The National Integrated Drought Information System has launched a redesigned U.S. Drought Portal (www.drought.gov). The portal has some new features:

• Drought conditions down to the city and county level where you can see current conditions, key indicators of drought, outlooks and forecasts, and historical drought conditions. 
• Historical data and maps, including U.S. Drought Monitor data going back 20 years, standardized precipitation index (SPI) data going back 125 years, and paleoclimate data (e.g., from tree-ring analysis) going back 2,000 years.

The Oregon Wildlife Conservation iNaturalist Project allows you to share your wildlife observation data directly with biologists. Even if you can’t identify what species you are looking at, odds are that someone in the iNaturalist community can. Participation in this project helps to enhance our understanding of wildlife in our state, and your data can help improve wildlife conservation efforts in Oregon. Oregon Wildlife Conservation iNaturalist Project

Free-to use Timberaid website. Wood science students at OSU developed a free-to-use website https://www.timberaid.com/ to help with your woodworking projects. Tools include calculators for wood shrinkage, moisture content, specific gravity and density.

Article by Kym Pokorny, Public Service Communications Specialist. Story Source: Alicia Christiansen, Forestry & Natural Resources

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The majestic redwood tree – iconic to California’s northern coast – is becoming more prevalent in Oregon. “We have landowners in western Oregon growing redwood trees for one reason or another,” said Alicia Christiansen, Oregon State University Extension Service forestry specialist. “There’s everything from something that’s cool in the yard to small woodland owners who plant several acres.”

Christiansen and her colleagues started to notice a possible trend and decided it was time to do a needs assessment in order to identify who is planting redwoods and why. She, along with OSU Extension forestry specialists Dan Stark, Norma Kline, Dave Shaw, Lauren Grand, Glenn Ahrens, Steve Fitzgerald and Jon Souder, formed a Growing Redwoods Group and plan a survey in February.

Once they collect information, the foresters will determine where to put energy as they work with landowners. Christiansen stressed that the group is responding to the needs of a growing number of Oregonians interested in redwoods, not promoting the planting of this species outside its native range in Oregon.

Many landowners are motivated right now to improve and maintain the defensible space around their homes. Fall and winter are great seasons to accomplish some of this work. OSU Extension has resources to help you get started. Start by reviewing The Home Ignition Zone: Protecting Your Property from Wildfire, EM9247. Use this publication to review the defensible space around your home. Print out the worksheet located at the end of the publication, grab a pencil and assess the condition of your property, jot down the areas that need improvement in the follow-up actions list. Use this list to help you prioritize your tasks. Consider taking some before and after photos to help you see how much you accomplished. https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/catalog/files/project/pdf/em9247.pdf

By Norma Kline, OSU Extension Forester for Coos and Curry Counties and Alicia Christiansen, OSU Extension Forester for Douglas County

Are you interested in digital mapping tools for your smart phone or tablet? Here are a few resources to help you get started or improve your skills. First, let’s make sure you are getting the most out of the map app that came with your smart phone or tablet. When you open your map app you will see a dot showing your present location, which is determined using a combination of GPS satellites and cell phone towers (this technology is called Assisted GPS). This location dot shows up on a basic map layer displaying roads and waterways.

You also have the option of switching the base layer to satellite imagery by using the small icon in the top right of the screen. In Apple Maps this is an “i” symbol and in Google Maps it is a little box-like symbol. Satellite imagery is a great tool for looking at landscape features on your property. Zoom in to see the difference between conifers and hardwoods and even different sizes of trees.

By Norma Kline, Oregon State University Extension Forester for Coos and Curry Counties

Have you encountered the various terms used to characterize the vegetation on your woodland? You might have read about ecoregions, forest types or stand types and wondered how they relate to your ownership. Or perhaps these terms seem confusing because your property is classified within the Douglas-fir forest type but your trees consist of bigleaf maple and western redcedar. Foresters, ecologists and land managers group vegetation into units so they can describe and understand how forests develop and grow in a given area. One of the broadest classification approaches is the ecoregion which is used to describe portions of the state with similar climate and vegetation. Oregon only has eight terrestrial ecoregions, so these are pretty broad and expansive ways to describe vegetation areas. For the most part, our coastal counties fall entirely within the Coast Range ecoregion, an important exception is Curry County, which also includes the Klamath Mountains ecoregion. If you live in Curry County I bet you already know that your forests are pretty unique! The other nearby ecoregions are the Willamette Valley and West Cascades. Figure 1 shows the eight terrestrial ecoregions in Oregon. There is also a ninth ecoregion, the nearshore marine area.

Do you like being outdoors and the idea of contributing to scientific research? If so, become a community-based citizen scientist volunteer with the OSU Extension Oregon Season Tracker Program that connects local community volunteers with state and national researchers studying weather and the effects on native plant vegetation. 

Oregon Sudden Oak Death Website The new Oregon Sudden Oak Death Website provides general Sudden Oak Death information including signs and symptoms, how the disease spreads, how to report potential infestations and management options. Take a look at the Task Force tab in the top menu bar to read more about the missions and goals of the Sudden Oak Death task force and all of the organizations that have been collaborating on this difficult issue. The website was made possible by funding by the Wild Rivers Coast Alliance and can be viewed here: https://www.oregonsod.org/

The South Coast Field and Forest newsletter is brought to you by Oregon State University Extension and provides articles of interest to the agriculture, forestry and natural resources community. Find recent articles below and in the menu to the right. Find out about upcoming workshops and events and new publications by navigating to the top menu. To subscribe to the South Coast Field and Forest newsletter select the following link and provide your name, email, include the following subject line South Coast Field and Forest Newsletter (our office manager will add your information to our mailing list): Click here