Woodland Information Night goes Virtual
The Benton-Linn “Woodland Information Night” had been scheduled for March of 2020 but was postponed due to coronavirus. We have decided to have the meeting virtually on line on October 28 at 6:00 pm. Fortunately the same speakers are able to participate. This will be a very interesting and informative evening.
Woodland Information Night
October 28, 6:00 pm
Topics:
-Seedling Species Selection in a Changing Climate
Glenn Ahrens – OSU Extension Forester
Clackamas, Marion, Hood River counties
-Drones in Forestry- uses, types, regulations and more
Cory Garms, PHD – CEO of Greensensing Remote Sensing LLC
-GIS Tools Available to Woodland Owners
Doug Sackinger – GIS Coordinator, Benton County
Register
Click on the below link and fill out the form to register, only first name, last name, and email are required to register.
https://forestfoundation.webex.com/forestfoundation/j.php?RGID=r08aab29d75ba4dbd6e56ad03107a678f
For questions about registrations, please email Jeremy Felty at: Jeremy.felty@gmail.com
LET’S GO TO THE FOREST!
It has been awhile since we have had organized tours in the woods. COVID 19 has made it difficult to hold events and still protect the health of our members. Benton Small Woodland Association has designed a method to host tours and comply with COVID regulations.
BSWA will be hosting three Mini Tours on Saturday, October 17, 9:00 to 12:00
We are calling these Mini Tours because attendance will be limited to ten or fewer participants. The tours will be at the same time at three different locations. Participants will be required to wear face covering when on the tour, as well as keeping social distance. Please respect OSWA, your hosts and neighbors by complying fully with this requirement. The weather can be wet this time of year so bring your rain gear.
Tour 1: Dave and Sarah Ehlers, J2E Tree Farm, Kings Valley
Come enjoy a leisurely and relatively flat 1-2 mile walk through the woods discussing the history, hardships, lessons learned and results of the following forestry practices:
Riparian restoration of Sarah’s Run 2004
PCT Oak & Conifer stand 2008
Commercial thinning 62 acres and Oak release 2015
PCT and Pruning for stand health and fire resiliency 2018-2020
Tour 2: Van and Ann Decker Tree farm, South of Philomath
It is ALWAYS an interesting and informative experience at the Decker’s forest. Van will show and discuss: Thinning young stands, Root Rot, Tree Growth, Stand History, Stand Evaluation, and Fire Prevention.
Tour 3: Mike Albrecht, West of Philomath
A “Hike with Mike” will primarily show a recent thinning & sanitation project of a 23 year old stand. The stand is 25 acres. Mike will explain the rationale for the thinning prescription along with details such as man hours required. There will also be some plant I.D. along the way. It will be a hike.
Registration Information:
Date: Saturday October 17, 2020
Time: 9:00 am to 12:00 noon
Location: You will receive details from the tour host after you
make your reservation.
REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Please call the OSU Benton County Extension office at 541-713-5000 during business hours (M-F, 8-12, 1-5). If you do not get through, leave a message, with call back number. We will not be taking email reservations for these tours.
Consider having a second choice tour in mind in case your first choice has filled. If your plans change and you cannot come, please call and tell us so another person can take your place.
For more tour information contact Pat Boren at Borenwood99@gmail.com
2020-2021 Benton County Tree Farmer of the Year
Crestmont Farm Ed Easterling, Benton County’s 2020 TFOY established Crestmont Farm in 2005 on 775 acres of intensively managed, heavily- harvested industrial forestlands with the objective of balancing wood production and habitat management. He immediately began working with consulting foresters and others to maintain and enhance the forest plantations while looking towards restoration of the property’s other resources.Over the past 15 years, Ed and his team have transformed industrial timberlands just west of Corvallis into a community resource. Crestmont farm has expanded to approximately 1,600 contiguous acres. This diverse property now includes traditional timber plantations, mixed-species naturally regenerated forests, oak woodlands and savannas, multiple riparian zones and open pastures. There is also critical habitat for several threatened, endangered, and declining species of animals and plants. The property provides personal recreation and a series of public trails supported by informational signs. They are open and used for private and public tours, educational meetings and research. Ed has accomplished so much in this time in part due to his penchant for – and long professional experience in – developing and executing long-term, multiple-benefit management plans. The forest management plan helps identify and prioritize objectives, take advantage of converging objectives and minimizing impacts among those that compete.Ed’s Key objectives include: • creating long-term economic value by producing materials that support the improvement of people’s lives, • demonstrate responsible natural resource stewardship by managing for (a) habitat diversity, (b) forest, woodland, and pasture health, and (c) ecological integrity to benefit wildlife, plants, and people, • address the effects of a changing climate on agricultural production and habitat management, • manage to reduce the risk of damage by wildfire on timber, structures, and people, and• develop recreational, educational, and research experiences.
Excerpted from:
Benton County Extension Newsletter “Growing” Sept-Oct 2020 https://extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/documents/9371/growingsept-oct20finalweb.pdf
for more wildlife sightings from their trail camera this summer.
I’m going to have to set one of those cameras up on my place!
It’s fire season and they have a water wagon.
The Art & Science of Trail Building
by Matt McPharlin
Presented at the Benton County Chapter Annual Meeting – January 2020
2019 OSWA Annual Meeting
June 20th, 2019
The 2019 OSWA annual meeting was hosted by the Benton County Chapter and held in Corvallis. The theme was Research Policies, and Programs for Family Forestland Management. Thanks to everyone for participating in three days of engaging and informative events and a great opportunity to visit with neighbors and friends.
Welcome by Mike Cloughesy
Session One – Fire Panel
Fire in PNW Landscapes—Past, Present and Future
Jane Kertis – Ecologist, Northwest Oregon Ecology Group, US Forest Service
Cross-Boundary, Landscape-Scale Restoration and Wildfire Risk Reduction: Experiences from Southern Oregon
Dan Leavell – OSU Forestry & Natural Resources Extension Agent, Klamath and Lake Counties
2019 Fire Season & Beyond
Doug Grafe – Chief of Fire Protection, Oregon Department of Forestry
Session Two – Carbon Panel
Oregon Forest Carbon Overview
Peter Daugherty – Oregon State Forester
Oregon Forest Ecosystem Carbon Report
Glenn Christensen – Forester, USFS Forest Inventory & Analysis
Carbon Sequestration in Wood Products
Andrew Yost – Ecologist, Oregon Department of Forestry
Session Three – Forestry Education Panel
Impact Educators, Impact the Future
Lee Ann Mikkelson, Director, Oregon Natural Resource Education Program
Telling the Family Forest Story
Anna Yarbrough – Consulting Forester, Free Range Forestry, LLC
Mountaincrest Forest Conservation Easement
Connie Best – CEO The Pacific Forest Trust
Session Four – Wildlife Research
Uncovering the Secret World of a Secretive SeabirdLindsay Adrean – Lead Faculty Research Assistant, Oregon State University
Benton Chapter Board of Directors
Benton Chapter has an active board of directors. Feel free to contact them for information on this chapter and its activities and events.
For general inquiries, please email bentoncoswa@gmail.com
- President – David Ehlers @ 541-231-7094
- Treasurer – Jane Brandenburg
- Secretary – Dena Oakes
- Membership – Sarah Edwardsson @ 541-745-2062
- OSWA Rep – Nancy Hathaway @ 541-758-5510
- Program Chair – Pat Boren @ 541-929-2144
- Education Chair – Rita Adams @ 541-752-3324
- Tree Farmer of Year Program Chair – David Hibbs @ 541-752-3245
- Member at large – Mike Albrecht @ 541-231-0337
- Member at large – Karen Fleck Harding @ 541-929-6398
- Member at large – Diana Blakney
Meeting Minutes
The Quarterly Bark Newsletter
The Quarterly Bark is the joint newsletter for Benton, Lane, Linn, and Lincoln County OSWA chapters. You can access current and past editions here.
