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Wednesday, April 15, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Sisters silviculturist to speak about forest management
By Jodi schneider McNamee
Correspondent
The idea of working
directly with nature appealed
to Will Brendeke, and at
a young age he decided to
become an entomologist. But
in 2003, after receiving his
bachelor’s degree in ento-
mology, Brendeke joined the
Peace Corps, and for over two
years he volunteered doing
agroforestry in Senegal, West
Africa.
Living in a tiny mud hut
without electricity or run-
ning water, he taught the
Senegalese herdsmen how
to plant trees and build live
fences out of thorny brush. He
enjoyed his work in the Peace
Corps so much that it inspired
him to pursue a career in for-
estry when he returned home
to Southern Illinois.
Now he is a silvicultur-
ist at Sisters Ranger District
on the Deschutes National
Forest.
“I grew up in a suburb on
the outskirts of Chicago. My
family took me on lots of
vacations in Wisconsin and
my dad always took us places
to explore,” said Brendeke.
“So a sense of nature was
instilled in me at an early
age. I decided to go to school
for my bachelor of science
degree in entomology at
Southern Illinois University
in 1999. And during that time
I applied to the local forest
service and they hired me as
a seasonal worker, and for
two years I was exploring
the back woods of Southern
Illinois.”
After returning from the
Peace Corps Brendeke went
back to the University of
Illinois and received a mas-
ter’s degree in forest ecology.
“I worked in a couple of
National Forests, includ-
ing the Finger Lakes area
in New York before com-
ing to Oregon in 2008,” said
Brendeke. “I worked for the
ranger station in Prairie City,
Oregon, out in the Malheur
National Forest for six years
before coming to Sisters last
year to live.”
Brendeke is now involved
in forest management/restora-
tion in the Deschutes National
Forest.
Brendeke will be speak-
ing on sustainable forest
management practices at
The Belfry with John Bailey,
OSU associate professor of
silvicutlure/fire manage-
ment, on April 21 for the
Frontiers in Science free
symposium hosted by Sisters
Science Club. Brendeke will
be speaking about the Green
Ridge Landscape Restoration
Project.
he has training, the
insight and the attitude
to move forward with
some crucial issues facing
sisters ranger District...
— John Bailey
“I met John Bailey
through the coursework on
my way to get certified as a
silviculturist,” said Brendeke.
“The certification entails
going all over the country
spending time in classes at
four different universities,
and one of them was Oregon
State University (OSU). Each
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Will Brendeke is at home in the natural world.
Prescribed fire is a tool
that’s critically important to
keep ponderosa pine in the
landscape, and it’s critically
important to reduce accumu-
lations of fuels.
“Personally to me for-
est management is important
in maintaining biodiversity
and landscape, managing for
multiple species and adjust-
ing concerns of society,” said
Brendeke. “ In forest manage-
ment there is a lot of blending
of disciplines together, and
to me as a silviculturist, my
main focus is looking more at
the tree aspect and looking at
density of trees, species com-
position and structure, which
is the horizontal and vertical
arrangement of trees.”
Fire historically has
behaved rather randomly. In
some places it burned hotter
than other places, and Sisters
Ranger District is trying to
replicate that by reintroduc-
ing fire as prescribed burning
in a patchy mosaic.
“I love the trees and every-
thing about the forest. I really
like thinking about distur-
bance regimens; I think it
challenges me personally to
kind of look at nature objec-
tively and think about the pat-
terns and processes that were
at play that helped shape the
forest in forest development.
For me it’s more of a passion,
and I’m just lucky enough to
have a job that ties into my
passion,” Brendeke said.
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Locally owned by
a Sisters family
university had a professor that
hosted the silviculturist mod-
ule and John was my teacher
at OSU. I got certified on top
of my graduate degree.”
“Will is one of a new
breed of silviculturists who
embraces modern-day chal-
lenges associated with land
management. He has train-
ing, the insight and the atti-
tude to move forward with
some crucial issues facing
Sisters Ranger District, and it
is exciting for me at Oregon
State University to have such
a colleague on the ground
with whom to collaborate,”
Bailey said.
The Sisters Ranger District
is currently at work on the
Glaze Forest Restoration
Project, a collaborative proj-
ect to restore 1,200 acres of
eastside ponderosa pine for-
ests, aspen stands, and ripar-
ian areas so they can function
more naturally in a fire prone
environment. The project
was first introduced by Tim
Lillebo (who passed away last
year) from the conservation
group Oregon Wild and Cal
Mukumoto, of Warm Springs
Biomass. Maret Pajutee is the
district ecologist and is the
project lead.
“Our next process in the
Glaze project is more pre-
scribed fire. It’s another
important tool in forest man-
agement; restores the seedbed
for ponderosa pine and also
rejuvenates the sebaceous
layer, it’s a rejuvenating tool
in a lot of ways,” Brendeke
said.
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