Looking up toward Canyon Mountain from PMF in mid-September, prior to the fall rains. The Alder Creek drainage is to the upper-right of this photo, with most of the higher-elevation reach in clouds. The approximately 3000 feet of elevation difference between the mouth and summit of the Alder-Jordan Creek watershed create interesting differences in microclimate and vegetation.
In late September, students from Lewis & Clark College in Portland visited PMF and interviewed Alan James (BLM) and Joe Koontz (Swanson Group) to learn about how public and private forests are managed on the Alder-Jordan Creek watershed.
Both BLM and Swanson Group manage extensive timberlands in the upper reach of the watershed. The unharvested stands in the distance are managed by BLM, whereas Swanson recently applied helicopter logging techniques to harvest much the steep forestland in the near foreground hills.
Trees marked in blue by students for harvest in the SE portion of PMF. The desired future condition in this area is an open park-like stand primarily consisting of native pine, incense cedar, and white/black/live oak with native bunchgrasses and shrub species associates. This is likely the historical condition in this valley floor area, though early pine harvesting and fire suppression have probably led to dominance by Douglas-fir, which is subject to insect infestation during dry periods such as occurred in the mid-1970s and early 2000s.
In October, over 40 MBF of Douglas-fir and incense cedar were harvested to remove dead and dying Douglas-fir affected by drought and insect infestation, and to move toward the open pine-oak community targeted as a desired future condition for this portion of the forest.
ACCF board member Marilyn Chandler, Joe Ross of BLM, board member Alan Baumann, and Andy Spencer, public outreach and government program coordinator for the Hands on the Land Program, on a tour of the recent harvest. ACCF was the featured site for November in the Hands on the Land national newsletter.
ACCF netted approximately $8000 from this harvest, and will work with select students to decide how to allocate these funds for establishment of the desired future condition in the harvest area, plus other site management and education activities.
ACCF board members Alan Baumann and Jim Long take Joe Clyde (L), former South Umpqua School District teacher and administrator, on a tour of PMF, starting with the recent harvest area. Here Alan is pointing out the area adjacent to the harvest.
You can see in this photo how the open desired condition was initiated via harvest. Some larger incense cedar were retained, while in early December a crew of Job Corps workers cut and piled smaller trees not needed for regeneration to further open up the stand.
Here, Alan, Jim, and Joe are on the NW portion of PMF, where the pine-oak condition is evident. PMF has sufficient diversity in slope, aspect, and soils to maintain a diversity of vegetative communities in its 78 acres.
Alan Baumann completed his third year as ACCF board member this fall, and will retire as board member effective 2006, but will continue as site committee chair, overseeing replanting and management of the recent harvest area, plus inventory and finalization of management plans for the remaining areas of PMF.
In November, a group of high school students participated in ACCF's Fall Forum. The theme was The Great Outdoors, focusing on public access and recreation in forests. They met for two sessions: the first was in the Tiller Ranger District, Umpqua National Forest, where board member Chris Rusch and USFS employee Lori Depew took students out on trails designed for public access. The second took place on PMF, where students toured the site and brainstormed on priority questions to address in designing an interpretive trails system.
Students also visited South Umpqua Falls, a popular destination for swimmers and picnickers. South Umpqua Falls demostrates both the promise and the pitfalls of public access to public lands, as it has also been a site of frequent vandalism.
ACCF has received assistance starting late summer 2005 from members of the local chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon (NPSO) in identifying native plants and invasive non-natives on PMF. In December, Alan Baumann took Native Plant Society members (L to R) Richard Sommer, Ron Hatt, and Sam Friedman on a tour of the PMF harvest. At right is board (and NPSO) member Jim Long, and Jim Proctor's daughter Elise.
NSPO members enjoying species identification on PMF. We learned that NPSO members have very good eyes, and notice lots of important little details the rest of us miss! Here, long-time Douglas County winemaker Richard Sommer shows off a golfback ferm to Ron Hatt.
PMF was also the site of class visits this fall. Here, Deborah Michel's biology class from South Umpqua High School gathers at the PMF entrance gate. Deborah's classes will increasingly be using PMF as their outdoor laboratory for learning activities.
One important find in ACCF's natural/cultural history project this fall were air photos of the entire Alder-Jordan watershed dating from 1939. Here is a portion of a photo, including the SE part of PMF at left, with cleared field visible at lower left (though much greater in extent than at present due to natural reforestation). Note extensive harvesting of south-facing PMF slopes prior to 1939. Note also extensive orchard (primarily prune) agriculture east of PMF prior to settlement. This was the era in which orchard agriculture transitioned to timber processing as a major economic activity in Douglas County.