Forestry Friday … Can You Read Tree?

Posted on May 9, 2014 by foresterartist

Have you ever read a tree? Trees write stories for us to read, if you know how. They write their stories with tree rings. Trees grow a new ring each year. There have been many papers written on how tree rings from old trees show us climate cycles during the life of a tree. This type of study is called Dendroclimatology.

The tricky part of determining climate history from tree rings is that climate is only one variable that affects tree growth. Using tree rings to examine climate is best done with very old trees. Knowing what the forest was like around the tree as it grew, is also important. Corroboration with other old trees in the area is essential. In the early years of a tree’s life, it is often influenced much more by local factors other than climate.

Above is a cross-section of a 50-year old Ponderosa pine tree. Let’s read it. This tree doesn’t tell us about climate, it tells us about it’s neighborhood. The numbers represent the age of the tree at that particular point.

0 years – In the beginning, was the seedling. The tree seeded into an opening in the forest. Perhaps, the opening was a result of past timber harvesting or fire.

5 years – The rings were wide and the tree was growing fast. At this time, the rings began to get smaller because the young tree was starting to compete with the neighboring saplings.

20 years – The tree continued to grow at a slower rate, but the competition with the neighboring trees was really beginning to slow it’s growth. The foliage (crowns) of the trees grew together as the trees bumped into each other.

31 years – The timber stand was very dense as the trees grew together. The lower limbs died since little sunlight reached them. With fewer limbs and foliage, the tree made less energy. The tree was growing very slowly.

38 years – Something changed in the neighborhood, because this tree started growing a little faster. The timber stand may have been thinned in a logging operation, or some neighboring trees may have died from insect attack. Something reduced the number of neighboring trees. With fewer trees around it, our tree had less competition. It received a greater share of sunlight, water, and nutrients.

42 years – After a few years with less competition, the crown grew into a bigger, better, energy making factory. Upon recovering from heavy competition, the tree had the capability to grow faster.

50 years – The tree was harvested.

Now that you have seen it done, can you read a tree? Put on your detective hat and give it a try.

Forestry Friday … Forest Snapshot Coastal Douglas-fir

Posted on April 25, 2014 by foresterartist

Blitz and I have seen a lot of country in our travels. This shot was taken at Lake Prairie in the Northern California Coast Range where the Douglas-fir forests intertwine with coastal prairies. This little lake has been a nice place to stop on the way home to cool off on a warm summer day.

Douglas-fir, Lake Prairie, Blitz, Golden Retriever, forest, forestry

One of Blitz’s favorite stop off places is Lake Prairie.

dogwood, wildflower, nature, photography

I’m so glad that the dogwood are in bloom at this time.

Forestry Friday … Too Many Trees!

Posted on April 11, 2014 by foresterartist

forests, forestry, forester artist, biomass, harvesting

After years of fire suppression efforts, our forest have become very dense.

One of the biggest problems in the western forests of the United States is that we have too many trees. It used to be, frequent fires kept the undergrowth clear without killing the older mature trees. Fuel loads weren’t allowed to get too high. With less fuel built up in the forests, fires burned at low intensity.

Much of our forestland is choked with thickets of trees. Timber stands have grown dense from a century of full fire suppression. These thickets are susceptible to insect attack and drought stress mortality. Fuel loads in the forest are huge. The fires of today burn at such high intensity that it is difficult for firefighters to fight them safely. We are now having larger and more destructive fires, such as the Rim Fire that burned into Yosemite National Park.

Thinning so many small trees was slow and expensive, but with today’s modern logging technology we now have the ability to thin these timber stands efficiently.

Thickets like this provide ladder fuels that cause crown fires.

First, the sawlogs are harvested for lumber. Next, the biomass is harvested and put into doodles. Biomass are the trees or tops of trees that are too small for products like lumber, poles or veneer. Doodles are harvested bundles of small trees.

Doodles

The trees marked in white are the “save” trees that won’t be harvested.

Thinning out the excess trees.

Skidding logs.

Sawlogs being skidded into the landing.

Log processor

The log processor manufactures the trees into logs.

Chipper

The small trees are chipped into a van to be hauled to the co-generation plant and turned into electricity.

Thinned stand

Thinning these timber stands leaves them more resistant to fire and insect attack. A healthy fire is the goal.

Blitz, the canine wood chipper, says, “I’ll chip this doodle myself.”

Forestry Friday … Steam Traction Engine

Posted on April 4, 2014 by foresterartist

Best Traction Engine, traction engine, pen and ink, logging, old time, logs

The Best Steam Traction Engine in pen and ink.

I’ve always enjoyed old time logging scenes as subjects for pen and ink. The steam traction engine in this picture is the same model as the one in my blog banner.

Horses and oxen were the first source of power for lumberjacks. Then, steam traction engines, steam donkeys and locomotives heralded the age of steam in the woods. The Best Steam Traction Engine came to the woods around 1890. There were many different makes of traction engines during that era but, the Best Steam Traction Engines were the machines that operated in our neck of the woods. They hauled logs from the woods to the mills and lumber from the mills to market. The Best Manufacturing Company was started by Daniel Best, and based in San Leandro, California. They built these tractors until 1908 when the Best Manufacturing Company was acquired by Holt Manufacturing Company. Soon after, C. L. Best, Daniel’s son, then started the rival C. L. Best Gas Traction Company. In, 1925 Holt and Best merged to become Caterpillar Tractor Company.

The first time I saw one of these machines in person, I was amazed by its enormous size. The big drive wheels are over seven feet tall. It was a huge tractor used for hauling huge loads.

Forestry Friday … Otter, Otter, Otter!

Posted on March 28, 2014 by foresterartist

This week I’m going to lighten it up. Animals are always fun and what is more fun than a playful otter, except maybe three!

pen and ink, otter, wildlife, nature, ink, pen & ink, drawing, animals

Three otters resting on a log.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted some art. I hope you like it.

Bookends!

These are our otters that live at the mill. They travel around the mill site from pond, to river and to canals. I never know where they are going to pop up next.

Itchy!

The three amigos.

In the forest setting, otters don’t ever become an issue during our harvest operations. They live in the water and riparian area. Harvesting is minimal in the riparian zones.

Blitz, golden retriever, dog, photography

Blitz says, “Can’t trust em’, they remind me of cats!”

Forestry Friday … Resilience of Nature

Posted on March 21, 2014 by foresterartist

Blitz in the shade of the Pole Plant log deck.

Nature is fragile or is it? Humans certainly have the ability to wreak havoc on our environment, but given time, it heals. I’m not suggesting careless disregard. I believe it’s our responsibility to be the best stewards of our natural world that we can be. The ospreys don’t mess in their nest and neither should we. My experience as a forester over the years has taught me that Mother Nature is a relentless and tough lady. In the natural environment, disturbance often equals opportunity.

In the top picture of Blitz lying next to the pole log deck, it is treeless except for the stacks of logs waiting their turn in the mill. Now look at the picture below. Blitz is sitting in a lovely pine forest. This place was a log deck too, forty-seven years ago. It wasn’t replanted by people. The surrounding forest took it back. The pines invaded this site with no help at all. I was six years old when this process took hold. Now a pine forest stands where a log deck once sat.

Forest, growth, golden retriever, log deck

This was the site of the Little Giant Mill log deck.

Today, by replanting and with proper nurturing, we replenish harvest units and the burned areas much faster than just letting nature take its course. We have a better scientific understanding of our environment and more sophisticated technology available today to manage our forests. We’ve come a long way in forest management over the last one hundred years. Trees weren’t replanted back then, but forests have grown back. Our sustainable forestry practices today are resulting in forests that are more healthy and vigorous. I’d love to see these forests a hundred years from now.

Forestry Friday … The Ride Along

Posted on March 14, 2014 by foresterartist

The truck is fueled and ready. Do you want to go for a ride along?

Ralph was a state forester. He’s retired now, but he’s been a friend throughout my career. He gave me my first ride along.

When I met Ralph, I was a firefighter in the summer and attending community college. I declared my Forestry Major and was preparing to transfer to Humboldt State University. I had not taken any forestry classes yet. That would start the next year. I didn’t have much forestry work experience. I knew Ralph from my job at the fire station. I asked if I could ride along with him for a day. He gladly took me up on it. I learned a lot from Ralph.

Jaime spent the day exploring a little West Coast forestry.

The other day I took a young woman, named Jaime, for a ride along. She’s contemplating her next career move. She is a cousin of a close friend.

The night before, Mary and I visited with our friends, Jaime, and her father. We had a wonderful conversation. Jaime recently completed her Bachelor degree at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. Now she was considering going for an environmental law degree. Mary and I were both thinking, She needs to go for a ride along. When offered, she leaped at the chance.

The next day we started out with an introduction to our company’s head research scientist, CJ. These two women hit it off famously. After an insightful conversation about environmental science, careers and education, we headed out to the mill.

We toured the mill complex where Jaime started out watching the pole plant processing logs. Next, we went through the sawmill. She asked a ton of questions about the process and took a few pictures to send to her friends back in North Carolina. After the mill tour it was back to the truck.

She saw some modern logging technology in this tree shear.

We headed out to look at the timberlands. Our conversation centered on forestry practices, land management and environmental issues. We started near Shingletown, looking at forestry practices, and ended the day at the Ponderosa Burn, talking about fire restoration.

Valley Quail in the Ponderosa Burn.

Now, if I sound like the wise professional bestowing my vast knowledge from on high, let me correct that right now. This education process is a two way street. Our conversations weren’t all about forestry. I learned about all manner of issues important to her generation. We both had a fun and instructive day.

Channeling her inner Vanna White, Jaime shows off some old time milling technology in this teepee burner.

Making time for young people to go for a ride along or job shadow for a day is time well spent. A day job shadowing does something for them that a semester of school doesn’t do. It gives them a big picture of the profession. As professionals we benefit from this time too. We’re never too old to learn and they too have a lot to share.

Jaime’s career is a like this little pine tree, just starting out.

Blitz likes a good ride along, but don’t take her seat!

Forestry Friday … Masticator

Posted on March 7, 2014 by foresterartist

What’s a masticator? Think of it as a big mobile wood chipper, or a mower on steroids. You may have seen these machines grinding up brush on the side of the road. They’re also used in forestry applications.

I came across a brush clearing operation on the neighbor’s property. Our neighbors happen to be a large government agency. They were shut down because a much needed rain storm made the woods too wet for operating. They were thinning a thirty plus year old Ponderosa pine plantation and removing competing brush with masticators. The thinned trees weren’t big enough to harvest for sawlogs. Masticating an area is expensive, but it makes the plantation more fire resistant and spaces out the residual trees for better growth.

Farther down the road, they used masticators to create a fuelbreak. This provides a break in heavy fuels giving firefighters a defensible line to make a stand against an oncoming wildfire. Shredded and crushed wood from the masticated brush is left on the ground. This woody debris still burns, but the flame lengths and rate of spread of a fire are reduced, thus making it manageable for a fire crew. It’s also a location that a fire crew can use for backfire operations. Over time, this material will decompose, further lessening the fire risk.

The current fuelbreak was originally cleared as a firebreak during the Finley Fire in 1990. A fuelbreak is a change from a heavy fuel type, such as brush, to a lighter fuel type like grass. A firebreak is the removal of all fuel down to bare dirt. After the fire, we replanted our section of the same fireline in 1992. Our trees are now twenty-two years old. As these trees grow larger, they’ll be developed into a shaded fuelbreak. A shaded fuelbreak utilizes the shade of trees to suppress the growth of underbrush. This keeps fuels on the forest floor light. Pruning trees creates a break in the vertical fuel ladder reducing the chance that a ground fire becomes a crown fire.

The neighbors didn’t replant trees in the firebreak immediately after the fire. While our section of the fireline grew trees, their section grew brush. Our stand of trees is twenty years along the process of becoming a shaded fuelbreak. The neighbors must continue to retreat the brush to maintain their section of the fuelbreak.

Forestry is a process with a long planning horizon. I commend the neighbors for creating the fuelbreak. This treatment also benefits our property. However, by making the investment in planting trees early, we saved money on brush removal, while accelerating forest restoration at this site.

Click on the image for a larger view.

The masticator is the piece of equipment mounted on the end of the excavator boom.

The masticator head.

forestry, masticator, thinning, fuelbreak

This older plantation had the brush removed and was thinned with a masticator. These trees are over thirty years old.

This former manzanita brush field was masticated into a fuelbreak.

The brush on the right side of the road is what the left side looked like before treatment.

Looking down the fireline across the ownerships. The manzanita brush is the neighbor’s property and the trees were planted by my crew in 1992.

The pink flag is the property line.

Those are my trees!

Looking across the canyon and watching that sweet rain fall.

Blossoming Dwarf Oregon Grape growing in the fuelbreak.

Blitz loves a shaded fuelbreak. So many sticks, so little time.

Forestry Friday … The Critical Period

Posted on February 28, 2014 by foresterartist

Critical Period means the time of year when the special timber operations practices set forth in these regulations are required to minimize nesting disturbance to a species of special concern.

-California Forest Practice Rules

Forestry, Northern Goshawk, goshawk, protection

This Northern Goshawk fledgling was ready to take me on.

Species of Special Concern include Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Northern Goshawk, Osprey, and Peregrine Falcon. Species of Special Concern are not the same as Threatened and Endangered Species. T and E species rise to a much higher standard of protection. They are protected under rules originating from the Endangered Species Act.

When a nest site of a Species of Special Concern is identified in a timber harvest plan area, a buffer zone is established around it. The buffer zone sizes differ according to the species. The critical period is based on the nesting season for that particular species of bird. No timber harvesting is allowed within the buffer zone during the critical period. After the critical period, harvesting can take place, but the nest trees are always retained. There are limitations as to the type of harvesting that can take place in the buffer zone, such as no clearcutting is allowed. The harvesting practices allowed in the buffer zones are tailored to each species. depending on their needs.

The Northern Goshawk fledgling in the picture was discovered after my crew and I stumbled onto a nest tree. We were marking trees when one of the guys came and informed me he saw a “great big bird in a nest.” When we went to investigate, I could see right away it was a Northern Goshawk fledgling, and there wasn’t one, there were two.

The young birds were branching. This is when they hop from branch to branch strengthening their wings before they have mastered flight. We stopped marking and began moving away from the nest. One of the Goshawk parents was nearby but moved away from us. This was a relief because Goshawk parents are well known for attacking people that are too close to their nest. This usually happens when the chicks are very young. Apparently, they are less protective when the chicks are older. We watched the young birds from what we thought was a safe distance, so as not to spook them. Then, one of the youngsters glided out of the nest to a branch in a nearby tree. Its sibling, not wanting to be left alone, followed. Only this bird wasn’t as advanced in its flight training as the first. It glided downhill and smacked straight into the trunk of a white fir tree and tumbled to the ground. I told the crew, “Oh my God, I think we just killed it.” Fortunately, it popped up on its feet, screeching all the while.

I sent the crew to mark timber in a different area. Then, with my camera in hand, I headed down the hill to check the condition of the young Goshawk. It was mad as hell and ready to give me what for. Otherwise it was okay. I took a few pictures and backed off to let it calm down. I knew, at this age, it would be able to hop its way back up the trees to safety. The parents weren’t far away and would tend to it.

For the Northern Goshawk the buffer zone is twenty acres and the critical period is from March 15 through August 15. The forester who prepared the timber harvest plan knew the Goshawks were living in the plan area. He protected their nest tree, by making it a no harvest area. However, the uncooperative goshawks had decided to move out of a perfectly good nest and build a new one in the logging unit. We were the first to discover the new nest. As a result, a new twenty acre buffer zone was established around this nest and none of the trees we marked in the area were harvested.

This Osprey was behind the sawmill last week. It might be our boy from the nest tower.

The buffer zone for the Osprey is 5 acres and the critical period is from March 15 through August 15.

Bald Eagle

Golden Eagle

If harvesting is done with a helicopter, they can operate no closer than one quarter mile of the nest tree. This is true for Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle, Northern Goshawk and Osprey. Peregrine Falcon get a one half mile buffer.

Great Blue Heron

The herons and egrets have a 300′ buffer around nest trees. Their critical period goes from February 15 through July 1.

Blitz says, her critical period is pheasant season.

Forestry Friday … Of Trees and Dogs

Posted on February 21, 2014 by foresterartist

When I was a reforestation forester, the district I worked on had about 2,600 acres burn in the Gun II Fire. The fire burned over 60,000 acres in total. It was my responsibility to implement the reforestation on our 2,600 acres.

Tree planting, wildfire, fire restoration

Planting trees in the Gun II Burn.

As an artist, I paint on a small canvas. As a forester, I paint on a big one. After a large wildfire, the landscape canvas can be huge. Reforestation on this scale is a lot of work. It’s very gratifying knowing I had a hand in starting this new forest. Each year when I return, the trees are a little bigger. I picked up and carried every box of trees, hundreds of thousands of trees.

Below are four photo point pictures showing how this canvas has changed over time. I had a few of my friends help demonstrate how big the trees have grown over the last 12 years. It’s a running joke around here, that you must have a dog if you’re a forester.

Fire restoration, forestry, seedlings, golden retrievers

May 5, 2001 Immediately after planting. Hunter and Blaze pose for me.

February 19, 2006 That’s Hunter and Blaze peeking through the trees.

July 7, 2010 The trees have been thinned. Blitz and Hawk pose.

October 23, 2013 The trees are over twenty feet tall. Now it’s just Blitz.

A farmer grows his crop over the course of a year, but our crop takes decades. Counting each year that passes is an occupational reality of being a forester. Seeing my dogs in these pictures also reminds me of time marching on. Now, there are new generations of both dogs and trees. To me, their lives are intertwined with the forest. This forest is full of our stories.