leave nutrients on site, minimize the movement of soil and slow, disperse and collect water. All of which can be enhanced or diminished by the skill of both the forester and the logger.
September 17, 2006
Controls of Invasive Plants
By Thembi Borras
Preventing the spread of invasive plants is easier said than done given the vast expanses of invasive plants with which we are faced. Harding grass, which grows much taller than the native grasses it replaced increases the fire danger in many of the steep grasslands in Rancho Navarro where I live. Each year I notice more and more brooms and star thistle along our roadways. According to an article recently published in the May 2006 issue of the Mendocino County Farm Bureau's publication medusa head and barbed goat grass have become increasingly problematic to wildlife and livestock by reducing native populations of desirable feed and giant reed, also known as Arundo, and Himalayan blackberry have been charged with clogging local waterways.
Faced with a small backyard population of invasive plants well timed manual control can be effective. However, addressing large populations is a challenge because treatments may require long term commitments from stakeholders, can be expensive and can in themselves adversely impact the environment. The trick is for land managers to decide which control method is most effective, while being the least damaging to the ecosystem. Controls being used include public education, manual and mechanical, grazing, prescribed fire, biocontrol, herbicides and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) which incorporates a combination of these controls.
Manual techniques which include cutting, pulling or grubbing, which means pulling out all the roots, are very labor intensive. The advantage is that people can be trained to discriminate between the native plants and invasives. Mechanical techniques include mowing and mastication and can be cost-effective but are limited to gentle terrain and like grazing may cause unacceptable levels of ground disturbance and compaction. Also, machines and animals may not be able to discriminate between the invasive plants being controlled and the native plants being retained. Fire is also being used to control invasive plant species most often as a facet of some integrated pest management approaches. If the invasive plant species being targeted produces a prolific amount of seed, timing these controls to prevent annual seed production will maximize control efforts. In biocontrol, a natural enemy such as a parasite, predator or disease organism is introduced into the environment of the invasive plant or, if already present, is encouraged to multiply and become more effective in reducing the number of invasive plants. However, some biocontrol programs have resulted in significant, irreversible harm to untargeted species and to ecological processes and must be used with caution informed by the lifecycles and complex interactions of targeted and nontargeted species. Finally, although chemical control, which involves the use of an herbicide to reduce invasive plant populations, is controversial, Peter Warner, environmental scientist for the California Department of Parks and Recreation, considers "herbicides to be one of many essential tools in reducing the spread of invasive plants". The Nature Conservancy provides a checklist to be used when considering the use of herbicides entitled, To Spray or Not To Spray? and is contained in the Weed Control Methods Handbook, which is an excellent resource that covers in depth each of the control methods. It can be downloaded from the website http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/handbook.html.
You can get an Invasive Plants brochure at the Navarro River Resource Center, the number for which is 895-3230. You can also visit the Mendocino Coast Cooperative Weed Management Area website at www.mcwma.org and see how you can get involved locally or visit the website of the California Invasive Plant Council at cal-ipc.org.
A portion of this production was gleaned from The Nature Conservancy Weeds website at tncweeds.ucdavis.edu and communication with Peter Warner of the California Department of Parks and Recreation and Tara Athan, botanist for the Mendocino Coast Cooperative Weed Management Area.
Preventing the spread of invasive plants is easier said than done given the vast expanses of invasive plants with which we are faced. Harding grass, which grows much taller than the native grasses it replaced increases the fire danger in many of the steep grasslands in Rancho Navarro where I live. Each year I notice more and more brooms and star thistle along our roadways. According to an article recently published in the May 2006 issue of the Mendocino County Farm Bureau's publication medusa head and barbed goat grass have become increasingly problematic to wildlife and livestock by reducing native populations of desirable feed and giant reed, also known as Arundo, and Himalayan blackberry have been charged with clogging local waterways.
Faced with a small backyard population of invasive plants well timed manual control can be effective. However, addressing large populations is a challenge because treatments may require long term commitments from stakeholders, can be expensive and can in themselves adversely impact the environment. The trick is for land managers to decide which control method is most effective, while being the least damaging to the ecosystem. Controls being used include public education, manual and mechanical, grazing, prescribed fire, biocontrol, herbicides and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) which incorporates a combination of these controls.
Manual techniques which include cutting, pulling or grubbing, which means pulling out all the roots, are very labor intensive. The advantage is that people can be trained to discriminate between the native plants and invasives. Mechanical techniques include mowing and mastication and can be cost-effective but are limited to gentle terrain and like grazing may cause unacceptable levels of ground disturbance and compaction. Also, machines and animals may not be able to discriminate between the invasive plants being controlled and the native plants being retained. Fire is also being used to control invasive plant species most often as a facet of some integrated pest management approaches. If the invasive plant species being targeted produces a prolific amount of seed, timing these controls to prevent annual seed production will maximize control efforts. In biocontrol, a natural enemy such as a parasite, predator or disease organism is introduced into the environment of the invasive plant or, if already present, is encouraged to multiply and become more effective in reducing the number of invasive plants. However, some biocontrol programs have resulted in significant, irreversible harm to untargeted species and to ecological processes and must be used with caution informed by the lifecycles and complex interactions of targeted and nontargeted species. Finally, although chemical control, which involves the use of an herbicide to reduce invasive plant populations, is controversial, Peter Warner, environmental scientist for the California Department of Parks and Recreation, considers "herbicides to be one of many essential tools in reducing the spread of invasive plants". The Nature Conservancy provides a checklist to be used when considering the use of herbicides entitled, To Spray or Not To Spray? and is contained in the Weed Control Methods Handbook, which is an excellent resource that covers in depth each of the control methods. It can be downloaded from the website http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/handbook.html.
You can get an Invasive Plants brochure at the Navarro River Resource Center, the number for which is 895-3230. You can also visit the Mendocino Coast Cooperative Weed Management Area website at www.mcwma.org and see how you can get involved locally or visit the website of the California Invasive Plant Council at cal-ipc.org.
A portion of this production was gleaned from The Nature Conservancy Weeds website at tncweeds.ucdavis.edu and communication with Peter Warner of the California Department of Parks and Recreation and Tara Athan, botanist for the Mendocino Coast Cooperative Weed Management Area.
September 10, 2006
Invasive Plants
By Thembi Borras
The pleasures of the tasty fruit that Himalayan blackberry produces, the sweet tropical fragrance that the blooms of French and Scot's broom emit and the rich yellow flowers of gorse that add color to the Caspar Headlands is clouded by these plants being invasives. An invasive species is a non-native that propagates itself in the wild without human intervention and whose introduction may cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health. Other familiar invasive plant species that occur locally include pampas grass, yellow star thistle, English ivy, periwinkle, black locust, iceplant, giant reed, Harding grass and tansy ragweed.
Ironically, invasive plants have a home. In the ecosystems where they are native, competition, biological controls (e.g. herbivores or disease-causing microorganisms) and environmental conditions (e.g. climate), keep them well behaved. Hearty traits such as producing large quantities of seed or plant parts (e.g. rhizomes that support asexual reproduction), producing seed that remains viable for decades, thriving in disturbed soil or in over-grazed pasture, growing aggressive root systems that spread long distances and producing reproductive parts that are suited for transport by effective vectors including water, wind, birds, animals and humans are possessed by some invasive plant species. However, many non-invasive plant species possess these same hearty attributes. So it stands to reason there is more to the story of why invasive plants are successful outside their native ecosystems. Peter Warner, environmental scientist for the California Department of Parks and Recreation, adds human commerce and the rapid, deliberate and incidental movement of both entire plants and propagules (e.g. seeds, rhizomes, etc.) and human accelerated disturbance combine with these traits to increase the spread of invasives. Mild, moist climates are also especially susceptible to invasion by greater numbers of invasive species. Peter states further, in general, the spread of species to new regions and ecosystems is not novel in a long-term historical context, but the rate of introduction and spread have far outpaced the evolutionary resiliency of native species and their ecosystems to withstand this external pressure.
Concern over invasive plants is rising because they can cause decline of endangered or threatened species; invasive plants compete directly with native species for moisture, sunlight, nutrients and space; overall plant diversity can be decreased; invasive plants degrade wildlife habitat; diminish productivity on agricultural lands; degrade water quality; increase soil erosion and increase fire hazard.
So what do we do? The lowest hanging fruit is prevention. Ways you can prevent the spread of invasives, include choosing non-invasive plant species for your gardens and landscaping, disposing of yard waste properly, not picking and transporting the flowers of invasives, cleaning your boots or vehicle if they are carrying invasive plant material and use feed for livestock and mulch for erosion control free of invasive plant seed. You can also support programs to eradicate invasive plants or habitat restoration programs by donating time and/or money, and request that governments do the same.
To get more information about invasive plants ask for the invasive plants brochure at the Navarro River Resource Center at 895-3230. To see how you can get involved locally, visit the Mendocino Coast Cooperative Weed Management Area website at http://www.mcwma.org/. To learn what is happening state-wide, visit the website of the California Invasive Plant Council at cal-ipc.org.
A portion of this production was gleaned from the United States Forest Service website on Invasives Plants at http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/invasives/index.shtml and communication with Peter Warner of the California Department of Parks and Recreation and Tara Athan, botanist for the Mendocino Coast Cooperative Weed Management Area.
The pleasures of the tasty fruit that Himalayan blackberry produces, the sweet tropical fragrance that the blooms of French and Scot's broom emit and the rich yellow flowers of gorse that add color to the Caspar Headlands is clouded by these plants being invasives. An invasive species is a non-native that propagates itself in the wild without human intervention and whose introduction may cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health. Other familiar invasive plant species that occur locally include pampas grass, yellow star thistle, English ivy, periwinkle, black locust, iceplant, giant reed, Harding grass and tansy ragweed.
Ironically, invasive plants have a home. In the ecosystems where they are native, competition, biological controls (e.g. herbivores or disease-causing microorganisms) and environmental conditions (e.g. climate), keep them well behaved. Hearty traits such as producing large quantities of seed or plant parts (e.g. rhizomes that support asexual reproduction), producing seed that remains viable for decades, thriving in disturbed soil or in over-grazed pasture, growing aggressive root systems that spread long distances and producing reproductive parts that are suited for transport by effective vectors including water, wind, birds, animals and humans are possessed by some invasive plant species. However, many non-invasive plant species possess these same hearty attributes. So it stands to reason there is more to the story of why invasive plants are successful outside their native ecosystems. Peter Warner, environmental scientist for the California Department of Parks and Recreation, adds human commerce and the rapid, deliberate and incidental movement of both entire plants and propagules (e.g. seeds, rhizomes, etc.) and human accelerated disturbance combine with these traits to increase the spread of invasives. Mild, moist climates are also especially susceptible to invasion by greater numbers of invasive species. Peter states further, in general, the spread of species to new regions and ecosystems is not novel in a long-term historical context, but the rate of introduction and spread have far outpaced the evolutionary resiliency of native species and their ecosystems to withstand this external pressure.
Concern over invasive plants is rising because they can cause decline of endangered or threatened species; invasive plants compete directly with native species for moisture, sunlight, nutrients and space; overall plant diversity can be decreased; invasive plants degrade wildlife habitat; diminish productivity on agricultural lands; degrade water quality; increase soil erosion and increase fire hazard.
So what do we do? The lowest hanging fruit is prevention. Ways you can prevent the spread of invasives, include choosing non-invasive plant species for your gardens and landscaping, disposing of yard waste properly, not picking and transporting the flowers of invasives, cleaning your boots or vehicle if they are carrying invasive plant material and use feed for livestock and mulch for erosion control free of invasive plant seed. You can also support programs to eradicate invasive plants or habitat restoration programs by donating time and/or money, and request that governments do the same.
To get more information about invasive plants ask for the invasive plants brochure at the Navarro River Resource Center at 895-3230. To see how you can get involved locally, visit the Mendocino Coast Cooperative Weed Management Area website at http://www.mcwma.org/. To learn what is happening state-wide, visit the website of the California Invasive Plant Council at cal-ipc.org.
A portion of this production was gleaned from the United States Forest Service website on Invasives Plants at http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/invasives/index.shtml and communication with Peter Warner of the California Department of Parks and Recreation and Tara Athan, botanist for the Mendocino Coast Cooperative Weed Management Area.
August 20, 2006
Fire Hazard Reduction
By Thembi Borras
A reader writes "I am the owner of a 20 acre property in the Anderson Valley which has about seventeen acres of mixed second generation redwood, Doug fir, tanoak, bay, broadleaf maple, madrone, etc. My question is in regard to mitigating the effects of fire suppression. … what is the best way for me to reduce the fuel load in my woods while increasing the health of the ecosystem? I have no interest in a prescribed burn and I don't see that as a viable option. What are your thoughts?"
Reintroducing fire is not an option for many rural forest landowners, in large part, because of the unmitigated fuel load that has been allowed to build-up for the past 75 years. Treating this fuel load starts at the highest priority site, your home, with the most intense treatment. The balance of the property can be organized into concentric circles, with your home as the center, each warranting a lower priority and a less intense treatment.
The highest priority area is within 30' of your home. In this area, assuming you own the property, maintain a fire-break by removing and clearing away all flammable vegetation or other combustible growth. This will be tempered by your desire to landscape, so the key is to place or maintain single specimen trees, ornamental shrubbery or similar plants in your yard such that they do not form a means of rapidly transmitting a fire from the native growth to your home or outbuildings. Prune the lower branches of specimen trees as high as a pole saw can reach or within a minimum of 6 feet of the ground. Space trees and shrubs 10 feet apart. Choose landscaping that is fire resistant. Remove portions of trees that extend within 10' of the outlet of any chimney or stovepipe. Remove dead or dying wood from any tree adjacent to or overhanging any building. The roof is the most vulnerable part of your house, maintain the roof and gutters free of leaves needles or other dead vegetative growth. Stack firewood and locate propane tanks 30 feet from any structure and clear flammable vegetation that is within 10 feet. Don't forget it is very important to reduce the fire hazard around your access routes especially the roads over which emergency vehicles will travel.
The second highest priority area is between 30 and 100 feet. In this area, maintain fire protection by removing all brush, flammable vegetation or combustible growth, which includes cutting grass exceeding 18 inches in height. Grazing, mowing or raking grass to 4" or less changes the nature of the fuel from ladder to ground, which is good. Treat specimen trees as in the highest priority area.
The third highest priority area is between 100' and 400' and can be narrower depending on native vegetation and slope. Of particular importance is the downhill distance and direction of high winds. You are most susceptible to fire if you live on a ridge with a steep slope that drops away from your house in the direction from which high winds blow. The goal in this area is to thin overcrowded native plants, eliminate ladder fuels and remove any dead plants that will fuel fire. Eliminating ladder fuels means creating a break in the continuity of vegetation from the ground to the canopy of trees.
The fourth highest priority area is the balance of the property or the matrix in which I would suggest practicing good forestry which is multifaceted but may include the marking criteria described in the entry dated 10-16-05 entitled Marking to Improve Stand Structure. These activities will generate logs, which either can be used personally by the landowner or can be sold upon approval of a timber harvest document, which for small acreages may be cost prohibitive. An Emergency Notice for Fuel Hazard Reduction may be cost effective and if the project meets the criteria and is approved would allow the landowner to the sell logs from fire hazard reduction activities within the vicinity of their home.
If you decide to pile and burn the debris created from fire hazard reduction activities, see entry dated 10-30-05 entitled Safe Debris Burning. Other ways to treat the debris include chipping or if the area is more than 100' feet from a structure, lopping and scattering.
Resources at your disposal include the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council, which can be contacted at firesafe@pacific.net or 462-3662, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Headquarters of which can be contacted at 459-7414 and your local fire departments. For additional guidance about how to make your home and immediate area more fire safe, go to www.firewise.org and click on resources. If you have time, consider joining your local fire department, there will be no better way to for you to learn about the emergency response infrastructure and what you can do to better protect your property from fire.
A reader writes "I am the owner of a 20 acre property in the Anderson Valley which has about seventeen acres of mixed second generation redwood, Doug fir, tanoak, bay, broadleaf maple, madrone, etc. My question is in regard to mitigating the effects of fire suppression. … what is the best way for me to reduce the fuel load in my woods while increasing the health of the ecosystem? I have no interest in a prescribed burn and I don't see that as a viable option. What are your thoughts?"
Reintroducing fire is not an option for many rural forest landowners, in large part, because of the unmitigated fuel load that has been allowed to build-up for the past 75 years. Treating this fuel load starts at the highest priority site, your home, with the most intense treatment. The balance of the property can be organized into concentric circles, with your home as the center, each warranting a lower priority and a less intense treatment.
The highest priority area is within 30' of your home. In this area, assuming you own the property, maintain a fire-break by removing and clearing away all flammable vegetation or other combustible growth. This will be tempered by your desire to landscape, so the key is to place or maintain single specimen trees, ornamental shrubbery or similar plants in your yard such that they do not form a means of rapidly transmitting a fire from the native growth to your home or outbuildings. Prune the lower branches of specimen trees as high as a pole saw can reach or within a minimum of 6 feet of the ground. Space trees and shrubs 10 feet apart. Choose landscaping that is fire resistant. Remove portions of trees that extend within 10' of the outlet of any chimney or stovepipe. Remove dead or dying wood from any tree adjacent to or overhanging any building. The roof is the most vulnerable part of your house, maintain the roof and gutters free of leaves needles or other dead vegetative growth. Stack firewood and locate propane tanks 30 feet from any structure and clear flammable vegetation that is within 10 feet. Don't forget it is very important to reduce the fire hazard around your access routes especially the roads over which emergency vehicles will travel.
The second highest priority area is between 30 and 100 feet. In this area, maintain fire protection by removing all brush, flammable vegetation or combustible growth, which includes cutting grass exceeding 18 inches in height. Grazing, mowing or raking grass to 4" or less changes the nature of the fuel from ladder to ground, which is good. Treat specimen trees as in the highest priority area.
The third highest priority area is between 100' and 400' and can be narrower depending on native vegetation and slope. Of particular importance is the downhill distance and direction of high winds. You are most susceptible to fire if you live on a ridge with a steep slope that drops away from your house in the direction from which high winds blow. The goal in this area is to thin overcrowded native plants, eliminate ladder fuels and remove any dead plants that will fuel fire. Eliminating ladder fuels means creating a break in the continuity of vegetation from the ground to the canopy of trees.
The fourth highest priority area is the balance of the property or the matrix in which I would suggest practicing good forestry which is multifaceted but may include the marking criteria described in the entry dated 10-16-05 entitled Marking to Improve Stand Structure. These activities will generate logs, which either can be used personally by the landowner or can be sold upon approval of a timber harvest document, which for small acreages may be cost prohibitive. An Emergency Notice for Fuel Hazard Reduction may be cost effective and if the project meets the criteria and is approved would allow the landowner to the sell logs from fire hazard reduction activities within the vicinity of their home.
If you decide to pile and burn the debris created from fire hazard reduction activities, see entry dated 10-30-05 entitled Safe Debris Burning. Other ways to treat the debris include chipping or if the area is more than 100' feet from a structure, lopping and scattering.
Resources at your disposal include the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council, which can be contacted at firesafe@pacific.net or 462-3662, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Headquarters of which can be contacted at 459-7414 and your local fire departments. For additional guidance about how to make your home and immediate area more fire safe, go to www.firewise.org and click on resources. If you have time, consider joining your local fire department, there will be no better way to for you to learn about the emergency response infrastructure and what you can do to better protect your property from fire.
August 13, 2006
Resources Deployment Criteria for a Wildland Fire
By Thembi Borras
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) responds to over 5,600 wildland fires each year. CDF is responsible for protecting over 31 million acres of California’s privately owned wildlands. The heart of CDF’s emergency response capability is a force of nearly 4,000 full-time fire professionals, foresters, and administrative employees; 1,400 seasonal firefighters; 5,600 local government volunteer firefighters; 2,600 volunteers in fire prevention; and 4,300 inmates and wards that currently comprise 196 fire crews. CDF operates a number of facilities including 806 fire stations. CDF staffs 13 air attack bases and nine helitack bases. Further CDF operates over 1,095 fire engines; 215 rescue squads; 63 paramedic units; 12 hazmat units; 38 aerial ladder trucks; 58 bulldozers; 5 mobile communication centers; and 11 mobile kitchen units. From the air CDF operates 23 1,200-gallon airtankers, 11 Super Huey helicopters, and 13 airtactical planes. This represents only a portion of the resources available in the multiagency effort to fight fire in California each year.
Given fire fighting entities know little more than whether it is going to be a good fire year or a bad fire year at the beginning of the season, have you ever wondered how this body of resources is deployed once a fire has been detected? Deployment of resources is a function of fire danger, weather, access, terrain, protecting lives, firefighter availability, fire suppression standards, fuel loading, protecting structures, support personnel availability, wildland-urban interface, publicity and notoriety, recreational and esthetic values and equipment availability. One important criteria which influences deployment of resources is fire danger.
Fire danger is expressed as a rating that integrates the effects of existing and potential fire danger factors into a series of numeric “components” and “index’s”, including ignition component, spread component, energy release component and burning index that indicate fire spread and intensity. A fire danger rating assists the fire manager in being able to determine the potential, over large geographical areas, for fires to ignite, spread, and require suppression action.
Imagine you had 100 matches and you individually lit each one and flipped it into a pile of pine needles, if 75 actually started a fire, the value of the ignition component, expressed as a percentage, would be 75%.
The spread component is the forward rate of spread expressed in feet per minute. A spread component of 25 means that the forward rate of spread is 25 feet/per minute.
The energy release component is related to the available energy, measured in Btu/ square foot within the flaming front at the head of a fire. The available energy is directly related to the amount of fuel, type of fuel and fuel moisture content.
The burning index is related to how hard the fire is to contain. The burning index value is flame length X 10.
A portion of this production was gleaned from the fact sheets on the CDF website at www.fire.ca.gov, The United States Forest Service publication entitled Policy Implications of Large Fire Management available at www.fs.fed.us/fire/management/Large_Fire_Mgt.pdf and the Fire Danger Rating System described on the website www.sierrafront.net/indexcomponents.htm.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) responds to over 5,600 wildland fires each year. CDF is responsible for protecting over 31 million acres of California’s privately owned wildlands. The heart of CDF’s emergency response capability is a force of nearly 4,000 full-time fire professionals, foresters, and administrative employees; 1,400 seasonal firefighters; 5,600 local government volunteer firefighters; 2,600 volunteers in fire prevention; and 4,300 inmates and wards that currently comprise 196 fire crews. CDF operates a number of facilities including 806 fire stations. CDF staffs 13 air attack bases and nine helitack bases. Further CDF operates over 1,095 fire engines; 215 rescue squads; 63 paramedic units; 12 hazmat units; 38 aerial ladder trucks; 58 bulldozers; 5 mobile communication centers; and 11 mobile kitchen units. From the air CDF operates 23 1,200-gallon airtankers, 11 Super Huey helicopters, and 13 airtactical planes. This represents only a portion of the resources available in the multiagency effort to fight fire in California each year.
Given fire fighting entities know little more than whether it is going to be a good fire year or a bad fire year at the beginning of the season, have you ever wondered how this body of resources is deployed once a fire has been detected? Deployment of resources is a function of fire danger, weather, access, terrain, protecting lives, firefighter availability, fire suppression standards, fuel loading, protecting structures, support personnel availability, wildland-urban interface, publicity and notoriety, recreational and esthetic values and equipment availability. One important criteria which influences deployment of resources is fire danger.
Fire danger is expressed as a rating that integrates the effects of existing and potential fire danger factors into a series of numeric “components” and “index’s”, including ignition component, spread component, energy release component and burning index that indicate fire spread and intensity. A fire danger rating assists the fire manager in being able to determine the potential, over large geographical areas, for fires to ignite, spread, and require suppression action.
Imagine you had 100 matches and you individually lit each one and flipped it into a pile of pine needles, if 75 actually started a fire, the value of the ignition component, expressed as a percentage, would be 75%.
The spread component is the forward rate of spread expressed in feet per minute. A spread component of 25 means that the forward rate of spread is 25 feet/per minute.
The energy release component is related to the available energy, measured in Btu/ square foot within the flaming front at the head of a fire. The available energy is directly related to the amount of fuel, type of fuel and fuel moisture content.
The burning index is related to how hard the fire is to contain. The burning index value is flame length X 10.
A portion of this production was gleaned from the fact sheets on the CDF website at www.fire.ca.gov, The United States Forest Service publication entitled Policy Implications of Large Fire Management available at www.fs.fed.us/fire/management/Large_Fire_Mgt.pdf and the Fire Danger Rating System described on the website www.sierrafront.net/indexcomponents.htm.
July 30, 2006
Where there's Smoke, there's Fire
By Thembi Borras
Smoke is often the only tangible reminder that wildland fires are burning and lately in some areas of the County, the smoke has been palpable. Two new fires preceded my return trip from Sacramento on Monday, July 31st. I witnessed smoke billowing above Mount Konocti from a fire burning near Kelseyville. More impressive were the visible flames and the heat felt in the cab of my pickup as I drove past the human caused Walker fire, which burnt 104 acres just south of Willits. Much larger fires continue to burn in California, one of which in Mendocino County is the lightening caused Hunter fire located 19 miles southeast of Covelo in the Black Butte River watershed. The Hunter fire has burnt 4,931 acres and has been 15% contained by 554 personnel.
I was able to glean from data provided by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for 2006 that the sector starting the highest numbers of fires in California was equipment use such as mowers, but it was unclear to me which fire causing sector resulted in the greatest number of acres burnt. However, it is clear that humans can play a significant role is causing or preventing the ignition of wildfires. Go to www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/prevention for tips on how to prevent wildfires. Most human caused wildfires can be prevented by using common sense.
The cost of fire suppression per acre varies widely depending on several factors including type and amount of vegetation, terrain, accessibility, home density and weather conditions but a rule of thumb is that for every $1 spent on prevention $10 is saved in suppression, which does not include lives, animals, homes and natural resources.
If you live in an urban wildland interface where your home and nature intersect, chances are, there are steps that you have not yet taken to reduce fire hazard. Fortunately, there are numerous resources at your disposal. They include the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council whose mission is to educate and motivate our county’s residents about wildfire preparedness. The Mendocino Fire Safe Council encourages you to contact them. They will provide fire safety educational materials, including delivering to groups presentations about wildfire issues. They can be contacted at firesafe@pacific.net or 462-3662. For additional guidance about how to make your home and immediate area more fire safe, go to www.firewise.org and click on resources. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Headquarters of which can be contacted at 459-7414, and your local fire departments are also excellent resources, both of whom were instrumental in informing a more fire safe driveway, turnaround, fire hydrant and water system design on our property in Navarro. To keep up to date on the fires burning on federal lands in the State go to the Incident website at www.inciweb.org.
Smoke is often the only tangible reminder that wildland fires are burning and lately in some areas of the County, the smoke has been palpable. Two new fires preceded my return trip from Sacramento on Monday, July 31st. I witnessed smoke billowing above Mount Konocti from a fire burning near Kelseyville. More impressive were the visible flames and the heat felt in the cab of my pickup as I drove past the human caused Walker fire, which burnt 104 acres just south of Willits. Much larger fires continue to burn in California, one of which in Mendocino County is the lightening caused Hunter fire located 19 miles southeast of Covelo in the Black Butte River watershed. The Hunter fire has burnt 4,931 acres and has been 15% contained by 554 personnel.
I was able to glean from data provided by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for 2006 that the sector starting the highest numbers of fires in California was equipment use such as mowers, but it was unclear to me which fire causing sector resulted in the greatest number of acres burnt. However, it is clear that humans can play a significant role is causing or preventing the ignition of wildfires. Go to www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/prevention for tips on how to prevent wildfires. Most human caused wildfires can be prevented by using common sense.
The cost of fire suppression per acre varies widely depending on several factors including type and amount of vegetation, terrain, accessibility, home density and weather conditions but a rule of thumb is that for every $1 spent on prevention $10 is saved in suppression, which does not include lives, animals, homes and natural resources.
If you live in an urban wildland interface where your home and nature intersect, chances are, there are steps that you have not yet taken to reduce fire hazard. Fortunately, there are numerous resources at your disposal. They include the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council whose mission is to educate and motivate our county’s residents about wildfire preparedness. The Mendocino Fire Safe Council encourages you to contact them. They will provide fire safety educational materials, including delivering to groups presentations about wildfire issues. They can be contacted at firesafe@pacific.net or 462-3662. For additional guidance about how to make your home and immediate area more fire safe, go to www.firewise.org and click on resources. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Headquarters of which can be contacted at 459-7414, and your local fire departments are also excellent resources, both of whom were instrumental in informing a more fire safe driveway, turnaround, fire hydrant and water system design on our property in Navarro. To keep up to date on the fires burning on federal lands in the State go to the Incident website at www.inciweb.org.
July 23, 2006
What's in a soil name?
By Thembi Borras
You may be familiar with local forest soil names such as Bearwallow, Kibesillah, Ornbaun and/or Zeni. Soil names, also referred to as series names, are commonly used to connect to useful information such as soil descriptions that include potential annual production, permeability, erodability, depth and color, which may inform management decisions. Series names are easy to remember, pronounce and recognize. However, dig a little deeper and you learn behind each series name is a soil order, suborder, great group, subgroup and family, which when combined form a long and complex taxonomic classification that is brimming with information, such as particle size, temperature regime, moisture regime, characteristic soil horizons and origin.
For example, the Zeni series is a fine-loamy, mixed, isomesic Ultic Haplustalf. From this, I can glean that it is in the Alfisol order, an order that in part may be characterized by clay from upper horizons leaching to lower horizons where the clay accumulates in films. The moisture regime is ustic, which means moisture is limited, but is present at a time when conditions are suitable for plant growth. The temperature regime, is isomesic, which means the annual soil temperature is between 46 degrees F and 59 degrees F, measured at approximately 20" below the surface. Finally, I can glean something about the particle size; fine-loamy may be translated to clay loam. A loam is a mixture of sand, silt and clay that exhibits the properties of each in approximately equal proportions.
There are twelve orders of soils, Entisols are young soils with little or no morphological development. Inceptisols, Alfisols, and Ultisols are in ascending order in the development continuum, all of which locally can support timber. Mollisols are soils with a dark horizon rich in organic matter and can often be found supporting grasslands. Aridisols are desert soils. Vertisols are truly amazing as they invert themselves through the shrinking and swelling of the clays contained within them in response to soil moisture. Oxisols are highly weathered soils in subtropical or tropical environments; you can experience Oxisols in Florida. Andisols are soils formed in volcanic ash and are prevalent in the Andes. Spodosols are acid forest soils with a subsurface accumulation of metal-humus complexes. In our area, the pygmy forest grows from a Spodosol. Histosols are organic soils, peats are an example. Finally Gelisols are soils with a permafrost within 2 meters of the surface.
A portion of this production was gleaned from Keys to Soil Taxonomy published by the USDA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Nature and Properties of Soils by Nyle Brady, the University of Idaho Soil Science Division website at http://soils.ag.uidaho.edu/soilorders/orders.htm and The Soil Survey Report for the western part of Mendocino County, available at http://www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov/mlra02/wmendo.html.
You may be familiar with local forest soil names such as Bearwallow, Kibesillah, Ornbaun and/or Zeni. Soil names, also referred to as series names, are commonly used to connect to useful information such as soil descriptions that include potential annual production, permeability, erodability, depth and color, which may inform management decisions. Series names are easy to remember, pronounce and recognize. However, dig a little deeper and you learn behind each series name is a soil order, suborder, great group, subgroup and family, which when combined form a long and complex taxonomic classification that is brimming with information, such as particle size, temperature regime, moisture regime, characteristic soil horizons and origin.
For example, the Zeni series is a fine-loamy, mixed, isomesic Ultic Haplustalf. From this, I can glean that it is in the Alfisol order, an order that in part may be characterized by clay from upper horizons leaching to lower horizons where the clay accumulates in films. The moisture regime is ustic, which means moisture is limited, but is present at a time when conditions are suitable for plant growth. The temperature regime, is isomesic, which means the annual soil temperature is between 46 degrees F and 59 degrees F, measured at approximately 20" below the surface. Finally, I can glean something about the particle size; fine-loamy may be translated to clay loam. A loam is a mixture of sand, silt and clay that exhibits the properties of each in approximately equal proportions.
There are twelve orders of soils, Entisols are young soils with little or no morphological development. Inceptisols, Alfisols, and Ultisols are in ascending order in the development continuum, all of which locally can support timber. Mollisols are soils with a dark horizon rich in organic matter and can often be found supporting grasslands. Aridisols are desert soils. Vertisols are truly amazing as they invert themselves through the shrinking and swelling of the clays contained within them in response to soil moisture. Oxisols are highly weathered soils in subtropical or tropical environments; you can experience Oxisols in Florida. Andisols are soils formed in volcanic ash and are prevalent in the Andes. Spodosols are acid forest soils with a subsurface accumulation of metal-humus complexes. In our area, the pygmy forest grows from a Spodosol. Histosols are organic soils, peats are an example. Finally Gelisols are soils with a permafrost within 2 meters of the surface.
A portion of this production was gleaned from Keys to Soil Taxonomy published by the USDA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Nature and Properties of Soils by Nyle Brady, the University of Idaho Soil Science Division website at http://soils.ag.uidaho.edu/soilorders/orders.htm and The Soil Survey Report for the western part of Mendocino County, available at http://www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov/mlra02/wmendo.html.
July 9, 2006
Mycorrhiza
By Thembi Borras
When we walk in the forest we see the trees, the plants and perhaps mushrooms, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds, but beneath our feet is an ecosystem just as active and vibrant as the one we see above ground. Within this ecosystem, is a vast network of mycorrhiza, which literally means "fungus root". Mycorrhiza is the naturally occurring, non-pathogenic prolonged symbiotic association between fungi and the roots of vascular plants, in particular trees.
Mycorrhizae are separated into two groups, those that penetrate the cells of the root cortex, called endomycorrhizae and those that don't, called ectomycorrhizae. Douglas-fir can be a host to 2,000 different species of ectomycorrhizal fungi over the course of its life. Individual species of mycorrhizal fungi exist and behave as a function of a number of variables including soil fertility, aeration, soil temperature, pH, the presence of certain micro organisms, the presence of a specific host and the presence of specific mycorrhizal fungi mycelia or spores.
Mycorrhizae obtain simple carbohydrates from the host tree. In return, mycorrhizae improve nutrient availability and uptake by, in part, increasing the surface area placing more of the root in contact with soil nutrients. Carbonic acid, the result of fungal respiration and the solvent properties of fungal metabolic byproducts assist in the biochemical degradation of primary minerals in infertile soils. Pine seedlings, inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi, grown in prairie soil, aside from showing an increase in nitrogen concentration, demonstrated a two-fold increase in potassium and a three-fold increase in phosphorus. In addition, the exudates of the mycorrhizal fungus can stimulate growth. Moreover, mycorrhizae can serve as a biologic deterrent to pathogenic root infection by, in part, utilizing carbohydrates and other chemicals attractive to pathogens, by the fungal sheath acting as a physical barrier and by secreting antibodies which can inhibit or destroy pathogens.
Most healthy forest trees, conifers and broad-leaved trees alike, appear to have mycorrhizae. Moreover, their importance is greater felt in certain ecosystems. For example, the poor soils in the Amazon rain forest characterized by thin layers of litter and humus, below which are poor water logged clays, are able to support such a lush environment because the mycorrhizae efficiently recycle nutrients in the fallen leaf litter which would otherwise be leached away in heavy rains.
When we walk in the forest we see the trees, the plants and perhaps mushrooms, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds, but beneath our feet is an ecosystem just as active and vibrant as the one we see above ground. Within this ecosystem, is a vast network of mycorrhiza, which literally means "fungus root". Mycorrhiza is the naturally occurring, non-pathogenic prolonged symbiotic association between fungi and the roots of vascular plants, in particular trees.
Mycorrhizae are separated into two groups, those that penetrate the cells of the root cortex, called endomycorrhizae and those that don't, called ectomycorrhizae. Douglas-fir can be a host to 2,000 different species of ectomycorrhizal fungi over the course of its life. Individual species of mycorrhizal fungi exist and behave as a function of a number of variables including soil fertility, aeration, soil temperature, pH, the presence of certain micro organisms, the presence of a specific host and the presence of specific mycorrhizal fungi mycelia or spores.
Mycorrhizae obtain simple carbohydrates from the host tree. In return, mycorrhizae improve nutrient availability and uptake by, in part, increasing the surface area placing more of the root in contact with soil nutrients. Carbonic acid, the result of fungal respiration and the solvent properties of fungal metabolic byproducts assist in the biochemical degradation of primary minerals in infertile soils. Pine seedlings, inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi, grown in prairie soil, aside from showing an increase in nitrogen concentration, demonstrated a two-fold increase in potassium and a three-fold increase in phosphorus. In addition, the exudates of the mycorrhizal fungus can stimulate growth. Moreover, mycorrhizae can serve as a biologic deterrent to pathogenic root infection by, in part, utilizing carbohydrates and other chemicals attractive to pathogens, by the fungal sheath acting as a physical barrier and by secreting antibodies which can inhibit or destroy pathogens.
Most healthy forest trees, conifers and broad-leaved trees alike, appear to have mycorrhizae. Moreover, their importance is greater felt in certain ecosystems. For example, the poor soils in the Amazon rain forest characterized by thin layers of litter and humus, below which are poor water logged clays, are able to support such a lush environment because the mycorrhizae efficiently recycle nutrients in the fallen leaf litter which would otherwise be leached away in heavy rains.
July 2, 2006
Management Practices as they relate to Soil Productivity
By Thembi Borras
The proverb, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, is worth repeating in reference to soil conservation. Preventing soil loss, organic matter loss and soil compaction is far more cost effective than building soil. That being said, minimizing rather than preventing these impacts is more realistic in the industries that supply the goods, which occupy a soil medium, which society demands, including oil, water, food and forest products. In the context of forestry, minimizing soil impacts is a function of the type of silviculture, harvesting, site preparation, slash management and road management implemented.
Paul Zinke, Professor of Forestry at UC Berkeley ranked silvicultural systems and harvesting methods by their degree of soil disturbance. Of the six silvicultural systems, which include single tree selection, group selection, shelterwood, seed tree, clearcutting and biomass harvesting, single tree selection, with 10% of the area affected and 5% of the trees removed, was ranked lowest. Clearcutting, with 90+% of the area affected, was ranked highest and clearcutting where the crowns as well as the logs were removed had a greater impact on soil fertility because the foliage, twigs and branches contain the highest above ground nutrients of the tree. Of the harvesting methods evaluated, feller-bunching and tractor or skidder logging produced a higher degree of soil disturbance than cable and horse logging which produced a higher degree of soil disturbance than helicopter logging.
The type of silviculture, harvesting, site preparation, slash management and road management interact with each other, the topography, e.g. steepness of slope and aspect, and the characteristics of the soil, e.g. shallow, bare, infertile and/ or saturated, to further minimize or maximize soil impacts. For instance, implementing single tree selection will not generate as much slash as a clearcut and therefore may not require the practices typically used to prepare a site after a clearcut. To facilitate planting the next generation of trees after a clearcut piling and burning, broadcast burning, terracing and ripping may be employed, which can lead to topsoil loss, erosion and volatilization of nutrients.
No matter the silvicultural system or the harvesting method, the creation of slash is inevitable. Slash management includes leaving slash in place, burning, lopping and scattering, chipping, packing slash on skid roads or removing slash from the site altogether. Generally, leaving slash in place is best because the nutrient cycle and soil fertility is impacted less.
Roads can significantly contribute to soil loss, organic matter loss and compaction. Minimizing roads, using roads in the season for which they were designed, draining roads well and frequently onto stable surfaces, diversion proofing crossings, and designing crossings for the large episodic event are road management practices to minimize impacts on soil. Moreover, in tractor yarding, restricting equipment to well-located portions of the existing skid road network and prescribing equipment operators to move no more soil than is necessary minimizes soil impacts.
A portion of this production was gleaned from Sustaining Site Productivity on Forestlands; A User's Guide to Good Soil Management published by the University of California.
The proverb, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, is worth repeating in reference to soil conservation. Preventing soil loss, organic matter loss and soil compaction is far more cost effective than building soil. That being said, minimizing rather than preventing these impacts is more realistic in the industries that supply the goods, which occupy a soil medium, which society demands, including oil, water, food and forest products. In the context of forestry, minimizing soil impacts is a function of the type of silviculture, harvesting, site preparation, slash management and road management implemented.
Paul Zinke, Professor of Forestry at UC Berkeley ranked silvicultural systems and harvesting methods by their degree of soil disturbance. Of the six silvicultural systems, which include single tree selection, group selection, shelterwood, seed tree, clearcutting and biomass harvesting, single tree selection, with 10% of the area affected and 5% of the trees removed, was ranked lowest. Clearcutting, with 90+% of the area affected, was ranked highest and clearcutting where the crowns as well as the logs were removed had a greater impact on soil fertility because the foliage, twigs and branches contain the highest above ground nutrients of the tree. Of the harvesting methods evaluated, feller-bunching and tractor or skidder logging produced a higher degree of soil disturbance than cable and horse logging which produced a higher degree of soil disturbance than helicopter logging.
The type of silviculture, harvesting, site preparation, slash management and road management interact with each other, the topography, e.g. steepness of slope and aspect, and the characteristics of the soil, e.g. shallow, bare, infertile and/ or saturated, to further minimize or maximize soil impacts. For instance, implementing single tree selection will not generate as much slash as a clearcut and therefore may not require the practices typically used to prepare a site after a clearcut. To facilitate planting the next generation of trees after a clearcut piling and burning, broadcast burning, terracing and ripping may be employed, which can lead to topsoil loss, erosion and volatilization of nutrients.
No matter the silvicultural system or the harvesting method, the creation of slash is inevitable. Slash management includes leaving slash in place, burning, lopping and scattering, chipping, packing slash on skid roads or removing slash from the site altogether. Generally, leaving slash in place is best because the nutrient cycle and soil fertility is impacted less.
Roads can significantly contribute to soil loss, organic matter loss and compaction. Minimizing roads, using roads in the season for which they were designed, draining roads well and frequently onto stable surfaces, diversion proofing crossings, and designing crossings for the large episodic event are road management practices to minimize impacts on soil. Moreover, in tractor yarding, restricting equipment to well-located portions of the existing skid road network and prescribing equipment operators to move no more soil than is necessary minimizes soil impacts.
A portion of this production was gleaned from Sustaining Site Productivity on Forestlands; A User's Guide to Good Soil Management published by the University of California.
June 25, 2006
Soil Productivity
By Thembi Borras
In a workshop I recently attended on biointensive farming, I was challenged to harvest vegetables as a byproduct of growing soil. With the exception of the ocean and the atmosphere, soil is the medium in which everything we consume grows. Trees depend on the 25% or more of their biomass found in the soil, which physically functions to store water, circulate air and water and support tree roots.
Despite the importance of soil, soil loss, soil compaction and organic matter loss continue to diminish soil productivity in forests. Forest site productivity, which is the capacity of the land to grow trees, is, in part, a function of soil productivity. Forest site productivity can be measured in annual production in bf/acre/year and is an important standard used by foresters to plan, describe and compare forestlands. As forest site productivity declines so does annual production rates and the length of time between harvests may become longer.
In New Zealand, a 20 percent drop in site productivity was revealed after 1" of topsoil was removed. In my own experience I have walked areas in Central Mendocino County that obviously suffer from topsoil loss and compaction, the magnitude of which being frequently connected to the extent of the legacy skid trail network and drainage associated with it as evidenced by the light colored subsoil, stunted trees and gullies.
Soil loss reduces the supply of nutrients and water. Soil compaction retards root growth and the circulation of air and water. And, organic matter loss accelerates erosion and may decrease water retention, structure, porosity, and resistance to compaction. These conditions are not easily reversed given the amount of time it takes for easily crumbled, humus and nutrient enriched topsoil to develop. In the context of agriculture, it takes 500 years to build 1" of topsoil which is significantly longer than the time that it is taking to lose 1" of topsoil, only 28 years in some cases.
For the most part, we have inherited the soil productivity we use to prosper today. To insure that future generations are able to flourish we must reverse the depletion trend and begin to accumulate soil wealth. In the context of forestry, practices exist to minimize the loss of soil productivity, however there are no economically viable practices to restore soil, soil structure and organic matter once it has been lost. My challenge and that of future generations will not be growing trees, agricultural crops or raising cattle but will be growing the soil on which they depend.
A portion of this production was gleaned from Sustaining Site Productivity on Forestlands; A User's Guide to Good Soil Management published by the University of California and the Proceedings from the Soil, Food and People Conference held in 2000 at UC Davis.
In a workshop I recently attended on biointensive farming, I was challenged to harvest vegetables as a byproduct of growing soil. With the exception of the ocean and the atmosphere, soil is the medium in which everything we consume grows. Trees depend on the 25% or more of their biomass found in the soil, which physically functions to store water, circulate air and water and support tree roots.
Despite the importance of soil, soil loss, soil compaction and organic matter loss continue to diminish soil productivity in forests. Forest site productivity, which is the capacity of the land to grow trees, is, in part, a function of soil productivity. Forest site productivity can be measured in annual production in bf/acre/year and is an important standard used by foresters to plan, describe and compare forestlands. As forest site productivity declines so does annual production rates and the length of time between harvests may become longer.
In New Zealand, a 20 percent drop in site productivity was revealed after 1" of topsoil was removed. In my own experience I have walked areas in Central Mendocino County that obviously suffer from topsoil loss and compaction, the magnitude of which being frequently connected to the extent of the legacy skid trail network and drainage associated with it as evidenced by the light colored subsoil, stunted trees and gullies.
Soil loss reduces the supply of nutrients and water. Soil compaction retards root growth and the circulation of air and water. And, organic matter loss accelerates erosion and may decrease water retention, structure, porosity, and resistance to compaction. These conditions are not easily reversed given the amount of time it takes for easily crumbled, humus and nutrient enriched topsoil to develop. In the context of agriculture, it takes 500 years to build 1" of topsoil which is significantly longer than the time that it is taking to lose 1" of topsoil, only 28 years in some cases.
For the most part, we have inherited the soil productivity we use to prosper today. To insure that future generations are able to flourish we must reverse the depletion trend and begin to accumulate soil wealth. In the context of forestry, practices exist to minimize the loss of soil productivity, however there are no economically viable practices to restore soil, soil structure and organic matter once it has been lost. My challenge and that of future generations will not be growing trees, agricultural crops or raising cattle but will be growing the soil on which they depend.
A portion of this production was gleaned from Sustaining Site Productivity on Forestlands; A User's Guide to Good Soil Management published by the University of California and the Proceedings from the Soil, Food and People Conference held in 2000 at UC Davis.
June 11, 2006
Double Standard
By Thembi Borras
I suppose if we could do right by the air, soil and water we share, we wouldn't need laws to protect the environment. However, our actions have compromised the environment resulting in a stack of well-intentioned legislation that has created a morass of regulation. In forestry, the tangle of paperwork, permits, fees and multiple Agency review can be time consuming, costly and frustrating.
However, it doesn't have to be that way. Project proponents could be rewarded with, at a minimum, reduced or waived fees and reduced or waived paperwork if the type of forest management proposed steps beyond the minimum standards to improve forest related values. There is inequity in the present system; the hoops appear when the proponent offers timber harvest. Conversely, the hoops disappear when the project proponent offers restoration. Even though, the timber harvest project may incorporate restoration. For example, I have worked with the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) in three of their many programs, timber harvest review, fish habitat restoration and permitting. If the undertaking is a DFG funded fish habitat restoration project the fees and much of the paperwork associated with the permitting is absorbed by DFG. On the other hand, if the project is a timber harvest, fees and paperwork are required from the project proponent. Ironically, the specific treatments, such as sizing and designing stream crossings for 100-year storm events and improving road drainage by draining roads well and frequently onto stable surfaces, may be exactly the same.
Agencies may not be equipped to accommodate shades of gray but with the exception of the small number of projects on either side of the spectrum that are either black or white the rest are shades of gray. In fact, timber harvest can pay for restoration and if the conclusion is reached that the timber harvest project in the method and level of harvest and the proposed sediment saving treatments will yield the same or better results as a restoration project of equivalent size then it should be afforded similar reprieves if for no other reason than to provide incentive for this behavior.
I suppose if we could do right by the air, soil and water we share, we wouldn't need laws to protect the environment. However, our actions have compromised the environment resulting in a stack of well-intentioned legislation that has created a morass of regulation. In forestry, the tangle of paperwork, permits, fees and multiple Agency review can be time consuming, costly and frustrating.
However, it doesn't have to be that way. Project proponents could be rewarded with, at a minimum, reduced or waived fees and reduced or waived paperwork if the type of forest management proposed steps beyond the minimum standards to improve forest related values. There is inequity in the present system; the hoops appear when the proponent offers timber harvest. Conversely, the hoops disappear when the project proponent offers restoration. Even though, the timber harvest project may incorporate restoration. For example, I have worked with the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) in three of their many programs, timber harvest review, fish habitat restoration and permitting. If the undertaking is a DFG funded fish habitat restoration project the fees and much of the paperwork associated with the permitting is absorbed by DFG. On the other hand, if the project is a timber harvest, fees and paperwork are required from the project proponent. Ironically, the specific treatments, such as sizing and designing stream crossings for 100-year storm events and improving road drainage by draining roads well and frequently onto stable surfaces, may be exactly the same.
Agencies may not be equipped to accommodate shades of gray but with the exception of the small number of projects on either side of the spectrum that are either black or white the rest are shades of gray. In fact, timber harvest can pay for restoration and if the conclusion is reached that the timber harvest project in the method and level of harvest and the proposed sediment saving treatments will yield the same or better results as a restoration project of equivalent size then it should be afforded similar reprieves if for no other reason than to provide incentive for this behavior.
June 4, 2006
Madrone Renewal and Reporting Animal, Insect and Disease Forest Damage
By Thembi Borras
We can all breath a collective sigh of relief, the madrones, for the most part, are back and more glorious than ever. Madrones are susceptible to foliar leaf pathogens, the symptoms of which can range from small necrotic leaf spots to the entire leaf dying such as we have seen evolve over the course of the last year. In January of 2006 I reported that the late spring rains in 2005 had created a prime environment, high moisture during a warmer time of the year, for the growth of foliar pathogens including the native foliar pathogen causing the malady. At that time, I thought the consequence would likely be slowed growth, but the madrone would recover.
As time and the spring equinox passed and the madrones showed no signs of improvement, I became less certain that they would make a full recovery and thought it likely that at the very least there would be lasting effects such as part of the tree dying. Finally, spring brought renewal; flawless leaves began emerging three weeks ago and now govern the dead leaves that subtend them.
There are several resources available to address your concerns about tree damage caused by animals, insects and diseases. I recommend the annual reports published by the California Forest Pest Council entitled "California Forest Pest Conditions". This report summarizes the forest pest activity in California per year by providing information submitted by the aerial survey program, entomologists, pathologists, botanists and other forest health specialists. To view this report go to www.fire.ca.gov, click on Resource Management and Forestry, click on Pest Management under Category Links and click on California Forest Pest Conditions Report.
The California Forest Pest Council also sponsors the Cooperative Forest Pest Detection Survey to which they encourage federal, state, and private land managers and individuals to contribute by submitting pest injury reports and samples. For instructions on collecting and mailing samples and to fill out a Forest Pest Detection Report, go to www.fire.ca.gov, click on Resource Management and Forestry, click on Pest Management under Category Links and click on Forest Pest Detection Report Form.
We can all breath a collective sigh of relief, the madrones, for the most part, are back and more glorious than ever. Madrones are susceptible to foliar leaf pathogens, the symptoms of which can range from small necrotic leaf spots to the entire leaf dying such as we have seen evolve over the course of the last year. In January of 2006 I reported that the late spring rains in 2005 had created a prime environment, high moisture during a warmer time of the year, for the growth of foliar pathogens including the native foliar pathogen causing the malady. At that time, I thought the consequence would likely be slowed growth, but the madrone would recover.
As time and the spring equinox passed and the madrones showed no signs of improvement, I became less certain that they would make a full recovery and thought it likely that at the very least there would be lasting effects such as part of the tree dying. Finally, spring brought renewal; flawless leaves began emerging three weeks ago and now govern the dead leaves that subtend them.
There are several resources available to address your concerns about tree damage caused by animals, insects and diseases. I recommend the annual reports published by the California Forest Pest Council entitled "California Forest Pest Conditions". This report summarizes the forest pest activity in California per year by providing information submitted by the aerial survey program, entomologists, pathologists, botanists and other forest health specialists. To view this report go to www.fire.ca.gov, click on Resource Management and Forestry, click on Pest Management under Category Links and click on California Forest Pest Conditions Report.
The California Forest Pest Council also sponsors the Cooperative Forest Pest Detection Survey to which they encourage federal, state, and private land managers and individuals to contribute by submitting pest injury reports and samples. For instructions on collecting and mailing samples and to fill out a Forest Pest Detection Report, go to www.fire.ca.gov, click on Resource Management and Forestry, click on Pest Management under Category Links and click on Forest Pest Detection Report Form.
May 28, 2006
Bishop Pine Health at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens
By Thembi Borras
An ever present reason for the decline of a tree is old age. The age after which trees decline varies with species and site quality. In forestry terms, some identify this age as being synonymous with the culmination of mean annual increment (CMAI), which is defined as the age at which the stand volume production rate is maximized. Although we like to call it the "Golden Years" for ourselves foresters offer the term "senescence" for this stage in the life of a tree.
What got me thinking about senescence was my visit in April to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens to see the bishop pine, which was prompted by one of the volunteers. He wanted to have more information for patrons when they asked about the health of the bishop pine, which he said they often do.
Of the 47 acres that comprise the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, several acres support a relatively even aged overstory of bishop pine, some of which have died and been topped or removed for safety. Several bishop pines display dead brown branches within the living crown, otherwise known as flagging and many of the crowns appear to be thinning.
Typically, the number of years a tree has lived, alone, will not cause flagging or death. Instead age yields a weakened state that invites a myriad of biological agents and when combined with harsh environmental conditions and animal damage may lead to the demise of a tree.
Too much water can also tip the balance. For example, shore pine on the west side of Highway 1 just north of the Albion River Inn started dying several years ago. According to Jack Marshall, Forest Pathologist at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the mortality agents are the pine engraver beetle and sour sap beetle. The shore pines follow a watercourse, which is likely receiving increased water due to a change in the water drainage pattern.
If the bishop pine at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens will run their course in the next few decades the question becomes how can the next generation be encouraged without the benefit of fire, which bishop pine needs to regenerate. Bishop pine seeds are stored in closed cones until the cones are opened during fire or very hot conditions when large numbers of seeds are released to inhabit the disturbed ground.
A portion of this production was gleaned from the website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pine.
An ever present reason for the decline of a tree is old age. The age after which trees decline varies with species and site quality. In forestry terms, some identify this age as being synonymous with the culmination of mean annual increment (CMAI), which is defined as the age at which the stand volume production rate is maximized. Although we like to call it the "Golden Years" for ourselves foresters offer the term "senescence" for this stage in the life of a tree.
What got me thinking about senescence was my visit in April to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens to see the bishop pine, which was prompted by one of the volunteers. He wanted to have more information for patrons when they asked about the health of the bishop pine, which he said they often do.
Of the 47 acres that comprise the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, several acres support a relatively even aged overstory of bishop pine, some of which have died and been topped or removed for safety. Several bishop pines display dead brown branches within the living crown, otherwise known as flagging and many of the crowns appear to be thinning.
Typically, the number of years a tree has lived, alone, will not cause flagging or death. Instead age yields a weakened state that invites a myriad of biological agents and when combined with harsh environmental conditions and animal damage may lead to the demise of a tree.
Too much water can also tip the balance. For example, shore pine on the west side of Highway 1 just north of the Albion River Inn started dying several years ago. According to Jack Marshall, Forest Pathologist at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the mortality agents are the pine engraver beetle and sour sap beetle. The shore pines follow a watercourse, which is likely receiving increased water due to a change in the water drainage pattern.
If the bishop pine at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens will run their course in the next few decades the question becomes how can the next generation be encouraged without the benefit of fire, which bishop pine needs to regenerate. Bishop pine seeds are stored in closed cones until the cones are opened during fire or very hot conditions when large numbers of seeds are released to inhabit the disturbed ground.
A portion of this production was gleaned from the website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pine.
May 14, 2006
Poison Oak
By Thembi Borras
It is a test of your mettle as a forester to get up in the middle of the night to call owls, to weather winter storms checking road drainage and stream crossings, to wipe blue paint off your face when you mistakenly stand downwind, to be dirty, to run property line down 100% slopes, to crawl or throw yourself at old growth huckleberry and to run cruise lines through poison oak. These experiences are badges of merit. However, having chewed the field challenges of the "dirt" forester, I could do without the poison oak. Oh I suppose I could also do without the 100% slopes, but everything else I embrace and is balanced by the perfect spring days spent on gentle terrain in the woods.
When people find out I am the poster child for poison oak sensitivity, their first question is how can you be a forester here in poison oak country. A rigid multi step routine, supported by a type A personality and obsessive compulsive disorder generally keeps me poison oak free unless it is above shoulder height.
The culprit is a chemical called urushiol found in the sap of poison oak. Ironically, human bodies, which defend against urushiol, contract the aggravating symptoms, whereas the bodies of the 3% of humans that are "immune" do not defend against the chemical. According to Terry Kratwurst in her article on this subject in the June/July issue of Mother Earth News: "Within 15 minutes after you get the substance on you, it's carried into the dermis (the inner skin layer) and bonds with skin protein to form an antigen. The first time this occurs, nothing obvious happens- no one is "born sensitive" to urushiol….But sooner or later most people's immune system develops some degree of distinct biological distaste for the urushiol spawned antigen. At that point, whenever the antigen's presence is detected…T-cells rush to the hated invader and attack, releasing chemicals that literally destroy the surrounding skin…better known as poison oak dermatitis."
The most frustrating aspect of contracting symptoms is questioning the source. Since there is a lag of as long as 4 days from the time you encounter the chemical to the time symptoms manifest you can imagine the speculation. Was it the dog I petted three days ago? A perfect ending to this story would be a cure, but after having tried pharmaceuticals and homeopathic remedies there is no magic cure and unless I want to move to Nevada the only State entirely free of species containing urushiol I will live with it, buck up and stop complaining.
It is a test of your mettle as a forester to get up in the middle of the night to call owls, to weather winter storms checking road drainage and stream crossings, to wipe blue paint off your face when you mistakenly stand downwind, to be dirty, to run property line down 100% slopes, to crawl or throw yourself at old growth huckleberry and to run cruise lines through poison oak. These experiences are badges of merit. However, having chewed the field challenges of the "dirt" forester, I could do without the poison oak. Oh I suppose I could also do without the 100% slopes, but everything else I embrace and is balanced by the perfect spring days spent on gentle terrain in the woods.
When people find out I am the poster child for poison oak sensitivity, their first question is how can you be a forester here in poison oak country. A rigid multi step routine, supported by a type A personality and obsessive compulsive disorder generally keeps me poison oak free unless it is above shoulder height.
The culprit is a chemical called urushiol found in the sap of poison oak. Ironically, human bodies, which defend against urushiol, contract the aggravating symptoms, whereas the bodies of the 3% of humans that are "immune" do not defend against the chemical. According to Terry Kratwurst in her article on this subject in the June/July issue of Mother Earth News: "Within 15 minutes after you get the substance on you, it's carried into the dermis (the inner skin layer) and bonds with skin protein to form an antigen. The first time this occurs, nothing obvious happens- no one is "born sensitive" to urushiol….But sooner or later most people's immune system develops some degree of distinct biological distaste for the urushiol spawned antigen. At that point, whenever the antigen's presence is detected…T-cells rush to the hated invader and attack, releasing chemicals that literally destroy the surrounding skin…better known as poison oak dermatitis."
The most frustrating aspect of contracting symptoms is questioning the source. Since there is a lag of as long as 4 days from the time you encounter the chemical to the time symptoms manifest you can imagine the speculation. Was it the dog I petted three days ago? A perfect ending to this story would be a cure, but after having tried pharmaceuticals and homeopathic remedies there is no magic cure and unless I want to move to Nevada the only State entirely free of species containing urushiol I will live with it, buck up and stop complaining.
May 7, 2006
Wildlife Rescue
By Thembi Borras
Have you ever been frantic, not sure what to do, having encountered an animal you thought injured, abandoned or in need of attention? I have, last year I was introduced to a bird in a downed nest. This circumstance effected me to seek assistance from the wildlife rescue community. Before you engage this limited resource community there is information that will better inform your decision to walk away, care for the species yourself or bring it to a rescue facility.
Locally, all wildlife is born in the spring, in particular the month of May. May is the month for babies. You may think a fawn needs attention, because you conceive it has been abandoned, not seeing its mother nearby. In fact the mother, on purpose, remains distant from the fawn to protect it as she is scented and the fawn is not. If you encounter a fawn, don't pick it up and keep your dogs on a leash, during this time of year, to prevent an unnecessary dog/ fawn encounter.
If you find a baby bird, owl or hawk out of the nest it is important to know the parents will likely continue to care for it, especially owls. If you are able to reach the nest safely, put the bird back in its nest. It is a myth that the parents will abandon their young if they detect human scent, in fact birds have a poor sense of smell. If a nest is down, you can put it in an open cardboard box and nail the box to the tree then put the young in the nest. Stunned birds found near windows may need nothing more than a cardboard box in a safe location in which to recover.
If the animal is obviously injured, evidenced by a drooping wing or blood, local veterinarians may treat wildlife at no charge. At a minimum, veterinarians will have referral numbers for wildlife rescue facilities. If possible, call your veterinarian or one of the rescue facilities prior to removal as they may be able to guide your decision and advise in proper transport procedures. Sonoma Wildlife, a mammal rescue facility can be reached at 707-544-6713. Bird Rescue of Santa Rosa, a bird rescue facility, can be reached at 707-523-2473. Willits Wildlife Rehabilitation Team, a local non profit wildlife rescue facility, can be reached at 707-459-9539 and donations for the care of injured wildlife can be sent to POB 44, Willits, CA 95490.
The bulk of this production was gleaned from a phone conversation with Ronnie James of Woodlands Wildlife a small local rescue facility that receives all referrals through local veterinarians. Woodlands Wildlife, a non profit, will receive donations for the care of injured wildlife at POB 1336, Mendocino, CA 95460.
Have you ever been frantic, not sure what to do, having encountered an animal you thought injured, abandoned or in need of attention? I have, last year I was introduced to a bird in a downed nest. This circumstance effected me to seek assistance from the wildlife rescue community. Before you engage this limited resource community there is information that will better inform your decision to walk away, care for the species yourself or bring it to a rescue facility.
Locally, all wildlife is born in the spring, in particular the month of May. May is the month for babies. You may think a fawn needs attention, because you conceive it has been abandoned, not seeing its mother nearby. In fact the mother, on purpose, remains distant from the fawn to protect it as she is scented and the fawn is not. If you encounter a fawn, don't pick it up and keep your dogs on a leash, during this time of year, to prevent an unnecessary dog/ fawn encounter.
If you find a baby bird, owl or hawk out of the nest it is important to know the parents will likely continue to care for it, especially owls. If you are able to reach the nest safely, put the bird back in its nest. It is a myth that the parents will abandon their young if they detect human scent, in fact birds have a poor sense of smell. If a nest is down, you can put it in an open cardboard box and nail the box to the tree then put the young in the nest. Stunned birds found near windows may need nothing more than a cardboard box in a safe location in which to recover.
If the animal is obviously injured, evidenced by a drooping wing or blood, local veterinarians may treat wildlife at no charge. At a minimum, veterinarians will have referral numbers for wildlife rescue facilities. If possible, call your veterinarian or one of the rescue facilities prior to removal as they may be able to guide your decision and advise in proper transport procedures. Sonoma Wildlife, a mammal rescue facility can be reached at 707-544-6713. Bird Rescue of Santa Rosa, a bird rescue facility, can be reached at 707-523-2473. Willits Wildlife Rehabilitation Team, a local non profit wildlife rescue facility, can be reached at 707-459-9539 and donations for the care of injured wildlife can be sent to POB 44, Willits, CA 95490.
The bulk of this production was gleaned from a phone conversation with Ronnie James of Woodlands Wildlife a small local rescue facility that receives all referrals through local veterinarians. Woodlands Wildlife, a non profit, will receive donations for the care of injured wildlife at POB 1336, Mendocino, CA 95460.
April 30, 2006
The story of Trillium ovatum
By Thembi Borras
Trillium ovatum is in bloom and the story of this species is worth sharing. Trillium ovatum can be found in moist coniferous forests and may be identified by an erect naked stem that supports 3 showy leaves in a single whorl subtending the equally showy 3 petal flower, the color of which begins white and ages to pink then purple. They are a long lived perennial, in fact you will not recognize them per this description until age 15.
In the first year the root radical develops, in the second year the cotyledon develops. One leaf emerges annually as the rhizome develops between ages 3 and 15. At age 15, 3 leaves emerge and the plant begins to flower. The rhizome of Trillium ovatum, also called a corm is a solid underground storage organ that accumulates annual scars that can be counted. Trillium ovatum as old as 72 years have been identified in our area, in the Eastern United States a closely related species of Trillium ovatum as old as 105 years has been identified.
The seed dispersal biology adds to this fascinating story. A mature plant produces seeds, to which a swollen oil rich body, called elaiosome, is attached, which attracts ants. Ants collect the seeds and transport it back to their underground nest, where they eat the elaiosome. The seed is ready to germinate having been cleaned and planted by the ants.
I was told this story in a presentation by Botanist Eric Jules during a Special Forest Products workshop in September of 1999. In the same presentation I also learned that after clearcutting, the survival of Trillium ovatum sharply declines, which it was suggested is, in part, due to the disruption of this cycle. It is thought the deer mice population increases. The deer mice eat the seed before the ants secure them.
Trillium ovatum is in bloom and the story of this species is worth sharing. Trillium ovatum can be found in moist coniferous forests and may be identified by an erect naked stem that supports 3 showy leaves in a single whorl subtending the equally showy 3 petal flower, the color of which begins white and ages to pink then purple. They are a long lived perennial, in fact you will not recognize them per this description until age 15.
In the first year the root radical develops, in the second year the cotyledon develops. One leaf emerges annually as the rhizome develops between ages 3 and 15. At age 15, 3 leaves emerge and the plant begins to flower. The rhizome of Trillium ovatum, also called a corm is a solid underground storage organ that accumulates annual scars that can be counted. Trillium ovatum as old as 72 years have been identified in our area, in the Eastern United States a closely related species of Trillium ovatum as old as 105 years has been identified.
The seed dispersal biology adds to this fascinating story. A mature plant produces seeds, to which a swollen oil rich body, called elaiosome, is attached, which attracts ants. Ants collect the seeds and transport it back to their underground nest, where they eat the elaiosome. The seed is ready to germinate having been cleaned and planted by the ants.
I was told this story in a presentation by Botanist Eric Jules during a Special Forest Products workshop in September of 1999. In the same presentation I also learned that after clearcutting, the survival of Trillium ovatum sharply declines, which it was suggested is, in part, due to the disruption of this cycle. It is thought the deer mice population increases. The deer mice eat the seed before the ants secure them.
April 23, 2006
A Proposal to Process Hardwoods at the Masonite Facility
During the course of researching the subject of converting tanoak to energy, the efforts of developer Chris Stone were brought to my attention. I asked Chris to convey his proposal.
Chris Stone writes, "My efforts are focused on saving the Masonite site in Ukiah from being converted to a big box shopping center. Masonite in Ukiah once processed up to 500,000 tons of wood fiber annually. Reactivation of the facility to produce a fabric fiber called Lyocell, brand name Tencel, principally from tanoak would be a County wide boon. Hardwoods are preferred because they have significantly higher cellulose content as compared to softwoods. Lyocell production utilizes an amine to dissolve cellulose in a closed loop process, which has received environmental recognition in Europe. Lyocell is currently being produced in Mobile Alabama, Grimsby UK, and in China. Total annual world production is about 200,000 tons and is utilized in high value apparel as well as nonwoven products, medical wipes and hospital gowns. The fabric industry forecasts a worldwide demand of 700,000 tons by 2020.
How can a decommissioned facility in Ukiah California stay globally competitive? One part of the answer is the abundance of tanoak in Northern California and the ability at Masonite to directly convert wood fiber to Lyocell. All other major Lyocell production facilities worldwide rely upon the pulp market for their supply line. Single site conversion of wood fiber to Lyocell, based upon $60.00 per ton delivered price, achieves a 33% supply line advantage over pulp market rates. Couple this with the capital cost advantage the Masonite facility represents and you have a positive answer to the question of competitiveness.
If production achieved 500,000 tons annual wood fiber processing then about 500 new jobs would be created. Additionally, the Masonite boiler feed water could be supplied from the Ukiah wastewater facility. This would represent approximately 950 acre feet of wastewater consumption, one third of the wastewater being discharged into the Russian River annually.
A new process that converts lignin, the other major component of wood fiber, which in pulp production is not much more than a waste stream, to biodegradable polystyrene will soon see commercial development. Scientists working in this field project that within ten years lignin will also be a source for polyester materials. In the face of oil scarcity, it only seems prudent to preserve and utilize facilities that possess the capacity to convert wood fiber into the products that will be lost when oil runs out."
I continue to be intrigued by Chris Stone's proposal for several reasons, the foremost of which is having an outlet to which small diameter tanoak could be sold at a reasonable price.
To communicate directly with Chris, his email is seastone@starband.net.
Chris Stone writes, "My efforts are focused on saving the Masonite site in Ukiah from being converted to a big box shopping center. Masonite in Ukiah once processed up to 500,000 tons of wood fiber annually. Reactivation of the facility to produce a fabric fiber called Lyocell, brand name Tencel, principally from tanoak would be a County wide boon. Hardwoods are preferred because they have significantly higher cellulose content as compared to softwoods. Lyocell production utilizes an amine to dissolve cellulose in a closed loop process, which has received environmental recognition in Europe. Lyocell is currently being produced in Mobile Alabama, Grimsby UK, and in China. Total annual world production is about 200,000 tons and is utilized in high value apparel as well as nonwoven products, medical wipes and hospital gowns. The fabric industry forecasts a worldwide demand of 700,000 tons by 2020.
How can a decommissioned facility in Ukiah California stay globally competitive? One part of the answer is the abundance of tanoak in Northern California and the ability at Masonite to directly convert wood fiber to Lyocell. All other major Lyocell production facilities worldwide rely upon the pulp market for their supply line. Single site conversion of wood fiber to Lyocell, based upon $60.00 per ton delivered price, achieves a 33% supply line advantage over pulp market rates. Couple this with the capital cost advantage the Masonite facility represents and you have a positive answer to the question of competitiveness.
If production achieved 500,000 tons annual wood fiber processing then about 500 new jobs would be created. Additionally, the Masonite boiler feed water could be supplied from the Ukiah wastewater facility. This would represent approximately 950 acre feet of wastewater consumption, one third of the wastewater being discharged into the Russian River annually.
A new process that converts lignin, the other major component of wood fiber, which in pulp production is not much more than a waste stream, to biodegradable polystyrene will soon see commercial development. Scientists working in this field project that within ten years lignin will also be a source for polyester materials. In the face of oil scarcity, it only seems prudent to preserve and utilize facilities that possess the capacity to convert wood fiber into the products that will be lost when oil runs out."
I continue to be intrigued by Chris Stone's proposal for several reasons, the foremost of which is having an outlet to which small diameter tanoak could be sold at a reasonable price.
To communicate directly with Chris, his email is seastone@starband.net.
April 9, 2006
Beyond Human Influence
By Thembi Borras
A road in which I have an interest recently became impassable due to a slide blocking it. In 2003, the same road had been upgraded to the tune of $35,000. The work encompassed reshaping (outsloping with rolling dips), upgrading wet crossings, improving drainage and installing rock in a few key locations. Soon after, I went out to walk the slide.
The story begins 600' upslope from the improved road in grassland. In the grassland, an unstable area is now clearly defined by a crack in the ground in the shape of a horseshoe that is 300' wide and 600' long. Approximately 4 acres of the hillside is moving, upon which clumps of redwood trees are now leaning. Near the upper margin of the unstable area is the headwaters of a swale, 15' by 30' of which became active within this much larger land feature. The watercourse that connects the swale to the fish bearing watercourse below became a high speed highway of liquefied soil. The watercourse passes through three culverts under three roads, a legacy logging road, a driveway and the improved road. The first culvert immediately plugged with a slug of sediment that could not be dug out. Fortunately the watercourse did not divert and stayed in the channel, the second culvert plugged but was subsequently cleared before it reached the third culvert that plugged with the liquefied soil. The bulk of the liquefied soil is now sitting on the improved road. Now as far as I could tell there was no direct human cause for this event. At least there was nothing obvious. There is a possibility that past road building activities or logging may have collapsed soil pipes or caused compaction that may have contributed to a change in drainage that in turn contributed to the activation of this feature.
The moral of this story is that although you may spend $35,000 dollars to prevent sediment from reaching the creek simultaneously improving the road, an occurrence beyond human influence can in the space of hours or minutes deliver as much sediment as you saved and block the road until further notice. However, there are questions you can answer when planning road placement to avoid inherent instability. Do you absolutely need the road? Can you gain access to your destination from the ridge, thereby having to cross fewer watercourses? Can you tie existing stable legacy road cuts together? Can you locate the road on gentle ground at a gentle gradient? Can the road be located in forest soils, which are typically more stable then grassland soils?
A road in which I have an interest recently became impassable due to a slide blocking it. In 2003, the same road had been upgraded to the tune of $35,000. The work encompassed reshaping (outsloping with rolling dips), upgrading wet crossings, improving drainage and installing rock in a few key locations. Soon after, I went out to walk the slide.
The story begins 600' upslope from the improved road in grassland. In the grassland, an unstable area is now clearly defined by a crack in the ground in the shape of a horseshoe that is 300' wide and 600' long. Approximately 4 acres of the hillside is moving, upon which clumps of redwood trees are now leaning. Near the upper margin of the unstable area is the headwaters of a swale, 15' by 30' of which became active within this much larger land feature. The watercourse that connects the swale to the fish bearing watercourse below became a high speed highway of liquefied soil. The watercourse passes through three culverts under three roads, a legacy logging road, a driveway and the improved road. The first culvert immediately plugged with a slug of sediment that could not be dug out. Fortunately the watercourse did not divert and stayed in the channel, the second culvert plugged but was subsequently cleared before it reached the third culvert that plugged with the liquefied soil. The bulk of the liquefied soil is now sitting on the improved road. Now as far as I could tell there was no direct human cause for this event. At least there was nothing obvious. There is a possibility that past road building activities or logging may have collapsed soil pipes or caused compaction that may have contributed to a change in drainage that in turn contributed to the activation of this feature.
The moral of this story is that although you may spend $35,000 dollars to prevent sediment from reaching the creek simultaneously improving the road, an occurrence beyond human influence can in the space of hours or minutes deliver as much sediment as you saved and block the road until further notice. However, there are questions you can answer when planning road placement to avoid inherent instability. Do you absolutely need the road? Can you gain access to your destination from the ridge, thereby having to cross fewer watercourses? Can you tie existing stable legacy road cuts together? Can you locate the road on gentle ground at a gentle gradient? Can the road be located in forest soils, which are typically more stable then grassland soils?
April 2, 2006
Planting Tree Seedlings
By Thembi Borras
For those of you still planning to plant tree seedlings, you probably know it is a little late in the season to be planting. The best time to plant tree seedlings in Mendocino County is at the beginning of the rainy season after 6" of rain has fallen. The idea is to plant tree seedlings as soon as the ground is wet enough to easily create a hole and at a time when the ground will remain consistently moist for several months while the seedling becomes established. Planting this late in the season may mean that in order for your seedlings to survive you will need to water them and or plant them in strategic locations so that they are protected from excessive sun and wind.
Once you have your seedlings, it is best to plant them right away or store them properly if you need to delay planting. In storage, you are trying to prevent the roots from drying out at the same time mold from forming, which requires a delicate balance of air circulation and moisture.
In addition to planting the seedling immediately, knowing how and where to plant will increase the chances that your seedling survives. Plant your seedling outside the drip line of existing trees, but opt for places that provide some protection from exposure. An excellent location is on the north side of a decaying log. Grass is a fierce competitor to seedlings, so if you plan to plant in grassland scarify an area down to bare mineral soil 12" to 24" in diameter, this buffer must be maintained until the tree is established. Although it is more important to pick the right spot, shoot for a distance of 8' to 12' between trees.
Make sure your hole is deep enough for the roots of the seedling to be fully extended. Then while holding the seedling fill the hole with dirt and tamp. Don't leave any air pockets near the roots. You can further increase the chance the tree will survive through maintenance, including removing competing brush and doing deep watering once every two weeks.
Go to http://www.fire.ca.gov/php/about_content/downloads/PlantingGuide2005.pdf for more information on planting. You can also go to http://www.fire.ca.gov/php/rsrc-mgt_statenurseries.php for information on purchasing seedlings from the State Nursery at Magalia.
For those of you still planning to plant tree seedlings, you probably know it is a little late in the season to be planting. The best time to plant tree seedlings in Mendocino County is at the beginning of the rainy season after 6" of rain has fallen. The idea is to plant tree seedlings as soon as the ground is wet enough to easily create a hole and at a time when the ground will remain consistently moist for several months while the seedling becomes established. Planting this late in the season may mean that in order for your seedlings to survive you will need to water them and or plant them in strategic locations so that they are protected from excessive sun and wind.
Once you have your seedlings, it is best to plant them right away or store them properly if you need to delay planting. In storage, you are trying to prevent the roots from drying out at the same time mold from forming, which requires a delicate balance of air circulation and moisture.
In addition to planting the seedling immediately, knowing how and where to plant will increase the chances that your seedling survives. Plant your seedling outside the drip line of existing trees, but opt for places that provide some protection from exposure. An excellent location is on the north side of a decaying log. Grass is a fierce competitor to seedlings, so if you plan to plant in grassland scarify an area down to bare mineral soil 12" to 24" in diameter, this buffer must be maintained until the tree is established. Although it is more important to pick the right spot, shoot for a distance of 8' to 12' between trees.
Make sure your hole is deep enough for the roots of the seedling to be fully extended. Then while holding the seedling fill the hole with dirt and tamp. Don't leave any air pockets near the roots. You can further increase the chance the tree will survive through maintenance, including removing competing brush and doing deep watering once every two weeks.
Go to http://www.fire.ca.gov/php/about_content/downloads/PlantingGuide2005.pdf for more information on planting. You can also go to http://www.fire.ca.gov/php/rsrc-mgt_statenurseries.php for information on purchasing seedlings from the State Nursery at Magalia.
March 26, 2006
A Snapshot in Time
By Thembi Borras
It is a rare practice to measure every tree to assess the quality and quantity of the forest. Instead, a sample is taken, called a timber cruise. The intensity of a timber cruise and the data collected is a function of why it is being done, a smaller sample is usually taken for forest management decision making and a larger sample is usually taken to determine value for a sale or purchase. The intensity of the cruise often ranges from 5% to 20%.
For example, the Jones family owns 200 acres of homogenous forestland; from which most of the timber was removed in the 1950's and which they now want to put into active management. The landowner and forester agree a 10% cruise is appropriate for forest management decision making including preparation of a long term management plan. The forester uses 1/5 acre fixed radius plot sampling, twenty acres is the sample size which equates to 100 plots. The radius of a fifth acre circular plot or the distance from plot center to plot edge is 52.7' horizontal distance. All merchantable trees in each plot are measured for height and diameter. Additional data collected includes basal area (a measure of stand density), the length of the radial increment of the last 10 years (a means to ascertain growth rate), the number, height and diameter of snags and number of seedlings, saplings and poles. Back in the office the forester converts the field measurements and reports the results to the landowner. Following is a cross section of the results. The Jones Family Forest supports 15,000 bf/acre of which 10,000 bf/acre is redwood and 5,000 bf/acre is Douglas-fir, 50% of the volume is in trees with diameters 18"-24", the average growth rate is 4.5%, the conifer basal area is 175 square feet, the forest stand is well-stocked with young trees and the number of snags greater than 16" is one per acre.
The Jones family now has a snapshot in time quantifying and qualifying their forest stand. During the course of time they may have the property recruised. The data from which can be compared to this original baseline. Future cruises will also help them determine if they are meeting their management objectives.
A portion of this production was gleaned from the California Forestry
Handbook by T. F. Arvola, 1978.
It is a rare practice to measure every tree to assess the quality and quantity of the forest. Instead, a sample is taken, called a timber cruise. The intensity of a timber cruise and the data collected is a function of why it is being done, a smaller sample is usually taken for forest management decision making and a larger sample is usually taken to determine value for a sale or purchase. The intensity of the cruise often ranges from 5% to 20%.
For example, the Jones family owns 200 acres of homogenous forestland; from which most of the timber was removed in the 1950's and which they now want to put into active management. The landowner and forester agree a 10% cruise is appropriate for forest management decision making including preparation of a long term management plan. The forester uses 1/5 acre fixed radius plot sampling, twenty acres is the sample size which equates to 100 plots. The radius of a fifth acre circular plot or the distance from plot center to plot edge is 52.7' horizontal distance. All merchantable trees in each plot are measured for height and diameter. Additional data collected includes basal area (a measure of stand density), the length of the radial increment of the last 10 years (a means to ascertain growth rate), the number, height and diameter of snags and number of seedlings, saplings and poles. Back in the office the forester converts the field measurements and reports the results to the landowner. Following is a cross section of the results. The Jones Family Forest supports 15,000 bf/acre of which 10,000 bf/acre is redwood and 5,000 bf/acre is Douglas-fir, 50% of the volume is in trees with diameters 18"-24", the average growth rate is 4.5%, the conifer basal area is 175 square feet, the forest stand is well-stocked with young trees and the number of snags greater than 16" is one per acre.
The Jones family now has a snapshot in time quantifying and qualifying their forest stand. During the course of time they may have the property recruised. The data from which can be compared to this original baseline. Future cruises will also help them determine if they are meeting their management objectives.
A portion of this production was gleaned from the California Forestry
Handbook by T. F. Arvola, 1978.
March 19, 2006
Determining Tree and Log Volume
By Thembi Borras
Given the tree diameter at breast height (dbh) and the tree height to a merchantable top, there are tools available to help you estimate the volume in a standing tree. Volume tables are one such tool. Volume tables are, in part, specific to species and log rule. Log rules are ways to estimate the number of boards a milled tree will yield. The log rule used regionally is Scribner Decimal C. Volume is most commonly reported in board feet for trees that will be made into lumber. A board foot is 12" wide by 12" long by 1" thick. These are familiar units to anyone who buys lumber.
The volume of a tree may be measured several times before it is made into lumber. When I mark a tree to be cut, I record the dbh and height in logs to a merchantable top. In the local species specific volume table developed by Peter Joos that I use, logs are defined as 16' long and the merchantable top diameter is defined as 6". For example, a 26" dbh redwood with (5) 16' logs to a 6" top is reported in the table to have 620 board feet. As a general rule, height to a 6" top is usually about 30' less than the total height, but can vary greatly depending on the form of the tree. This tally of tree volume helps the landowner, logger and forester plan.
The tree, once it has been cut and bucked into logs, may be measured again by the faller. Henceforth each log is considered individually. The volume of each log is determined by measuring the small end diameter inside the bark and the length of the log. Given these inputs a different volume table is used to estimate the board foot volume. For example, a log 24" in diameter and 20' long with trim has a gross volume of 500 board feet. After the log is skidded, loaded and trucked to the mill, people called scalers will make the same measurements, but will reduce the gross volume of the log by the defect that they identify in it. The resulting figure is called the net volume. Commonly, the landowner is paid by the mill based on the net volume scaled at the mill.
Given the tree diameter at breast height (dbh) and the tree height to a merchantable top, there are tools available to help you estimate the volume in a standing tree. Volume tables are one such tool. Volume tables are, in part, specific to species and log rule. Log rules are ways to estimate the number of boards a milled tree will yield. The log rule used regionally is Scribner Decimal C. Volume is most commonly reported in board feet for trees that will be made into lumber. A board foot is 12" wide by 12" long by 1" thick. These are familiar units to anyone who buys lumber.
The volume of a tree may be measured several times before it is made into lumber. When I mark a tree to be cut, I record the dbh and height in logs to a merchantable top. In the local species specific volume table developed by Peter Joos that I use, logs are defined as 16' long and the merchantable top diameter is defined as 6". For example, a 26" dbh redwood with (5) 16' logs to a 6" top is reported in the table to have 620 board feet. As a general rule, height to a 6" top is usually about 30' less than the total height, but can vary greatly depending on the form of the tree. This tally of tree volume helps the landowner, logger and forester plan.
The tree, once it has been cut and bucked into logs, may be measured again by the faller. Henceforth each log is considered individually. The volume of each log is determined by measuring the small end diameter inside the bark and the length of the log. Given these inputs a different volume table is used to estimate the board foot volume. For example, a log 24" in diameter and 20' long with trim has a gross volume of 500 board feet. After the log is skidded, loaded and trucked to the mill, people called scalers will make the same measurements, but will reduce the gross volume of the log by the defect that they identify in it. The resulting figure is called the net volume. Commonly, the landowner is paid by the mill based on the net volume scaled at the mill.
March 12, 2006
Measuring Tree Diameter and Height
By Thembi Borras
Trees are in part valued on their volume. To determine the volume of a tree the diameter and the height of the tree must be measured.
A flexible measuring tape can be used to measure the diameter. The diameter of a tree is measured at breast height, which is defined as 4.5 feet above the ground on the uphill side of the tree. The circumference of the tree is what you will measure by wrapping the tape around it, making sure there are no kinks in the tape and the tape does not sag. To convert the circumference at breast height to the diameter at breast height (dbh), divide by 3.14. For example if the circumference is 82", dividing by 3.14 will yield a result of 26", therefore the dbh of the tree is 26".
A measuring tape and two sticks of equal length can be used to measure the height of a tree. Find the center point on one of the sticks, hold the other stick perpendicular to it, effectively making the letter "T". Step away from the tree until you can see the top and bottom. Put the base of the "T" between your eyes, then walk away or toward the tree until the top and bottom of the stick line up with the top and bottom of the tree. Make a mark on the ground, the distance between your mark and the tree is the total height of the tree, if you are on flat ground. If you are on sloped ground, the slope distance will need to be converted to horizontal distance.
These are exercises for interested persons that do not have the tools of the forestry trade available to them. Foresters use diameter tapes, biltmore sticks and relaskops to measure diameter and height, or their eye to discern diameter and height more efficiently.
Trees are in part valued on their volume. To determine the volume of a tree the diameter and the height of the tree must be measured.
A flexible measuring tape can be used to measure the diameter. The diameter of a tree is measured at breast height, which is defined as 4.5 feet above the ground on the uphill side of the tree. The circumference of the tree is what you will measure by wrapping the tape around it, making sure there are no kinks in the tape and the tape does not sag. To convert the circumference at breast height to the diameter at breast height (dbh), divide by 3.14. For example if the circumference is 82", dividing by 3.14 will yield a result of 26", therefore the dbh of the tree is 26".
A measuring tape and two sticks of equal length can be used to measure the height of a tree. Find the center point on one of the sticks, hold the other stick perpendicular to it, effectively making the letter "T". Step away from the tree until you can see the top and bottom. Put the base of the "T" between your eyes, then walk away or toward the tree until the top and bottom of the stick line up with the top and bottom of the tree. Make a mark on the ground, the distance between your mark and the tree is the total height of the tree, if you are on flat ground. If you are on sloped ground, the slope distance will need to be converted to horizontal distance.
These are exercises for interested persons that do not have the tools of the forestry trade available to them. Foresters use diameter tapes, biltmore sticks and relaskops to measure diameter and height, or their eye to discern diameter and height more efficiently.
February 19, 2006
Tanoak to Energy
By Thembi Borras
Tanoak is a beautiful wood, we used it in our home for trim, baseboard and cabinet stock. Tanoak is hard and either clear boards or boards complex in character can be made from it. However, tanoak is a labor of love to process, minimizing the defect during drying being the trickiest part. Several attempts have been made to develop the infrastructure for processing tanoak into a viable product, foremost among them was Mendocino Redwood Company's attempt to make tanoak into tongue and groove flooring. Regardless of the many failed attempts to create a viable market for tanoak, landowners and forest managers continue to seek an economical means to balance the large amount of tanoak in certain landscapes with the desired conifer component.
Some forest managers use herbicides to gain this balance. Firewood operations are limited by the number of reputable firewood cutters, logistics, and that many small timers can't afford liability insurance. The best time to remove tanoak is when logging conifers, because the roads are open, the equipment is on site and the CDF plan under which you are operating is active. To do this however, you need some place to sell it and at this time, there is no viable market. Occasionally the chip market will pay enough per ton to justify hauling it to the closest pulp mill in Humboldt County, but this is usually at a net loss.
Recently, I was asked by a reader in Irmulco with a tanoak rich property, "How about conducting a poll to see how many folks would support the county pursuing a hardwood for biofuel project?".
One type of biofuel project could be a cogeneration plant that would burn wood to generate electricity. Another might be to convert biomass to biofuel. One advantage this market has over the furniture or flooring markets is the size and quality of the tree matters less, so there is less incentive to high grade the biggest and best trees from a managed forest. My guess is as much tanoak as conifer could be harvested in the County each year. If this were an adequate resource base, there are at least two inactive industrial sites previously used to process forest products that could serve as potential locations. Given that this topic has been penetrated to various depths over the last several decades, old-timers may already have answers to obvious questions like can it be done cleanly, is it cost-effective and is there public support? Given the high price of oil and interest in self-sufficiency, this may be a good time to once again consider this option for turning tanoak into energy.
Tanoak is a beautiful wood, we used it in our home for trim, baseboard and cabinet stock. Tanoak is hard and either clear boards or boards complex in character can be made from it. However, tanoak is a labor of love to process, minimizing the defect during drying being the trickiest part. Several attempts have been made to develop the infrastructure for processing tanoak into a viable product, foremost among them was Mendocino Redwood Company's attempt to make tanoak into tongue and groove flooring. Regardless of the many failed attempts to create a viable market for tanoak, landowners and forest managers continue to seek an economical means to balance the large amount of tanoak in certain landscapes with the desired conifer component.
Some forest managers use herbicides to gain this balance. Firewood operations are limited by the number of reputable firewood cutters, logistics, and that many small timers can't afford liability insurance. The best time to remove tanoak is when logging conifers, because the roads are open, the equipment is on site and the CDF plan under which you are operating is active. To do this however, you need some place to sell it and at this time, there is no viable market. Occasionally the chip market will pay enough per ton to justify hauling it to the closest pulp mill in Humboldt County, but this is usually at a net loss.
Recently, I was asked by a reader in Irmulco with a tanoak rich property, "How about conducting a poll to see how many folks would support the county pursuing a hardwood for biofuel project?".
One type of biofuel project could be a cogeneration plant that would burn wood to generate electricity. Another might be to convert biomass to biofuel. One advantage this market has over the furniture or flooring markets is the size and quality of the tree matters less, so there is less incentive to high grade the biggest and best trees from a managed forest. My guess is as much tanoak as conifer could be harvested in the County each year. If this were an adequate resource base, there are at least two inactive industrial sites previously used to process forest products that could serve as potential locations. Given that this topic has been penetrated to various depths over the last several decades, old-timers may already have answers to obvious questions like can it be done cleanly, is it cost-effective and is there public support? Given the high price of oil and interest in self-sufficiency, this may be a good time to once again consider this option for turning tanoak into energy.
February 12, 2006
Flood Recurrence Frequency of 12-30-05 Storm
By Thembi Borras
On December 30th of 2005 rivers and streams rose and spilled over their banks and already saturated soil moved. Ken Montgomery, proprietor of the Anderson Valley Nursery, recorded 7.58" of rain fell between 9am on the 30th and 9am on the 31st and 27.46" fell during the month of December. According to Ken, December 2005 was the wettest December in at least 70 years, and the second wettest month in at least 70 years. Ken reports that even more stunning than the record setting monthly total is that the 27.46" fell in the last two weeks, in fact it was one of the driest Decembers until December 17th.
On the 31st, it was dry enough to get out and see what the high water left behind or had taken away. Silt and water were left behind in homes and structures that were flooded by the Russian and Navarro Rivers. Soil, trees, logs and lumber were taken by the River and deposited downstream. The North Fork Navarro River tried to take a nearby cabin; it lifted it off its post and pier foundation and carried it downstream as far as the electrical ground wire would allow.
A woman I met in the aftermath of her Oak Manor home having been flooded said the home had not flooded in the 30 years that she lived in the subdivision. Therefore, based on anecdotal evidence the flood flow had not been as high as on 12-30-05 in 30 years at the Oak Manor site.
Determining how frequently the flood flow associated with the 12-30-05 storm might be expected to happen is not simple. It is a function of the historical data available in a specific geographic area. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) gage on the mainstem Navarro, located 5.3 miles upstream from the mouth, has been in operation for the last 54 years providing discharge data. On the morning of 12-31-05, this gage recorded the peak discharge of 55,700 cubic feet per second, using this data in the Gumbel method the flood recurrence frequency was estimated to be 25 years. The Gumbel method is considered a quick and dirty way to estimate the flood recurrence frequency using peak annual discharges. The prediction becomes better the more years data is collected. The flood recurrence frequency of the 12-30-05 flood in watersheds in the Fort Bragg area was thought to be lower (e.g. 12 years) and in watersheds in Sonoma County thought to be much higher (e.g. 50 years).
A portion of this production was gleaned from communication with Dennis Slota, Hydrologist at the Mendocino County Water Agency.
On December 30th of 2005 rivers and streams rose and spilled over their banks and already saturated soil moved. Ken Montgomery, proprietor of the Anderson Valley Nursery, recorded 7.58" of rain fell between 9am on the 30th and 9am on the 31st and 27.46" fell during the month of December. According to Ken, December 2005 was the wettest December in at least 70 years, and the second wettest month in at least 70 years. Ken reports that even more stunning than the record setting monthly total is that the 27.46" fell in the last two weeks, in fact it was one of the driest Decembers until December 17th.
On the 31st, it was dry enough to get out and see what the high water left behind or had taken away. Silt and water were left behind in homes and structures that were flooded by the Russian and Navarro Rivers. Soil, trees, logs and lumber were taken by the River and deposited downstream. The North Fork Navarro River tried to take a nearby cabin; it lifted it off its post and pier foundation and carried it downstream as far as the electrical ground wire would allow.
A woman I met in the aftermath of her Oak Manor home having been flooded said the home had not flooded in the 30 years that she lived in the subdivision. Therefore, based on anecdotal evidence the flood flow had not been as high as on 12-30-05 in 30 years at the Oak Manor site.
Determining how frequently the flood flow associated with the 12-30-05 storm might be expected to happen is not simple. It is a function of the historical data available in a specific geographic area. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) gage on the mainstem Navarro, located 5.3 miles upstream from the mouth, has been in operation for the last 54 years providing discharge data. On the morning of 12-31-05, this gage recorded the peak discharge of 55,700 cubic feet per second, using this data in the Gumbel method the flood recurrence frequency was estimated to be 25 years. The Gumbel method is considered a quick and dirty way to estimate the flood recurrence frequency using peak annual discharges. The prediction becomes better the more years data is collected. The flood recurrence frequency of the 12-30-05 flood in watersheds in the Fort Bragg area was thought to be lower (e.g. 12 years) and in watersheds in Sonoma County thought to be much higher (e.g. 50 years).
A portion of this production was gleaned from communication with Dennis Slota, Hydrologist at the Mendocino County Water Agency.
February 5, 2006
Tree Pruning
By Thembi Borras
The refreshing spring-like weather reminds me I need to prune my fruit trees. Whether you are pruning fruit trees for increased fruit production and structural integrity; ornamental and/or shade trees for health, safety and appearance; trees in a forest for fire hazard reduction, aesthetics and improved timber quality; or trees along roads for a fuel break or to dry out the road surface faster, pruning well will facilitate meeting these goals. Pruning fruit trees is not the subject of this production. Once a year when I endeavor to prune my fruit trees I reference the thin, small book How to Prune Fruit Trees by R. Sanford Martin. The following techniques and considerations embody proper pruning:
1. Make pruning cuts where two limbs intersect or where limbs intersect the main tree trunk.
2. Avoid "flush cuts" which remove the branch bark collar or "stub cuts" which leave branch stubs protruding.
3. When necessary, reduce the tree height of hardwoods by selectively removing upper branches. Tree removal and replacement with a smaller growing species may be preferable to tree topping which can be damaging.
4. For large limbs, make an undercut so that when the branch separates it doesn't strip off bark from the bole of the tree.
5. Use shears or a saw designed for pruning and keep them sharpened. Use a chain saw only for limbs too large for hand tools. Never use an axe. Use recommended safety equipment, such as eye protection, hard hat, gloves and sturdy footwear.
6. Where access and logistics allow, prune during the winter, which is the slower growing or dormant season when the sap is flowing less.
7. In the forest, all limbs can be removed up to a height of 18 feet from larger hardwood and conifer trees, but the highest cut will be limited by the reach of your equipment. This is a good height for aesthetic enhancement and fire hazard reduction and will improve timber quality in the first 16 feet. Although, pruning conifers can improve the quality of the first most valuable log, this added expense and time might not yield a better price at the mill. Smaller trees should be pruned in stages, retaining approximately 40 percent of the total height in live green branches after pruning.
Go to http://www.dnr.wa.gov/htdocs/rp/stewardship/bfs/WESTERN/pruning.html, from which this production was gleaned, to access this information and illustrations of proper pruning cuts.
The refreshing spring-like weather reminds me I need to prune my fruit trees. Whether you are pruning fruit trees for increased fruit production and structural integrity; ornamental and/or shade trees for health, safety and appearance; trees in a forest for fire hazard reduction, aesthetics and improved timber quality; or trees along roads for a fuel break or to dry out the road surface faster, pruning well will facilitate meeting these goals. Pruning fruit trees is not the subject of this production. Once a year when I endeavor to prune my fruit trees I reference the thin, small book How to Prune Fruit Trees by R. Sanford Martin. The following techniques and considerations embody proper pruning:
1. Make pruning cuts where two limbs intersect or where limbs intersect the main tree trunk.
2. Avoid "flush cuts" which remove the branch bark collar or "stub cuts" which leave branch stubs protruding.
3. When necessary, reduce the tree height of hardwoods by selectively removing upper branches. Tree removal and replacement with a smaller growing species may be preferable to tree topping which can be damaging.
4. For large limbs, make an undercut so that when the branch separates it doesn't strip off bark from the bole of the tree.
5. Use shears or a saw designed for pruning and keep them sharpened. Use a chain saw only for limbs too large for hand tools. Never use an axe. Use recommended safety equipment, such as eye protection, hard hat, gloves and sturdy footwear.
6. Where access and logistics allow, prune during the winter, which is the slower growing or dormant season when the sap is flowing less.
7. In the forest, all limbs can be removed up to a height of 18 feet from larger hardwood and conifer trees, but the highest cut will be limited by the reach of your equipment. This is a good height for aesthetic enhancement and fire hazard reduction and will improve timber quality in the first 16 feet. Although, pruning conifers can improve the quality of the first most valuable log, this added expense and time might not yield a better price at the mill. Smaller trees should be pruned in stages, retaining approximately 40 percent of the total height in live green branches after pruning.
Go to http://www.dnr.wa.gov/htdocs/rp/stewardship/bfs/WESTERN/pruning.html, from which this production was gleaned, to access this information and illustrations of proper pruning cuts.
January 29, 2006
Causes of Decline of Inland Douglas-fir
By Thembi Borras
A reader from the Iron Peak area of Mendocino County asks why a number of good-size Douglas fir have died over the last five or so years?
Jack Marshall, Forest Pathologist at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, corroborated the readers observations reporting an increase in the death of Douglas-fir in the vicinity of Willits north to Laytonville. However, the number of dead trees observed has been declining since its height in 2003. The flat-headed fir borer and the Douglas-fir engraver beetle are the likely mortality agents. The flat-headed fir borer can cause mortality in any sized Douglas-fir tree. The Douglas-fir engraver beetle can cause mortality in trees less than 10" in diameter. Weakened trees are most susceptible to intrusion by insects. Biologic pressures and environmental pressures can cause trees to become weak. Weak trees are destined to be outcompeted by their neighbors and relegated to a suppressed or intermediate crown position. Environmental pressures include drought, the effects of a disrupted fire cycle, soil compaction and increased exposure to the elements. Biologic pressures include disease agents. In this case, the Dermea canker causes dieback of limbs and tops which may invite the entrance of the Douglas-fir engraver beetle.
Another reader from the Blue Rock Creek area asks a series of related questions: Can the bark beetle that is killing the Douglas-fir be stopped? Should we let them continue since they are only taking out the "weak" trees? How should they be cut and removed without spreading the beetle?
Native pests will always be in the area, but you can be active in protecting the non-symptomatic population. The Douglas-fir engraver beetle, a bark beetle, and the flat-headed fir borer are native insects. Through early removal of the symptomatic tree, you can slow the population growth. Once cut, treat the slash by lopping and scattering, piling and burning or chipping. Debarking the logs is also effective in that the habitat where beetles breed and larvae feed is destroyed. If you cut an infected tree into firewood, tarping and sealing the piles of wood with clear plastic is an effective way to prevent the emergence of the beetle from the wood. Go to http://www.fire.ca.gov/ click on resource management, then pest management and finally Tree Notes #3 or go directly to http://ceres.ca.gov/foreststeward/pdf/treenote3.pdf for more information.
A portion of this production was gleaned from a conversation with Jack Marshall, Forest Pathologist at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. If you have a local disease or insect question for Jack Marshall, he can be reached at Howard Forest in Willits at 707-459-7448.
A reader from the Iron Peak area of Mendocino County asks why a number of good-size Douglas fir have died over the last five or so years?
Jack Marshall, Forest Pathologist at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, corroborated the readers observations reporting an increase in the death of Douglas-fir in the vicinity of Willits north to Laytonville. However, the number of dead trees observed has been declining since its height in 2003. The flat-headed fir borer and the Douglas-fir engraver beetle are the likely mortality agents. The flat-headed fir borer can cause mortality in any sized Douglas-fir tree. The Douglas-fir engraver beetle can cause mortality in trees less than 10" in diameter. Weakened trees are most susceptible to intrusion by insects. Biologic pressures and environmental pressures can cause trees to become weak. Weak trees are destined to be outcompeted by their neighbors and relegated to a suppressed or intermediate crown position. Environmental pressures include drought, the effects of a disrupted fire cycle, soil compaction and increased exposure to the elements. Biologic pressures include disease agents. In this case, the Dermea canker causes dieback of limbs and tops which may invite the entrance of the Douglas-fir engraver beetle.
Another reader from the Blue Rock Creek area asks a series of related questions: Can the bark beetle that is killing the Douglas-fir be stopped? Should we let them continue since they are only taking out the "weak" trees? How should they be cut and removed without spreading the beetle?
Native pests will always be in the area, but you can be active in protecting the non-symptomatic population. The Douglas-fir engraver beetle, a bark beetle, and the flat-headed fir borer are native insects. Through early removal of the symptomatic tree, you can slow the population growth. Once cut, treat the slash by lopping and scattering, piling and burning or chipping. Debarking the logs is also effective in that the habitat where beetles breed and larvae feed is destroyed. If you cut an infected tree into firewood, tarping and sealing the piles of wood with clear plastic is an effective way to prevent the emergence of the beetle from the wood. Go to http://www.fire.ca.gov/ click on resource management, then pest management and finally Tree Notes #3 or go directly to http://ceres.ca.gov/foreststeward/pdf/treenote3.pdf for more information.
A portion of this production was gleaned from a conversation with Jack Marshall, Forest Pathologist at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. If you have a local disease or insect question for Jack Marshall, he can be reached at Howard Forest in Willits at 707-459-7448.
January 22, 2006
Jackson Demo State Forest Draft Environmental Impact Report Alternatives Evaluation
By Thembi Borras
The Board of Forestry and Fire Protection has released a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the proposed management plan for JDSF and seeks public input. JDSF is 50,000 acres and is the largest of the eight Demonstration State Forests that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) operates. Since 2001, timber harvest on JDSF has been suspended due to legal action; the DEIR for the proposed management plan is intended to move the status of management of JDSF from inactive toward active.
I evaluated the seven alternatives proposed in the DEIR based on silviculture, growth and yield and the use of herbicides, which I believe are essential issues.
Note: Uneven-Aged management includes prescriptions such as single tree selection and group selection. Even-Aged management includes prescriptions such as clearcutting, seed tree and shelterwood. Annual allowable harvest is projected out a minimum of 10 years.
Alternative A (minimal management)
Uneven-Aged Management/ Even-Aged Management: No harvest, no site preparation, no thinning, no planting.
Annual Allowable Harvest: Not applicable.
Herbicide Use: Limited for road maintenance.
Alternative B (continue 1983 plan)
Uneven-Aged Management: Yes.
Even-Aged Management: Yes.
Annual Allowable Harvest: 36 million board feet (MMBF)/year (nearly equal to the present estimated growth).
Herbicide Use: Yes.
Alternative C1 (CDF May 2002 DFMP, preferred Alternative by CDF)
Uneven-Aged Management: Yes, allowed on approximately 24,000 acres.
Even-Aged Management: Yes, allowed on approximately 11,000 acres.
Annual Allowable Harvest: 31 MMBF/year.
Herbicide Use: Yes.
Alternative C2 (CDF November 2002 Plan)
Uneven-Aged Management: Yes, allowed on approximately 22,500 acres.
Even-Aged Management: Yes, allowed on approximately 10,000 acres.
Annual Allowable Harvest: 31 MMBF/year.
Herbicide Use: Yes.
Alternative D (Citizens Advisory Committee proposal)
Uneven-Aged Management: Yes.
Even-Aged Management: No clearcutting. Other prescriptions restricted to limited demonstration.
Annual Allowable Harvest: 25 MMBF/year.
Herbicide Use: Herbicides would not be allowed in site preparation or vegetation control. There would be a three-year moratorium on chemical use for control of invasive species.
Alternative E (Late Seral Forests)
Uneven-Aged Management: Yes.
Even-Aged Management: No.
Annual Allowable Harvest: 8 MMBF/year.
Herbicide Use: No.
Alternative F (Older Forests Emphasis)
Uneven-Aged Management: Yes.
Even-Aged Management: No.
Annual Allowable Harvest: 19 MMBF/year.
Herbicide Use: Use herbicides only if other approaches fail.
Alternative D (Citizens Advisory Committee proposal), in my opinion, appears to have the greatest chance of successfully balancing environmental values, economic viability and public support. If there is enough public buy-in, then perhaps further legal wrangling can be avoided. Alternative D also best fits my vision of public forest management because it is strong on building inventory, strong on selection prescriptions and does not suggest incorporating herbicide use as a customary part of forest management. Building inventory and improving stand structure are cornerstones of sustainable forestry, although selection prescriptions do not inherently imply improved stand structure, this is only inherent in good decisions made on the ground regarding which trees will be cut and which will be left. Selection prescriptions done well are opportunities to take value from the forest and improve the transportation infrastructure, at the same time keeping pre harvest habitat the same as post harvest habitat, improving aesthetics by maintaining a continuous forest canopy and encouraging fewer large stems and minimizing adverse watershed effects through a low level of canopy removal.
The Board of Forestry and Fire Protection has released a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the proposed management plan for JDSF and seeks public input. JDSF is 50,000 acres and is the largest of the eight Demonstration State Forests that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) operates. Since 2001, timber harvest on JDSF has been suspended due to legal action; the DEIR for the proposed management plan is intended to move the status of management of JDSF from inactive toward active.
I evaluated the seven alternatives proposed in the DEIR based on silviculture, growth and yield and the use of herbicides, which I believe are essential issues.
Note: Uneven-Aged management includes prescriptions such as single tree selection and group selection. Even-Aged management includes prescriptions such as clearcutting, seed tree and shelterwood. Annual allowable harvest is projected out a minimum of 10 years.
Alternative A (minimal management)
Uneven-Aged Management/ Even-Aged Management: No harvest, no site preparation, no thinning, no planting.
Annual Allowable Harvest: Not applicable.
Herbicide Use: Limited for road maintenance.
Alternative B (continue 1983 plan)
Uneven-Aged Management: Yes.
Even-Aged Management: Yes.
Annual Allowable Harvest: 36 million board feet (MMBF)/year (nearly equal to the present estimated growth).
Herbicide Use: Yes.
Alternative C1 (CDF May 2002 DFMP, preferred Alternative by CDF)
Uneven-Aged Management: Yes, allowed on approximately 24,000 acres.
Even-Aged Management: Yes, allowed on approximately 11,000 acres.
Annual Allowable Harvest: 31 MMBF/year.
Herbicide Use: Yes.
Alternative C2 (CDF November 2002 Plan)
Uneven-Aged Management: Yes, allowed on approximately 22,500 acres.
Even-Aged Management: Yes, allowed on approximately 10,000 acres.
Annual Allowable Harvest: 31 MMBF/year.
Herbicide Use: Yes.
Alternative D (Citizens Advisory Committee proposal)
Uneven-Aged Management: Yes.
Even-Aged Management: No clearcutting. Other prescriptions restricted to limited demonstration.
Annual Allowable Harvest: 25 MMBF/year.
Herbicide Use: Herbicides would not be allowed in site preparation or vegetation control. There would be a three-year moratorium on chemical use for control of invasive species.
Alternative E (Late Seral Forests)
Uneven-Aged Management: Yes.
Even-Aged Management: No.
Annual Allowable Harvest: 8 MMBF/year.
Herbicide Use: No.
Alternative F (Older Forests Emphasis)
Uneven-Aged Management: Yes.
Even-Aged Management: No.
Annual Allowable Harvest: 19 MMBF/year.
Herbicide Use: Use herbicides only if other approaches fail.
Alternative D (Citizens Advisory Committee proposal), in my opinion, appears to have the greatest chance of successfully balancing environmental values, economic viability and public support. If there is enough public buy-in, then perhaps further legal wrangling can be avoided. Alternative D also best fits my vision of public forest management because it is strong on building inventory, strong on selection prescriptions and does not suggest incorporating herbicide use as a customary part of forest management. Building inventory and improving stand structure are cornerstones of sustainable forestry, although selection prescriptions do not inherently imply improved stand structure, this is only inherent in good decisions made on the ground regarding which trees will be cut and which will be left. Selection prescriptions done well are opportunities to take value from the forest and improve the transportation infrastructure, at the same time keeping pre harvest habitat the same as post harvest habitat, improving aesthetics by maintaining a continuous forest canopy and encouraging fewer large stems and minimizing adverse watershed effects through a low level of canopy removal.
January 8, 2006
Late Spring Rains Result in an Increase in Foliar Pathogens
By Thembi Borras
In the past several months, the madrone tree outside my window has become increasingly unhealthy looking. More than 75% of the surface area on 50% of the leaves have turned brown.
So I called Jack Marshall at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and asked him, why? Late spring rains in 2005 created a prime environment, high moisture during a warmer time of the year, for the growth of foliar pathogens including the native foliar pathogen causing the brown spots on the madrone outside my window. The consequence will likely be slowed growth, given that the photosynthetic area of the leaves has been obstructed, but the madrone will not likely die and will slowly recover.
A little more than a month ago, Mr. Marshall started observing the end of branches on interior live oak trees were dead or dying. The cause is Discula quercina, a native branch canker fungus that kills branch tips and buds. Similar to the madrone foliar pathogen it was accelerated by the environmental conditions set forth by the late spring rains.
New Sudden Oak Death (SOD) occurrences may manifest as a result of the late spring rains. Phytophthora ramorum, a water mold fungus that many believe to be nonnative, causes Sudden Oak Death in some of its hosts and occurs as a foliar pathogen in other hosts, such as California bay laurel. Bay laurels are thought to be very important in spreading the disease as the fungus readily produces spores on moist bay leaves. The spores of Phytophthora ramorum are then ready for transport, by mechanisms such as wind and water, to new hosts. According to Brock Dolman of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, "This past summer SOD finally really hit Sonoma County due to our late wet spring…" To get a thorough grasp on SOD and its movement go to the California Oak Mortality Task Force web site at www.suddenoakdeath.org.
The complexity of the environment that surrounds us never ceases to amaze me.
A portion of this production was gleaned from the book Diseases of Tree and Shrubs by Sinclair, Lyon and Johnson and a conversation with Jack Marshall, Forest Pathologist at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. If you have a local disease or insect question for Jack Marshall, he can be reached at Howard Forest in Willits at 707-459-7448.
In the past several months, the madrone tree outside my window has become increasingly unhealthy looking. More than 75% of the surface area on 50% of the leaves have turned brown.
So I called Jack Marshall at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and asked him, why? Late spring rains in 2005 created a prime environment, high moisture during a warmer time of the year, for the growth of foliar pathogens including the native foliar pathogen causing the brown spots on the madrone outside my window. The consequence will likely be slowed growth, given that the photosynthetic area of the leaves has been obstructed, but the madrone will not likely die and will slowly recover.
A little more than a month ago, Mr. Marshall started observing the end of branches on interior live oak trees were dead or dying. The cause is Discula quercina, a native branch canker fungus that kills branch tips and buds. Similar to the madrone foliar pathogen it was accelerated by the environmental conditions set forth by the late spring rains.
New Sudden Oak Death (SOD) occurrences may manifest as a result of the late spring rains. Phytophthora ramorum, a water mold fungus that many believe to be nonnative, causes Sudden Oak Death in some of its hosts and occurs as a foliar pathogen in other hosts, such as California bay laurel. Bay laurels are thought to be very important in spreading the disease as the fungus readily produces spores on moist bay leaves. The spores of Phytophthora ramorum are then ready for transport, by mechanisms such as wind and water, to new hosts. According to Brock Dolman of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, "This past summer SOD finally really hit Sonoma County due to our late wet spring…" To get a thorough grasp on SOD and its movement go to the California Oak Mortality Task Force web site at www.suddenoakdeath.org.
The complexity of the environment that surrounds us never ceases to amaze me.
A portion of this production was gleaned from the book Diseases of Tree and Shrubs by Sinclair, Lyon and Johnson and a conversation with Jack Marshall, Forest Pathologist at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. If you have a local disease or insect question for Jack Marshall, he can be reached at Howard Forest in Willits at 707-459-7448.
January 1, 2006
Is your road up to the big, fast water challenge?
By Thembi Borras
The winter storms are delivering big, fast water causing some stream crossings to fail, road rock to be lost, sink holes and road failures. Well designed roads and stream crossings take into account large storm events. Moreover, when well designed roads and stream crossings are properly constructed and installed, they are better able to resist the big, fast and infrequent water as we have been having. The best time to determine if your road is holding up to the big, fast water challenge is during the storm. If it is not safe, you can often project, where the high water level was, based on debris, mudlines and waterlines, after the storm.
Indicators that your road is not adequately drained include waving farewell to your road rock, the capacity of your ditch relief culverts and inside ditches are being exceeded and rills are forming in your road bed.
An indicator that your culverted stream crossing is not adequately designed is the capacity of the culvert is being exceeded. Plugging is often evidence that a culvert is undersized. When a stream crossing plugs it can spell bad news. In the winter of 1995/1996 an undersized culvert plugged on our private dirt road. The diverted water traveled 125 yards where it outleted carrying 30 cubic yards of the roadbed to the creek, facilitated by the well formed berm on the outside edge of the road.
At the same time your are evaluating your road during a storm you can do effective short-term maintenance, with a shovel or a hoe, that will protect your investment. Dig ditches to get the water off the road as quickly as possible and deliver it to a stable location. Remove any blockages from culvert inlets. Clear your inside ditches of debris but keep growing things in the ditch, to slow the water and meter sediment, unless you need the capacity. Long term fixes include sizing your stream crossings for 100 year storm events and where appropriate can include replacing culverts with rock armored fill crossings, installing more frequent cross drainage and reshaping roads to have outslope.
In the spring, remember the big fast water of 12-30-05 and ask yourself if your road could be improved, it may not be cheap, but it could save you money and inconvenience in the end. Remember the goals of road improvement are to reduce the chance of sediment delivery because of episodic events, reduce chronic delivery of sediment and reduce maintenance.
The Handbook for Forest and Ranch Roads by Pacific Watershed Associates will aid you in your road management decision making and is available through the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District (707-468-9223) and the Navarro River Resource Center (707-895-3230).
The winter storms are delivering big, fast water causing some stream crossings to fail, road rock to be lost, sink holes and road failures. Well designed roads and stream crossings take into account large storm events. Moreover, when well designed roads and stream crossings are properly constructed and installed, they are better able to resist the big, fast and infrequent water as we have been having. The best time to determine if your road is holding up to the big, fast water challenge is during the storm. If it is not safe, you can often project, where the high water level was, based on debris, mudlines and waterlines, after the storm.
Indicators that your road is not adequately drained include waving farewell to your road rock, the capacity of your ditch relief culverts and inside ditches are being exceeded and rills are forming in your road bed.
An indicator that your culverted stream crossing is not adequately designed is the capacity of the culvert is being exceeded. Plugging is often evidence that a culvert is undersized. When a stream crossing plugs it can spell bad news. In the winter of 1995/1996 an undersized culvert plugged on our private dirt road. The diverted water traveled 125 yards where it outleted carrying 30 cubic yards of the roadbed to the creek, facilitated by the well formed berm on the outside edge of the road.
At the same time your are evaluating your road during a storm you can do effective short-term maintenance, with a shovel or a hoe, that will protect your investment. Dig ditches to get the water off the road as quickly as possible and deliver it to a stable location. Remove any blockages from culvert inlets. Clear your inside ditches of debris but keep growing things in the ditch, to slow the water and meter sediment, unless you need the capacity. Long term fixes include sizing your stream crossings for 100 year storm events and where appropriate can include replacing culverts with rock armored fill crossings, installing more frequent cross drainage and reshaping roads to have outslope.
In the spring, remember the big fast water of 12-30-05 and ask yourself if your road could be improved, it may not be cheap, but it could save you money and inconvenience in the end. Remember the goals of road improvement are to reduce the chance of sediment delivery because of episodic events, reduce chronic delivery of sediment and reduce maintenance.
The Handbook for Forest and Ranch Roads by Pacific Watershed Associates will aid you in your road management decision making and is available through the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District (707-468-9223) and the Navarro River Resource Center (707-895-3230).
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