Task force to study dying trees in Eastern Washington

Over the next 15 years, state projections indicate that elevated tree mortality could occur across 2.8 million acres of Eastern Washington, or roughly one-third of the landscape. 

Washington State is convening a committee of foresters, scientists and other experts in an effort to contain this pending forest health epidemic east of the Cascades. The task force was convened under the state’s forest health law, which allows the Department of Natural Resources to ask other landowners to take voluntary actions to reduce the spread of insects and disease and to provide technical assistance from the state.

"The combination of the projections and the actual mortality we're seeing causes us alarm," said Aaron Everett, Washington's State Forester. "It's certainly compounded by what we anticipate will be a warmer climate."

Spruce budworm damage mostly affects the emerging new growth on infested trees.

In August 2011, WA DNR and the USDA Forest Service announced they were monitoring the Western spruce budworm to see how many acres of Washington's forests have been defoliated by the insect. Drivers crossing Blewett Pass in summer can see expanses of evergreens damaged or killed by the budworm.

DNR’s Forest Health Program and Washington State University’s Forestry Extension program conduct workshops across the state to educate citizens about western spruce budworm and other forest health conditions. (More on 2011 workshops.)

Enhancing Bird Habitat with Nesting Structures

To go with the cabin we're building for ourselves, the NRCS EQIP program is supporting our addition of 45 bird "cabins" throughout our 20 acres between now and 2013. I built the first 25 this year.

Our plans came from Spokane Audubon Society. They're very easy to follow, and one bird house plan is suitable for several different species by making the entry hole a specific size and height for the desired species. I used 1x6" cedar boards 8' long, so I could get two bird boxes (for wren, chickadee, nuthatch) from each board. Except for the tops, which came from 1x8" cedar boards. I omitted the optional reinforcing plate across the entry hole for most of them.

Drawing a line across the back piece near the bottom gives me a baseline to align the sides and front as I assemble the bird house.

A brad nailer makes the mass-production of bird boxes go much faster than swinging a hammer or twisting screws. I still used a 6d nail to hold the hinged side closed. The side nail isn't hammered in flush, so I can get a claw on it easily. A bench drill press with hole saw made the openings.

A mark across the top of the left side helps to align the two nails or brads that will form the hinge on the side wall. One nail from the front and one from the back form the hinge.

One evening's assembly work. I precut all components in one morning at the property, then brought them back to my garage where I have a bench, air tools, and heat. Once I got the pattern down, assembly went quickly.

Wren et al house, 15 inches tall. The bird cabins are hung about 7' off the ground. The trees are pruned up to 12'-16' so there are no limbs near the nests. The box shown here was made from some rough milled true 1" thick cedar, a gift from Shaun Brender in Peshastin WA. 20 boxes were made from store-bought one-by lumber (planed to 3/4" thick).

I'm hanging the finished nesting structures from galvanized nails through holes in the upper portion of the back plates. Plenty of nail shank is exposed so the growing tree won't push the bird cabin off the nail. Each cabin is numbered with a stamped aluminum disc attached to the tree using an aluminum nail, both from Forestry Suppliers.

I use a GPS to track each location by number. If I later come across a box that needs attention, all I need is the number to go back to that location with tools or a repaired cabin.

The bird boxes are designed to open on the side for inspection and clean-out. The top could be removed in the field if necessary. Or the whole cabin can be taken in for repair.




Flicker house, 30 inches tall. 23 boxes are of one basic size (like te photo earlier in this post), and two like this one are about twice that size for flickers and downy woodpeckers. Those two are hung in pine stands, where these woodpeckers can feast on newly hatched pine bark beetles every spring.



Habitat Restoration through EQIP

One concern when thinning trees and mitigating slash is the reduction of cover and habitat for little creatures.

NRCS, through the EQIP program we participate in, provides for the construction of wildlife piles to restore protective cover for squirrels, rabbits, songbirds, even turkeys. These end up looking like 10'x10' slash piles 6' high, but under all that slash the piles are specially constructed according to NRCS specifications to provide lasting, versatile habitat for wildlife.

About 8 logs, 6" to 10" diameter and 10' long, are laid parallel to form the base of the wildlife pile. We just this year thinned the neighboring stand, so plenty of fir logs were available and close by for this project. We used about 12 Douglas fir, apx 12" DBH.

A second layer of similar logs are laid at 90 degrees to form a crisscross structure. The space between the logs is about equal to their widths. The chambers create critter condos, where small animals are safe from predators.

Slash is added on top of this base. Linda gathered nearby limbs from trees we cut this year.

Curt added slash the easy way -- he grabbed 3 nearby slash piles and moved them onto the wildlife pile with the backhoe.

Linda kept adding limbs until the pile reached about 7' high. This will settle to 6' or less over the winter.

Here's the finished wildlife pile, just over 10' square.

EQIP pays about $85 per pile. We're obligated to maintain the pile for several years, which basically means adding some slash to it in a few years after it settles down below 4' high. About that time we'll be ready to do a brush release in this stand, which will provide plenty of material.

Snap the Leaf, Know the Tree

Leafsnap is the first in a series of electronic field guides being developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution. This free mobile app uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves.

Leafsnap at iTunes

Dual Certification in FSC and ATFS for Small Forest Owners?

The Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association published an article explaining how Forest Stewardship Council and American Tree Farm System certification programs can offer complementary services to small family forest owners.

The author had managed FSC, Sustainable Forest Initiative, and ATFS certification for six million acres of Wisconsin DNR forestry programs. He says the dual FSC-Tree Farm certification can be highly effective. The two programs have different missions. FSC certification offers the most compelling market benefits, while Tree Farm engages landowners with outreach and education.

Read the article "Tree Farm and FSC: Family Forests' Dynamic Duo"

This is Laminated Root Rot

We have our share of Phellinus (Poria) weirii -- Laminated root rot.

Laminated root rot is the cause of the high percentage of dead fir snags in a few small areas of our property.



This tree fell during the winter and I discovered it in the spring. Notice how small the root wad is, compared to what a healthy blow-down would have. Another tree fell about 50 feet away.


 

Leaning fir trees often indicate weak roots. Butt rot is obvious here: the fir is slowly uprooting and has already lost its top. It's surrounded by fir snags and large living fir trees with weeping trunks.

 This is considered to be the most damaging root disease in the Pacific Northwest, as it kills the greatest concentrations of trees in the areas where it is present. Sometimes called butt rot, this disease is most tragic because it kills all Douglas Fir in a growing radius and makes it impossible to grow that species again in that location.

Root rot is most obvious where there is a patch of jack-straw trees, snags and leaning trees. Look more closely for weeping fir tree butts, fading fir crowns and firs that fall by uprooting (particularly if the root wad appears unusually small for the tree).

The disease is spread by root contact between an infected tree and healthy ones. The disease kills susceptible hosts by either predisposing them to windthrow by rotting the major roots, or by destroying their ability to take up water and nutrients. Saplings and small poles are usually killed quickly, while older trees may confine the fungus to a small number of roots or to the butt log and survive for many years.

The fungus may remain viable in stumps for 50 years and thus infect regeneration, although it typically takes 10 to 15 years for root contact with the new trees to be established. 

There is no treatment for root rot. The only recourse is to cut all trees of that species in the infected area, and one more tree's width around the circumference of that area to be sure. Sadly, this sometimes involves clear-cutting a sizeable area. If we postpone action, the area only gets larger.

In one area we cut about an acre of infected fir trees, but we were able to leave several very tall, healthy Ponderosa Pines.

Started Logging for the 2011 Season

My first realization, as I marched into the woods with my saw, tools and safety gear, was that all my skiing over the winter didn't keep me in shape for this. My second realization was that my aim is rusty.

Two weeks ago, we turned our attention to cutting trees from 3.5 acres in the north end of our property. It's been several years since a crew thinned this stand from below, cutting everything under 7 inches dbh and pruning the marked leave trees up 12 feet.

This summer we need to remove about half the remaining trees, predominantly Douglas Fir, mostly from 8 to 20 inches dbh. Our final density will be about 110 trees per acre. At the end of the summer a crew will prune the leave trees up to 16 feet. This is all part of our NRCS EQIP contract.

So last week I donned boots and hardhat, fueled up my Stihl 440 chainsaw, strapped on my tool belt, and climbed through thick brush up a draw. Once I caught my breath, I felled the first couple of trees with no problem. Then they started falling a few degrees off where I wanted them to fall. This led to trees hung in the branches of other trees, which gets complicated. I can't work under that hung tree, lest it suddenly falls of its own accord. We could cut the tree it's hung in, but often there's a blue mark indicating it's a carefully selected leave tree.

The safest way to drop the hung tree is to winch the butt out from under it. We did this with 2 trees the first day. Only 10 trees made it to the ground that day.

This week, with a freshly sharpened chain, I was able to hang more trees more efficiently in less time. Getting frustrated and creative led to another problem: a tee-pee of trees. When I hung the first tree of the day, I saw that I could fell another tree that would hit the hung tree, bringing both to the ground like dominoes. Instead, it hung, too. In my brilliance I added a third tree to the structure. Now it was unsafe to approach within 1/2 mile of this mess.

The only solution was to stop work and get the tractor to winch the trees down. The first two came down easily. As we stood in the woods discussing our strategy for winching the third tree, it came crashing down. It was a close-up reminder that it can happen any time, without warning.