TreeTopics « Serving small woodland owners and managers in the Willamette Valley and northwest Oregon

Brad Withrow-Robinson, OSU Forestry & Natural Resources Extension agent, Benton, Linn and Polk Counties.

DSCN2628 I recently did a backpacking trip with my daughter, about a 12 year long summer tradition. This year we did a section of the Pacific Crest Trail starting at the California border, travelling “north” to Howard Prairie Reservoir. We actually travelled much farther east than north, ending up only about 10 miles north of California after 55 miles on the trail.
This was really the first time I spent much time in the Siskiyous. I have always heard great things about that landscape from friends and colleagues who have worked or played down there.
The landscape, geology and soils of that region are quite diverse and often quite different from other parts of the state. We spent time hiking through very interesting and diverse mixed conifer forests and meadows with many familiar as well as unfamiliar shrubs and flowers. We really enjoyed the chance to experience the Siskiyous for ourselves. On this dry year, we saw no snow and had pretty long stretches between water. But mosquitos were scarce.
Another rather unusual characteristic of this section of the PCT is the relatively large amount of private lands traversed. Much of the Oregon PCT travels through National Forest lands. In Southern Oregon we were in part of the checkerboard of BLM and private lands. It turns out that I know a few of those private family landowners who have long been encouraging us hike that section. Continue reading →

Brad Withrow-Robinson, Forestry & Natural Resources Extension Agent, Benton, Linn and Polk Counties

I recently got a call from a fellow whose Douglas-fir trees were covered with globs of pinkish pitch. It looked kind of like candle wax drippings on a Chianti bottle in some Italian restaurant, except it was on the trunks of his trees. As we talked I discovered that it was not an old stand, and the landowner had been out during the nice weather last summer and pruned his trees up six or eight feet to make it easier to get around and to reduce the risk of fire down near the County road. The pitch blobs were at the pruning scars.

Pitch moth evidence on off-site ponderosa pine

The culprit here is the Sequoia pitch moth (Synanthedon sequoia), a common clear-winged moth that attacks many conifer species.

Although commonly seen in town in people’s shore pine and other ornamental pine species, it is not generally a problem on Douglas-fir, or native Valley ponderosa pine except when the tree is wounded. A common and very attractive wound is easily created by pruning live branches during the summer months (April thru September) when the bark is soft and the adult moth is active. Although unlikely to kill your trees it is unsightly and generally avoidable.

Prevention is the best cure.

So this summer, put down those pruning shears. Save that job for the winter months.

Have an image of pitch moth on Douglas-fir you would like to share? email brad.w-r@oregonstate.edu

Fresh pitch moth evidence on an ornamental pine

By Amy Grotta, OSU Forestry & Natural Resources Extension – Columbia, Washington, & Yamhill Counties

This must be the end of the road... — This must be the end of the road…

One of the first orders of business on the Matteson Demonstration Forest is getting to know the lay of the land. 180 acres is a lot to get to know! As is the case with any new woodland owner, we need a map to help orient ourselves while on the property, and to keep track of where different roads and trails lead.

Eventually, the OSU College Forests staff will create a GIS map of the Matteson Forest with various spatial layers – property boundaries, roads, forest types, culverts, and so forth. In the meantime, I’ve been using Google Earth to create my own map, adding information as I continue to explore the tract. While in the woods, I’ve been using a GPS app on my smartphone to keep track of where I am and to record points and paths. In this article I’ll describe how I’ve been using these two applications, which I think would be useful to most woodland owners who don’t have GIS at their fingertips. Continue reading →

By Brad Withrow-Robinson, Forestry & Natural Resources Extension Agent, Benton, Linn and Polk Counties

Young Douglas-fir trees with dying branches or tops turning brown, then red have become a common sight all around the Willamette Valley this spring. What is going on?

This “flare out” of branches and tops are classic drought symptoms in Douglas-fir, which we are linking to last year’s weather when we had a particularly long, dry and very hot period late in the summer. Late season drought injuries to the stem and leader do not always show up when they occur, but often express themselves the following spring as trees start to grow. We have these drought damage events from time to time here in the valley, most recently in 2013 and again before that around 2000. Older trees typically have milder symptoms, but the many older, flat-topped Douglas-fir trees you see are a reflection of past droughts and non-fatal damage. Continue reading →

By Brandy Saffell, Education Program Assistant, OSU Forestry & Natural Resources Extension

Part I: Gucci and the Joriad

OSU Master Woodland Manager Marilyn Richen and her family own forest land in Columbia County. Her story about Gucci, her yellow lab, and the Joriad Truffle Hunting Competition is a modern day retelling of The Ugly Duckling.

Gucci was born into a training program for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Sadly, she could not stay in the program because of scavenging behaviors (i.e. seeking out and nabbing food). The upside of this otherwise disappointing situation was that Marilyn and her partner, Tammy Jackson, could officially adopt Gucci. They decided, though, that they desperately needed to find some sort of activity or training to help focus Gucci’s excessive energy.

Marilyn Richen's dog, Gucci, on a forest truffle hunt (Photo: Jeannine May) — Marilyn Richen’s dog, Gucci, on a forest truffle hunt (Photo: Jeannine May)

This is where truffles enter the tale. Truffles are fungi that develop underground in symbiotic association with the roots of trees; they are also a culinary delicacy. Marilyn has had an interest in truffles for many years and has attended several truffle classes including those offered at Tree School and through the Oregon Woodland Cooperative. She was also aware of truffle hunting with dogs but did not have a dog to train until Gucci came along. Could truffle hunting be a way to channel Gucci’s energy into something productive? Continue reading →

By Amy Grotta, OSU Forestry & Natural Resources Extension – Columbia, Washington & Yamhill Counties, and Stephen Fitzgerald, Director of the College of Forestry Research Forests & Extension Silviculture Specialist

It is with great excitement that we can announce that the Rubie P. Matteson Demonstration Forest has been established as the newest parcel of the OSU Research Forests. The 180-acre tract, located near the west shore of Hagg Lake near Gaston, will be managed as a working forest, providing income to the College of Forestry, access to the public, and a multitude of Extension, education and demonstration opportunities.

Matteson looking at map — College of Forestry Research Forests Staff and Extension Faculty getting acquainted with the new Rubie Matteson Demonstration Forest

The Oregon State University College of Forestry is extremely honored and grateful to be the new owner of this forest. Marion C. Matteson, a lifelong resident of the Scoggins Valley area, bequeathed the property to the College. Mr. Matteson passed away in December 2013 at age 94. Rubie P. Matteson, for whom the Demonstration Forest is named, was Marion Matteson’s mother. Continue reading →

Brad Withrow-Robinson, OSU Forestry and Natural Resources Extension for Benton, Linn and Polk Counties

At the wood products fair in Albany last month, I was thrilled by the sight of so many creative uses of local wood. Although still a niche market in Oregon, we have many beautiful local hardwoods. Handcrafted products such as bowls, cutting boards, boxes and other household items were on sale that featured many woods including walnut, maple and also the less-familiar cascara, ash and chinquapin. There was rough wood available too, blocks and boards to be taken into workshops and saved until just the right use is found by people who have “the wood sickness”, and boards of Oregon white oak and ash that would make floors you’d almost be ashamed to walk on….

Wood and wooden things bring warmth and beauty into our homes and our lives when used and displayed as household items and architectural elements. Never out of fashion, wood is nonetheless making a bigger splash lately in its architectural applications. Long used visually in homes and public buildings as paneling, cabinets and trim, wood is becoming more visible in its functional and structural roles in stairways, posts and beams too. Much of that is our local Douglas-fir. Continue reading →

By Amy Grotta, OSU Forestry & Natural Resources Extension – Columbia, Washington & Yamhill Counties

Dead tips (upper branch) and stunted growth (lower branch). Photo taken in January 2015, eight months after herbicide was applied.

A local landowner contacted me this winter, concerned about his ten acres of young trees and whether they had been damaged by herbicides. In May 2014, a year after the trees were planted, grass was coming in thick, so he hired a contractor to do a release spray. We don’t know what the exact spray mixture was, but the landowner thought it may have been a formulation of glyphosate such as Accord. Glyphosate is known to damage Douglas-fir seedlings (and many other conifers) during the active growing season – the time from when buds begin to swell in spring until resting buds are formed and hardened off in fall.

Affected trees showed several symptoms characteristic of herbicide damage. The least affected trees simply had stunted growth. On many others, the leader and branch tips were droopy and dead. Some seedlings were completely dead. Continue reading →

By Amy Grotta, OSU Forestry & Natural Resources Extension – Columbia, Washington & Yamhill Counties

How do you like your silviculture served? In a book, a pamphlet, a video, or an app?

A sampling of silviculture manuals dating from the 1970's and 80's — A sampling of silviculture manuals dating from the 1970’s and 80’s

My office shelves are lined with decades-old research reports, mostly left behind by my predecessors; and having neither the time to sort through them nor the ability to fully shake my packrat tendencies, I hang on to them. Besides the information they contain, these volumes form a historical record of sorts, and so while they don’t come off the shelf too much these days, they are worth keeping around.

An example is Douglas-fir: Stand Management for the Future (1986). The title makes me consider whether the Future of Douglas-fir stand management has turned out the way the authors expected, when this was published nearly 30 years ago. Continue reading →

By Brad Withrow-Robinson, OSU Forestry and Natural Resources Extension – Benton, Linn and Polk Counties

Winter storms seem to inflict damage to trees and forests somewhere in the area most years. Winds, snow and ice can damage individual trees or entire forest stands- breaking out branches, snapping the main trunk or tipping over whole trees, leaving landowners with a mess and many unexpected decisions.

This winter has been an exception in the severity of the November 2014 ice storm that battered a swath of the interior Coast Range from the Kings Valley area south to Mary’s Peak (see previous article). This unusual event caused irregular and spotty damage reflecting fairly small differences in aspect and elevation. Many landowners are still surveying the damage and considering their need to salvage and wondering if they can thin the damage out while leaving a healthy stand. Damage is severe enough in some cases to be forcing the decision to clear cut and replant young stands rather than the early thinning they were due for.

Continue reading →

TreeTopics

Serving small woodland owners and managers in the Willamette Valley and northwest Oregon

Reflections from the Trail

Put down those pruning shears

Mapping your forest with Google Earth and a GPS phone app

Many Douglas-fir with dead tops and branches in the Willamette Valley this year

Woodland owner and canine companion “dig deep” into truffle hunting

A New OSU College of Forestry Research and Demonstration Forest in Washington County

Wood is Good for so many Things….

Use caution with spring tree release

Silviculture information – from low tech to the world of apps

Winter Storm Damage

Contact Info