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CapitalPress.com
March 16, 2018
People & Places
Living with wildfire
Kate Wilkin helps
ranchers, foresters
avert catastrophes
from massive burns
Capital Press Managers
Joe Beach ..................Editor & Publisher
Elizabeth Yutzie Sell .... Advertising Director
Carl Sampson ................Managing Editor
Jessica Boone ........ Production Manager
Samantha McLaren .... Circulation Manager
For the Capital Press
Background
Since the fires, Wilkin and
other UC Cooperative Exten-
sion advisers, including live-
stock expert Tracy Schohr,
have been offering workshops
to help families and businesses
recover and rebuild in a more
fire-resilient way.
But while Wilkin is keen-
ly aware of the devastation
the fires caused, she also sees
them as an opportunity to
Calendar
Saturday, March 17
Ten Acres and a Dream small
acreage workshop. 8:30 a.m.-4:30
p.m. Centennial Distributing Co.,
701 West Buckles Road, Hayden,
Idaho. Topics include living on the
land, raising crops and livestock,
managing pastures and forestry
fundamentals. Cost: $15. Website:
http://bit.ly/2Gxia5S
Sunday, March 18
Fruit Propagation Fair. 10
a.m.-4 p.m. Clackamas Coun-
ty Fairgrounds, 694 NE Fourth
Ave., Canby, Ore. The fair offers
attendees hundreds of varieties
of free scions and cuttings. If you
graft, this is paradise. Or you can
choose custom grafting by experts
for only $5. Free with admission
are hundreds of varieties of apple,
pear, cherry, plum and persimmon
scions. There will also be cuttings
of grapes, kiwis and figs to root.
Arrive early for the best selection.
Home Orchard Society experts will
be available to answer fruit-grow-
ing questions. Mason bee supplies
are available for sale, as well as
fruit-growing publications. Cost:
$7 per person or $12 per family
for non-members. Website: http://
homeorchardsociety.org
Tuesday, March 20
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EO Media Group
dba Capital Press
An independent newspaper
published every Friday.
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Tim Hearden/For the Capital Press
University of California Cooperative Extension forestry and fire adviser Kate Wilkin stands outside the extension office in Yuba City, Calif.,
where she is based. She is helping landowners recover from the October fires and researching ways to improve forest management.
Western Innovator
Kate Wilkin
Age: 35
Hometown: Abingdon, Va.
Education: Bachelor’s degree, Col-
lege of William and Mary; master’s
degree in biology, California Polytechnic University-San Luis
Obispo; Ph.D., University of California-Berkeley
Residence: Grass Valley, Calif.
Family: Husband, Josiah Johnston
Website: http://cesutter.ucanr.edu/LivingWithFire/
show policymakers the impact
of not adequately clearing un-
derbrush in forests.
“My outreach program
is to help people understand
how to manage lands to be
resistant to fire and extreme
weather,” said Wilkin, who is
based in Yuba City. “It might
be with prescribed fires or it
might be mechanical (thin-
ning).”
Having grown up in rural
Virginia, Wilkin earned her
bachelor’s degree at the Col-
lege of William and Mary in
Williamsburg, Va. She’d seen
the impact of fires as a child
in the rural Appalachia com-
munity of Abingdon, Va., but
it wasn’t until she was 21 that
she gained an interest in fire
behavior.
She was participating in
an internship with the Nature
Sponsored by:
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“Submit an Event.” Calendar items
can also be mailed to Capital Press,
1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem, OR
97301 or emailed to newsroom@
capitalpress.com. Write “Calendar”
in the subject line.
Agrarian Elders: Planning for
Succession. 9 a.m.-noon. Ses-
non House, 6500 Soquel Drive,
Aptos, Calif. California FarmLink
launched the “Agrarian Elders and
the Next Generation Project” to
catalyze solutions for retirement
and preserving local and organic
farms. Join California FarmLink
Established 1928
Board of directors
Mike Forrester
Steve Forrester
Kathryn Brown
Susan Rana
Mike Omeg
Corporate Officer
Heidi Wright
Chief Operating Officer
By TIM HEARDEN
YUBA CITY, Calif. —
Kate Wilkin had just recently
been hired as the University
of California’s fire and forest-
ry adviser for the eastern Sac-
ramento Valley and adjacent
foothills when the crisis hit.
High winds whipped up
devastating wildfires through-
out Northern California. While
the world was focused on the
wine country, where the Tubbs
Fire became the most destruc-
tive wildfire in the state’s his-
tory, fires also swept through
the rural countryside in Butte,
Nevada, Yuba and other coun-
ties.
The half-dozen fires that
made up the Wind Complex
started Oct. 8. It burned over
17,000 acres, destroying or
damaging 209 residences, 204
outbuildings and one commer-
cial structure while killing four
people and injuring one.
Much of the charred ground
was winter range, and the fires
also caused hay loss, Butte
County Farm Bureau manager
Colleen Cecil has said. While
the fires spared most cattle,
they forced ranchers to sup-
plement feed to their livestock
while their pastures recover,
which could take a couple of
years.
“For our local Wind Com-
plex, it was just really striking
how the fire was really dev-
astating for the community,”
said Wilkin, who began her
job Sept. 18. “When you have
a fire of this scale, it creates a
lot of strain, but there was also
a coming together. I was really
amazed at how much people in
rural communities really come
together to help people.”
Capital Press
and partners for a workshop fea-
turing presentations and a panel
of perspectives on succession that
will include: retirement planning,
farm business transitions, taxes
and transitioning to non-heir suc-
cessors. Doors will open at 8:30
a.m. and the workshop will run from
9 to 11:30 a.m. Breakfast snacks
will be provided and we invite par-
ticipants to stay and network with
partners and speakers over a light
lunch. Cost: $20. Website: https://
succession-aptos.eventbrite.com
Tuesday-Thursday
March 20-22
International Mass Timber Con-
ference. Oregon Convention Center,
777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.,
Portland, Ore. There will be 70-plus
speakers from 20 nations and more
than 60 exhibits, plus a tour of Or-
egon’s mass timber buildings. Web-
site: www.forestbusinessnetwork.
com
Wednesday, March 21
Logger Education to Advance
Professionalism (LEAP) Update.
8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Elks Lodge, 628
Main Ave., St. Maries, Idaho. This
program is an annual opportunity
for loggers to build on LEAP with
in-depth training on forestry topics.
Registration: UI Extension, Benewah
County office, 701 College Ave., St.
Maries, ID 83861 or online at: www.
uidaho.edu/LEAPUpdate.
Thursday, March 22
Part 3: Farm & Ranch Succes-
sion Planning Workshop. 6-8:30
p.m. Clackamas Small Business
Development Center, 7726 SE Har-
mony Road, Milwaukie, Ore. This
program can be accessed online
and is offered and taught by the
Clackamas Small Business Devel-
opment Center, along with guest
presenters such as attorneys and
CPAs. In addition to informative
topics and experienced ag profes-
sionals, courses include confidential,
one-on-one business counseling. A
Conservancy in Kissimmee,
Fla., where she observed fre-
quent lightning strikes in the
Disney Wilderness Preserve.
“In my first week, they
handed me a drip torch,”
Wilkin said. “My job was to
manage prescribed fires. It
was interesting to see how
the plant community not only
was not harmed, but actually
thrived.”
Wilkin earned her mas-
ter’s degree in biology from
California Polytechnic Uni-
versity-San Luis Obispo and
worked for three years in Yo-
semite National Park, where
she was part of a team of
scientists that studied the im-
pacts of packhorse grazing in
mountain meadows.
She completed her doctor-
ate at UC-Berkeley in 2016,
having studied the relation-
ship between fire, forest di-
versity and water. She took
part in the new Graduate Stu-
dents in Extension program
at Berkeley, which trains
graduate students for careers
in research and outreach.
She was doing post-doc-
toral work in the UC Agricul-
ture and Natural Resources
laboratory with Berkeley fire
science professor Scott Ste-
phens when she was hired to
work out of the Sutter-Yuba
extension office in Yuba City.
Now she’s studying the af-
termath of the Wind Complex
fire.
Nature of fire
“It was ... really interesting
to drive around after the fires
were out,” she said. “They
were obviously wind-driven
fires. ... With the wind, most
fires start as the result of spot
fires from embers that can
travel a mile or two miles and
start another fire.
“Also sometimes you’d
see a home that burned and
the vegetation around it
didn’t, which was also be-
cause of embers,” she said.
“In most cases, the way
homes burn is from the inside
out, which is again because
of embers.”
As part of the recovery ef-
fort, Wilkin and other advis-
ers are helping ranchers with
post-fire land management
while also teaching people in
residential areas how to make
their properties more resistant
to fire.
She’s also been meeting
with representatives from the
California Licensed Profes-
sional Foresters Association
and getting to know local for-
esters and timber operators,
she said. A big part of the dis-
cussions revolves around im-
proving forest management.
Ranchers in California
used to use prescribed fires,
but that changed in the 1960s
with regulations aimed at pre-
venting fire.
“We would like to start us-
ing fire again,” she said.
Fire suppression has
caused a proliferation of un-
derbrush, and now forests
are 10 times denser than they
used to be, Wilkin said. She
has received funding to do
research within riparian cor-
ridors, allowing limited har-
vests of small trees and brush
that will be sold to the timber
market.
“Our goal is to do this in
a way that’s sensitive to the
riparian zone and creates a
more resilient forest,” she
said. “I understand ... the need
to be careful. It’s finding that
balance.”
GASES / WELDING / SAFETY / FIRE
www.oxarc.com
complimentary light dinner will start
each evening at 6 p.m. To register,
call 503-594-0738. Cost: Free. Web-
site: http://bit.ly/2CX1jvl
March 23-April 30
Wooden Shoe Tulip Fest. 9 a.m.-
6 p.m. Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm,
33814 S. Meridian Road, Wood-
burn, Ore. The colorful annual fes-
tival includes a wide variety of ac-
tivities. Cost: $5 per person for 13
and older. Maximum per car charge
of $20. Website: https://www.wood-
enshoe.com/
Friday-Monday
March 23-26
Oregon FFA Convention. De-
schutes Fair & Expo Center, Red-
mond, Ore. Website: http://www.
oregonffa.com/EarnToLive/State-
Convention
Saturday, March 31
Welding and Basic Metal Work
for Small Farms. 1-5 p.m. Dunbar
Farms, Hillcrest Road, Medford,
Ore. This popular class is small and
hands-on. With space limited, regis-
ter early. David Mostue, farmer and
equipment guru, will teach the ba-
sics of welding techniques on-site
at his farm. Particular focus will be
on those skills most useful to farm-
ers, including the types of welders,
tools and safety equipment needed.
Participants will have a chance to
try MIG welding, the most useful
and common form of welding on
farms. General metalwork like drill-
ing, bending and welding prep will
also be covered. Cost: $50 each
person. Contact: paula.burkhalter@
oregonstate.edu or 541-776-7371.
Website: http://bit.ly/JacksonSmall-
Farms
Wednesday-Saturday
April 4-7
Idaho FFA State leadership
Conference. College of Southern
Idaho, Twin Falls, Idaho. Website:
https://www.idahoffa.org/confer-
20 Northwest Locations
ences-conventions/
Thursday, April 5
Part 4: Farm & Ranch Succes-
sion Planning Workshop. 6-8:30
p.m. Clackamas Small Business
Development Center, 7726 SE
Harmony Road, Milwaukie, Ore.
This program is offered and taught
by the Clackamas Small Business
Development Center, along with
guest presenters such as attorneys
and CPAs. A complimentary light
dinner will start each evening at 6
p.m. To register, call 503-594-0738.
Cost: Free. Website: http://bit.ly/
2CX1jvl
Tuesday, April 10
Southern Idaho Livestock Hall
of Fame induction. 6:30-9 p.m. Turf
Club, 734 Falls Ave., Twin Falls, Ida-
ho. This year’s inductees are: cattle
rancher Jim Baker of Filer; sheep
and cattle ranchers Ed and Emily
Baker (posthumously) of Filer; cattle
ranchers Scott and Sarah Bedke of
Oakley; dairy producers Harry and
Flora Bokma of Buhl; long-time Bu-
reau of Land Management super-
visor Dean Brown of Jerome; and
cattle ranchers Wade and Gwenna
Prescott of Carey. Cost: $25
Thursday, April 19
In the Field: Salem Agriculture
Seminar. 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Wil-
lamette Heritage Center, 1313 Mill
St. SE, Salem, Ore. A no-cost sem-
inar for a discussion specifically de-
signed to provide agribusiness own-
ers and their managers with the tools
they need to get organized. Topics
include the new tax cuts, finances
and financial statements, regulato-
ry updates on water and wetlands,
organizing an agri-business and es-
tate planning for farms and ranches.
RSVP at http://bit.ly/2FwaRPV. Cost:
Free
Shepherds’
Extravaganza.
2-10 p.m. Washington State Fair,
110 Ninth Ave. SW, Puyallup,
Wash. Sheep and Fleece Show,
1-800-765-9055
vendors of supplies, used fiber-re-
lated equipment, demonstrations,
workshops. Cost: No cost after
admission to the Spring Fair.
Website: www.shepherds-extrav-
aganza.com
Thursday-Sunday
April 19-22
Puyallup Spring Fair. Wash-
ington State Fairgrounds, 110
Ninth Ave. SW, Puyallup, Wash.
Website: http://www.thefair.com/
spring-fair
Saturday, April 21
Oregon Women for Ag Auction
and Dinner. 5:30 p.m. Linn County
Fair and Expo Center, 3700 Knox
Butte Road, Albany, Ore. This ex-
citing event is a fundraiser for Or-
egon Women for Agriculture, which
advocates for all things involving
agriculture in the state. Web: owa-
online.org
Tree School East. 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Baker High School, 2500 E St., Bak-
er City, Ore. This year the school will
offer 29 classes on everything from
multi-aged forest management, for-
est insects and disease, controlling
weeds, how to survive in the wild,
ownership succession planning, to
geology of Northeast Oregon, wild-
flower identification and small scale
harvesting for the “do it yourself”
folks. The goal is to provide a wide
variety of topics valuable for fami-
ly forestland owners, professional
foresters and forest contractors.
Sponsored by OSU Extension, the
Oregon Forest Resources Institute
and the Oregon Small Woodlands
Association. Cost: $50, $20 for 18
and younger with an adult family
member. Website: http://extension.
oregonstate.edu/baker/
Sunday-Wednesday
April 22-25
California FFA State Conven-
tion. Anaheim Convention Center,
Anaheim, Calif. Website: http://
www.calaged.org/stateconvention
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Index
Dairy .................................... 10
Livestock ............................. 10
Markets ............................... 13
Opinion .................................. 6
Clarification
In a story on page 9 of last
week’s Capital Press about a
state auditor’s report on the
use of federal grant money at
Washington State University,
the “principal investigator”
refers to the researcher in
charge of the grants.
Also, it should be noted that
the university disputed the
auditor’s findings, and that
administrators were concerned
that “(g)eneral state funds
were being improperly charged
by the principal (investiga-
tor) for work performed by
research support personnel on
federally sponsored projects,”
according to the audit. They
“instructed personnel to assign
employees to appropriate
sources of funding, meaning
work performed on federally
sponsored projects should be
charged to sponsored funding.”