Save the Date

Oregon Small Woodlands Association

2019 Annual Meeting in Corvallis

Hosted by the Benton County Chapter

June 20th – 22nd

Plans will include:

• Discounted lodging at Corvallis Courtyard Marriott -

Thursday, June 20th -

• Afternoon mill and area tours
• OTFS and OSWA Board meetings at Courtyard Marriott

Friday, June 21st at Benton County Fair Grounds  -

• Full day of presentations, exhibits, and programs
• OSWA Membership Meeting
• Silent Auction
• Awards banquet

Saturday, June 22nd -Carr/Oaks –

• 2018 Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year woods tour

Details in upcoming OSWA Newsletters & Annual Meeting brochure mailed in early May

Contact person: Joe Steere

Email:  jsteere@miami-corp.com

Native tree seedlings and some native shrub species will be available. This annual event is designed to provide the public with affordable native tree seedlings, promote natural resource conservation awareness, and to increase forest owners’ knowledge and abilities as stewards of their land. (A few nonnatives also).

Most seedlings will be $2.

Date: February 23, 2019

Time: 10:00am to 3:00pm

Location: Lincoln County Fairgrounds 4-H Building, Newport OR 97365

Wood We Need From the Forests of Home

Guest Speaker: Peter Hayes Washington County Chapter/OSWA

Peter will join us to share the story and opportunities of the Build Local Alliance.

Since 2005 this non-profit has served as a community catalyst helping forest owners, millers, distributors, designers, makers, and users to work in partnerships that connect good, local wood with inspiring, local projects. In addition to supporting the Build Local Alliance, Peter and his family own and care for Hyla Woods’ experimental forests and milling operation near Forest Grove. With six generations of sawdust in his veins, Peter’s perspectives have been shaped by his service on Oregon’s Board of Forestry, ODF’s Committee for Family Forestlands, a variety of non-profit boards, and by the Forests of Home.

Date: Saturday, January 26, 2019

Time: 11:30 am-3:00 pm, Lunch at 12:00

Location: Beazell Memorial Forest Education Center

Carbon – Better in the Woods or the Wood Product?

Maureen Puettmann: WoodLife Environmental Consultants
Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials Director of Operations

Elaine Oneil: Executive Director of the Washington Farm Forestry Association
CORRIM Director of Science & Sustainability

Date: Friday, January 11, 2019
Time: 6:30-8:30 pm
Location: Corvallis/Benton County Library

Join Elaine and Maureen, both Small Woodlands Owners, as they discuss the science, policy, and practice of Forest Carbon in Oregon. Learn to view your woodlands through the lens of Life Cycle Assessment, which measures the environmental impacts of production, use, and disposal of forest products. Explore management options to optimize Carbon Sequestration on your property.
Educate yourself, so you can educate others. It’s Good in the Woods.

Some of Oregon Small Woodland Association’s 2018 Successes

2018 was another busy and productive year for OSWA

At the Capitol:

OSWA was successful with its priority efforts at the 2018 Legislative short session. The $500,000 Eastside Fire Tax Relief, which was dropped during the 2017 session, was reinstated; additional state funding was provided for Sudden Oak Death (SOD) control in the south coast area; and the Oregon Department of Forestry received additional funding to pay for the expensive 2017 fire season.

A Carbon and Invest issue was introduced during the short session. It failed to get any traction, but the legislature promised a carbon bill in 2019. OSWA has been participating in the governor’s Natural Resource Carbon Working Lands Committee and Oregon Department of Forestry’s Carbon Working Group on Carbon issues. The Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) will be advising our lobbyist, Roger Beyer, on this issue. Roger is well respected in Salem and did an outstanding job of achieving OSWA’s priorities in 2018.

Board of Forestry:

OSWA participated in a Department of Forestry Smoke Management Review committee throughout 2017. A revised smoke management policy and rules are out for review and should be approved in 2019. The new rules will allow more prescribed burning in an effort to help mitigate the smoke associated with large wildfires while focusing on public health. Participants in the committee included the Department of Environmental Quality, forest landowners, health organizations, cities, and counties.

OSWA continues to be engaged with the Board of Forestry on upcoming issues such as riparian rules in the Siskiyou and Eastside Regions and possible rules associated with Marbled Murrelets.

OSWA’s Annual Meeting:

Over 180 members enjoyed OSWA’s 58th Annual Meeting in Springfield hosted by the Lane County chapter. Participants were treated to mill tours on June 28th, a full day of informational sessions focusing on the theme ‘Managing Family Forests into the Future” and an enjoyable Awards Banquet on June 29th, and 140 participated in the 2017 Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year woods tour on Steve and Wylda Cafferata’s Family Forest on June 30th.

Neighbor to Neighbor Woods Tours:

In addition to the Cafferata Family tour, OSWA conducted three other Neighbor to Neighbor woods tours. One in Benton, Jackson, and Washington Counties and also hosted an event in Pendleton, to develop a new chapter for Morrow/Umatilla Counties.

Publications and Announcements:

Members received quarterly publications of the Oregon Family Forest News and the Northwest Woodlands magazine as well as Action Alerts and Legislative Updates.

Chapter Events:

Chapters held many local events and educational meetings plus kept members informed with their newsletters.

Membership:

Membership grew 6% in 2018, slightly higher than the 4% in 2016 & 2017.

IFA Nurseries has 24,000 western red cedar seedlings available at the Toledo, Wa. location.

These are P-1 seedlings. Minimum order is 1000 seedlings.

Call Steve Akehurst at 541-556-8907 if you are interested.

CCSWA is sold out of DF and Cedar until the CCSWA Ornamental Tree Sale on March 9, 2019

Here is a wonderful article on Oregon’s Small Woodland Association’s Tree Farmer of the Year 2018!

All in the family:
Benton County clan recognized as Tree Farmers of the Year

December 6, 2019

Written by: Bennett Hall

Published in Corvallis Gazette-Times

Hi, everyone.

Fern Hill Land Clearing is currently working on a recently logged site, mulching approximately 140 slash piles.  During this time, they will be setting up demonstrations.  If you are interested in seeing the Forestry Mulcher in action please contact Brian at Fern Hill Land Clearing to set something up. His phone number is 503-556-2897.

Mark Dreyer, CCSWA President

A summary:

The Plant Nutrition in Forestry tour on Saturday, September 15, 2018 raised more questions than answers but managed to make a group of approximately 25 interested tree farmers have a lot to think about. Mark Gourley is an expert on nutritional balancing for the production of healthy Douglas fir trees in our coastal range. Mark shared his many years’ experience in planting and establishing trees in the coast range at multiple plots, focusing on nutrition and supplements for improved tree survival and growth. Mark shared his different test methods, supplements, plant spacing, and types of spray as well as spraying methods. The attendees were given hands-on opportunities to compare tree growth, needles, and tree health in the small test plots which led to discussions on the impact of soil compositions especially as related to phosphorus, nitrogen, sodium, and potassium, among other minerals. Being thoughtful of the relational effect of balanced nutrition was a key part of the talk. Mark was encouraged to give a follow up next year with a Plant Nutrition 2.0 tour as it was felt beneficial to all who attended to have the shared knowledge of his expertise.