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CapitalPress.com
January 30, 2015
People & Places
Forester teaches tree owners management
Chris Schnepf
develops master
forest stewards
program
Established 1928
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By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho
— When forest owners in the
Idaho Panhandle began notic-
ing an increase in the snow-
shoe hare population, Chris
Schnepf went looking for an
expert.
When he couldn’t find one,
Schnepf put in the time to re-
search the hare compared to
other possible causes of dam-
age to young trees and shrubs,
grasses and other plants.
Schnepf hasn’t gotten a lot of
calls about damage yet, but
said the hare population goes
through a nine- or 10-year cy-
cle.
It’s all in a day’s work for
Schnepf, University of Idaho
Extension educator for for-
estry in the Idaho Panhandle.
He’s worked for the extension
service since 1988.
Schnepf speaks to a broad
audience that includes family
forest owners, who own rough-
ly 40 percent of the forest land
in the panhandle; loggers; and
professional foresters.
“My goal is to give them
enough forest ecological lit-
eracy to make decisions that
are going to help them meet
their goals in their forest,” he
said.
Working in the forest is not
the main job for most family
forest owners. Schnepf es-
timated only a few dozen in
the region earn the majority
of their income from logging.
Some are also farmers.
“Most (family forest own-
ers) have very little training
on their forests, even simple
things like tree identification,”
he said. “It’s very different
from cereal producers, where
you have people who have
been growing a crop most
of their lives and do a fair
amount of management ac-
tivity every year. A lot of our
time is spent giving people a
basic literacy on forestry and
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Photos by Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Chris Schnepf, University of Idaho Extension area educator in forestry, talks about his work outside the UI Extension office in Coeur
d’Alene, Idaho. Schnepf provides experienced foresters and first-time small forest landowners with the information they need.
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Tim Hearden .................... 530-605-3072
Western Innovator
E Idaho
John O’Connell ................. 208-421-4347
Chris Schnepf
Occupation: Area Extension Educa-
Idaho
Carol Ryan Dumas .......... 208-860-3898
tor-Forester
Hometown: LeMars, Iowa
Boise
Sean Ellis .......................... 208-914-8264
Current location: Coeur d’Alene,
Idaho
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Age: 54
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Family: Married, three children
Website: http://www.uidaho.edu/extension/forestry
forest ecology.”
Schnepf works with log-
gers and forest owners to de-
termine how their needs can
influence UI research. Loggers
in particular are looking for
more efficient and sustainable
timber management methods,
he said.
Al Kyle in Athol, Idaho, is
part of the master forest stewards
program, designed by Schnepf
so that experienced foresters can
advise newcomers.
“He’s a personable person
— he’s interested in the peo-
ple and helping them to really
manage what they have better
all the time so we can improve
the health of the forests all
over the state,” Kyle said of
Schnepf. “He’s effective. He’s
been a real asset to the forest
community.”
Janet Benoit in Careywood,
Idaho, is also a master forest
steward.
“I think he has had quite an
impact with those people who
actually want to learn some-
Oregon
Eric Mortenson ................ 503-412-8846
Mateusz Perkowski .......... 800-882-6789
Graphic artist
Alan Kenaga ..................... 800-882-6789
Chris Schnepf, University of Idaho Extension educator in forestry,
talks about his work in his office. He developed a master forest
stewards program to help spread best practices for forestry.
thing about their property,”
Benoit said. “He makes certain
he is hitting what they think
they need to learn.”
Schnepf enjoys the reac-
tions from people who are
“grateful to learn something
new about something they
were struggling with.”
“I work with so many
people who just love to learn
about this stuff,” he said. “You
get energized by that. It’s a real
high satisfaction job.”
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Speed reading, or the speedy destruction of reading
By RYAN M. TAYLOR
For the Capital Press
Cowboy
Logic
T
Ryan Taylor
OWNER, N.D. — If
you’ve read the books
of my Cowboy Logic
columns, you’ll notice the
publisher name is Sandhill
Communications. It’s right
there on what they call the
verso of the title page —
publisher, copyright, in-
ternational standard book
number, Library of Con-
gress control number — all
pretty impressive stuff.
What people may not
know is that Sandhill Com-
munications is me, my wife,
our kids and an occasional
friend or relative who might
help do a mailing. Our ru-
ral mailman is basically
our shipping department.
Inventory is kept in the ga-
rage and I’m in charge of
both the creative concepts
and the trucking division.
But, after last week, I think
I might have to fire myself
from the trucking division.
Book run
The printers for my
most recent book were kind
enough to store the books
for me after they printed
them, until they decided to
vacate the building where
they were stored and told
me to come get them. The
trucking division jumped in
his three-quarter-ton pick-
up with a piece of plywood
on the pickup bed to help
the pallets slide in nice and
slick.
Here at the trucking di-
vision of Sandhill Commu-
nications we check the fore-
cast before we make a run.
If it’s going to rain or snow
we shovel the manure out of
the horse trailer and pull the
partly enclosed trailer to put
a roof over our paper bound
inventory. On this most re-
cent trip, the forecast was
clear so we just forklifted
the books onto the pick-
up and wrapped them with
plastic to hold them togeth-
er.
Flying prose
After a hundred and
some miles of highway
speed cruising, the plastic
was losing its grip around
the boxes of books. Looking
back, I heard a thump and
saw 40 copies of “Cowboy
Logic Family Style” bounc-
ing and skidding and flying
behind me on Highway 52.
I pulled over before I lost
another box and I grimaced
as each passing truck and car
laid tread tracks on my pre-
cious prose.
I turned around, parked
on an approach, and began
collecting cowboy logic.
Highway 52 is pretty busy
these days by rural North
Dakota standards, so it took
me awhile to get them all
picked up. When I had to
dart down into the ditch to
avoid traffic, I could see
the further mangling of my
manuscripts quite closely.
A highway speed 18-wheel-
er with the trailer skirting
along the bottom to improve
the fuel efficiency can re-
ally suck up a book under-
neath the trailer and toss it
around.
After about a dozen for-
ays onto the highway I got
my mess pretty well cleaned
up. There might still be one
or two stray pages that the
wind swept away, but I reck-
on a mouse or a bird can in-
corporate that column into
its nest, a rancher can bale
it with some hay and read it
when they roll it out to feed,
or maybe a cow can eat it
with some grass, digest it,
and, well, leave it reincarnat-
ed on the ground behind her.
Special sale
I did launch a “BOGO”
sale on my Facebook page
— buy one new book, get a
second one (retrieved with
road rash from the highway)
absolutely free, while those
scuffed-up supplies last.
The whole trucking ex-
perience did make me think
that publishing my stories
digitally as an e-book would
save trucking, postage, pa-
per and the damage that can
result when a box of paper
pounds the pavement at 65
miles an hour.
Guess I’ll run it by the
board of directors here at
Sandhill
Communications
when we have supper to-
night. Right after we replace
that guy in the trucking divi-
sion.
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Calendar
To submit items to the calendar,
send an email with information to
calendar@capitalpress.com
JANUARY
NATIONAL
Jan. 28-31 — American Sheep
Industry Association annual meet-
ing, Nugget Resort and Casino,
Sparks, Nev., www.sheepusa.org/
About_Events_Convention
FEBRUARY
NATIONAL
Feb. 1-3 — American Sugarbeet
Growers Association annual conven-
tion, Long Beach, Calif., www.ameri-
cansugarbeet.org
Feb. 19-20 — Family Farm Alli-
ance annual meeting, Monte Carlo
Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, 707-
998-9487 or ffameeting@aol.com
Feb. 23-26 — Potato D.C. Fly-
In, sponsored by the National Potato
Council, Mayflower Renaissance
Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Ave. NW,
Washington, D.C., www.nationalpo-
tatocouncil.org
twitter.com/capitalpress
cadeexpo.com/
Feb. 6 — Tehama Walnut Day,
8 a.m.-noon, Elks Lodge, Red Bluff,
530-822-7515, http://cesutter.ucanr.
edu/
Feb. 6 — Glenn-Butte Walnut
Day, 1-5 p.m., Silver Dollar Fair-
grounds, Chico, 530-822-7515,
http://cesutter.ucanr.edu/
Feb. 10-12 — World Ag Expo,
International Agri-Center, Tulare,
http://www.worldagexpo.com/
Feb. 25 — Sutter-Yuba-Colu-
sa-Yolo-Solano-Sacramento Wal-
nut Day, Veterans Hall, Yuba City,
530-822-7515,
http://cesutter.
ucanr.edu
OREGON
Feb. 3 — Focus on Weed
Management pesticide applica-
tor’s short course, 7:45 a.m.-5:30
p.m., $80, Building 19, Lane Com-
munity College, Eugene, 541-
463-6103
Feb. 7 — Oregon Pork Pro-
ducers Annual Meeting and Ed-
ucational Workshops, 8 a.m.-4
p.m., Oregon State University,
Corvallis, 541-737-1906, mat-
thew.kennedy@oregonstate.edu
Feb. 19-21 — Oregon Logging
Conference, Lane County Fair-
grounds and Convention Center,
Eugene, 541-686-9191, www.ore-
gonloggingconference.com
Feb. 24-25 — Oregon Dairy
Farmers Annual Convention, Sa-
lem Conference Center, www.
dairyfarmersor.com/101-conven-
tion-general
WASHINGTON
Feb. 3-5 — Spokane Ag Expo and
Pacific Northwest Farm Forum, Spokane
Convention Center, http://www.agshow.
org/ag-expo-home.html
CALIFORNIA
Feb. 5-7 — Sierra Cascade
Logging Conference, Shasta District
Fairgrounds, Anderson, sierracas-
IDAHO
Feb. 27 — Drones for Forestry
workshop, 1:15-4:30 p.m., University
of Idaho Extension, 1808 N. Third
Ave., Coeur d’Alene, $15, 208-446-
1680
MARCH
OREGON
March 16-17 — Oregon State
University Blueberry School,
LaSells Stewart Center and CH2M
Hill Alumni Center, OSU campus,
Corvallis,
http://osublueberry-
school.org/
March 20-22 — Northwest
Horse Fair & Expo, Linn County
Fair and Expo Center, Albany, www.
equinepromotions.net
CALIFORNIA
March 3 — Walnut (7-year-olds)
No Pruning-Pruning Comparison
Field Meeting, morning, Nickels Soil
Lab, Arbuckle, 530-822-7515, http://
cesutter.ucanr.edu
March 3 — Walnut (2-year-olds)
No Pruning-Pruning Comparison
Field Meeting, afternoon, Nickels
Soil Lab, Arbuckle, 530-822-7515,
http://cesutter.ucanr.edu
March 17-18 — Fruit Ripening
& Retail Handling Workshop, Uni-
versity of California-Davis, http://
postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Education/
fruitripening/
March 22-24 — California Fresh
Fruit Association Annual Meeting,
The Grand Del Mar , San Diego,
www.CAFreshFruit.com
APRIL
OREGON
April 18 — Oregon Women for
Agriculture Auction and Dinner, Linn
County Fair and Expo Center, Al-
bany, 503-243-FARM (3276), http://
owaonline.org/
MAY
CALIFORNIA
May 1-2 — Forest Landowners of
California annual meeting, Holiday Inn,
Auburn, www.forestlandowners.org/
JUNE
CALIFORNIA
June 15-26 — Postharvest
Technology Short Course, University
of California-Davis, http://posthar-
vest.ucdavis.edu/Education/PTS-
hortCourse/
www.youtube.com/capitalpressvideo
www.blogriculture.com
Index
Idaho ...................................... 9
Markets ............................... 17
Opinion .................................. 6
World Ag Expo ............... 13-15
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