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CapitalPress.com
Friday, March 12, 2021
People & Places
RAISING BOGWOOD
Couple restores wetland prairie, improving fire resiliency on 80 acres
EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
Established 1928
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By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SCIO, Ore. — At first,
the idea seemed ludicrous
to Shirley Jolliff and Lee
Peterman.
As a couple of self-de-
scribed “tree hugging dirt
worshippers,” Jolliff and
Peterman were loathe to
cut down any trees on their
small woodland property
near Scio, Ore., which they
have affectionately named
“Bogwood.”
But to enhance and
restore Bogwood’s namesake
wet prairie, Peterman said
they had no choice except to
remove all invasive species
such as English hawthorn,
Himalayan blackberry and
Scotch broom.
Then they would need to
thin the overstocked groves
of hardwoods and conifers,
allowing native plants to
thrive while opening habitat
for a rich diversity of wild-
life including owls, hawks,
bald eagles, coyotes, deer
and possibly even a prowling
bobcat.
“Our goal, we call it the
five B’s: birds, bats, bees,
butterflies and Bambi,”
Peterman said. “There is so
little native habitat for critters
... we can’t save the world,
but we can do a little bit in
this little part, and do what
we can.”
Jolliff and Peterman got
help from the USDA Natu-
ral Resources Conservation
Service, which paid for them
to do the restoration work —
largely by hand — through
the agency’s Environmental
Quality Incentives Program,
or EQIP.
The project began in June
2017, and finished last fall.
The couple was recently
named 2020 Linn County
Tree Farmers of the Year by
the Oregon Tree Farm Sys-
tem, which is administered
by the Oregon Small Wood-
lands Association.
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Western
Innovator
SHIRLEY JOLLIFF
AND LEE
PETERMAN
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Wilco, an agricultural
cooperative based in Mt.
Angel, Ore., had record sales
and income in 2020 despite
challenges posed by the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The co-op held its 55th
annual member meeting vir-
tually on March 4, highlight-
ing overall fiscal gains driven
largely by the farm store
sector.
Bart Walker, chief finan-
cial officer of Wilco, said net
sales topped $275 million in
2020 — an increase of nearly
$35 million, or 14.5%, over
2019.
Farm
stores,
which
account for 80% of Wilco’s
revenue, saw sales increase
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Owners: Bogwood.
Size: 80 acres.
George Plaven/Capital Press
Lee Peterman, left, and Shirley Jolliff purchased Bogwood in 2013. It is near Scio, Ore.
Wet prairie habitat
Coming to Oregon from
the San Francisco Bay Area
and Monterey, Calif., Jolliff
and Peterman were eager to
embrace a rural lifestyle.
In 2013, they purchased
80 acres in the Mid-Willa-
mette Valley, about 25 miles
south of Salem, and immedi-
ately fell in love with the lush
green landscape.
It was Jolliff who came
up with the name Bogwood.
The property is a perfect rect-
angle, roughly a quarter-mile
wide and half-mile long, that
gradually climbs 100 feet to
a tree-lined ridge surround-
ing the mostly flat center.
That ridge essentially fun-
nels moisture from heavy
rains into the “bog,” where it
sits until slowly draining into
the local watershed.
“It’s basically like a
bowl,” Peterman said. “It’s
not a bog in the traditional
sense. It’s just an area that’s
damp most of the year.”
Before they arrived, how-
ever, the property had been
extensively logged, altering
its natural character. Peter-
man said they knew they
wanted to restore the ecosys-
tem, but admitted they had
no idea where to start.
They joined the Oregon
Small Woodlands Associ-
ation in 2014, a move that
Peterman said unlocked a
wealth of information. “It
was like opening a book for
the first time,” he said.
The association encour-
aged Jolliff and Peterman to
contact NRCS, which pro-
posed the 22-acre wet prairie
restoration. Initially, Peter-
man said they looked at cre-
ating a white oak savannah,
but that didn’t seem to make
as much sense.
With funding from EQIP,
Peterman took on the task of
thinning trees and removing
invasive species, while Jol-
liff followed behind replant-
ing native trees and shrubs
such as red elderberry, red
osier dogwood, Douglas spi-
rea and mock orange.
The couple also built a
series of beaver dam ana-
logs along a seasonal creek
to hold back water, allowing
it to remain on the property a
little longer for the benefit of
plants and animals.
“There is so little (wet prai-
rie habitat) left,” Peterman
said. “Up and down the val-
ley, it’s just been wiped out.”
Wildfire resiliency
Walking through a grove
of Douglas fir and Willa-
mette Valley Ponderosa pine
near the property’s farm-
house, Peterman identified
the smaller and scrawnier
trees that have suffered due
to overcrowding. He plans to
remove them as part of a sec-
ond round of EQIP funding
— this time to promote wild-
fire resiliency.
“They’re really just tak-
ing up resources that the
other trees need,” Peterman
said. “Even though logging is
not our goal, neither is letting
the resources be sucked up by
trees that are never going to
be fat and happy.”
Jolliff and Peterman
landed the second EQIP
award in the summer of
2018. Part of the work
involves cutting smaller trees
and branches 10-11 feet off
the ground, preventing wild-
fires from climbing into the
tree canopy where they can
swell into massive, fast-mov-
ing infernos.
While Peterman initially
grimaced at cutting down
trees, he said they try to
replace and replenish as much
wood as they can back into
the forest.
The couple has reused
branches and limbs to build
the beaver dam analogs, as
well as “bio-dens” scattered
around the property, offering
refuge to birds and deer. EQIP
grants also paid for essen-
tial equipment, including a
5-horsepower electric saw-
mill and electric chainsaw,
by
$38.4
million, or
21.2%. That
was driven
in part by
a surge in
e-commerce
prompted
Sam
by the pan-
Bugarsky
demic, with
online sales increasing $11.3
million.
“We saw a significant
increase in e-commerce
demand beginning in March,”
Walker said.
Record sales were matched
by record net income for the
co-op, Walker said, which
grew to $8.2 million. The
largest area of growth, again,
was seen at the farm stores,
which improved by $10 mil-
lion over 2019.
Sam Bugarsky, president
and CEO of Wilco, said they
originally anticipated a down-
turn in business amid the pan-
demic. Instead, COVID-19
actually benefited the industry
as more people, confined in
lockdown, began working on
home improvement projects
and took up new hobbies like
landscaping and gardening.
“Really, the industry drove
that difference for all compa-
nies like us,” Bugarsky said.
Though delayed by sev-
eral months, Wilco did open
two new farm stores last year,
in Petaluma, Calif., and Lake
Oswego, Ore. Two more
stores are slated to open in
2021, in Sonora, Calif. and
Yakima, Wash.
Other aspects of Wilco’s
business also saw growth in
2020. The co-op’s joint ven-
ture with Valley Agronom-
ics improved by $1.4 million,
as did the fuels division by
$18,000.
Hazelnut Growers of Ore-
gon, however, saw a $3.7
million decline in income.
Bugarsky and Walker pointed
to low kernel prices and lim-
ited sales opportunites, with
retailers less willing to carry
new products on their shelves
while struggling to keep up
with runs on food staples
and items like toilet paper
during the early days of the
pandemic.
Bugarsky said it is no
secret Hazelnut Growers of
Oregon has not performed
as well financially as they
expected. In response, Wilco
hired the Mountain Group, a
business consulting firm, over
the winter to conduct a study
of the hazelnut business.
Upon further review,
Bugarsky said they feel HGO
is on the right track, and
continuing to develop new
branded retail products is their
best path to success. But it will
take more time and invest-
ment to get to profitability.
“It’s a long game,” he said.
“It takes time to develop new
retail products, and get distri-
bution established.”
Wilco and the Mountain
Group are now working to
find an minority investment
partner for HGO that can
help accelerate the business’
development. A deal could
Growers’ coolers do double duty for tree seedlings
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
ROSEBURG, Ore. — Not
long after the coolers are emp-
tied of summer and fall produce
and products, the cool space on
several farms becomes a transi-
tion home for seedling trees.
Those coolers are a stop
between the nurseries of north-
ern Oregon and southern Wash-
ington and the mountainsides of
the Coast Range and the Cas-
cade Mountains.
The digging and shipping
of the seedlings, the major-
ity of them Douglas fir, begins
at the nurseries in December.
In order to get the trees closer
to their future homes, they end
up at coolers at farms like Wes-
ley Orchards and Norris Blue-
berry Farms near Roseburg and
Fern Hill Holly Farm near Asto-
ria, Ore.
The coolers are kept at 34 to
38 degrees.
“It’s just more convenient to
have the trees at a centralized
location,” said Ben Christiansen,
a forester for Barnes & Associ-
ates, a company that manages
80,000 acres of southwestern
Oregon timberland. “Then we
don’t have to drive up to the nurs-
eries every day. Those nurser-
ies don’t have the storage space.
Having these farms with their
coolers is convenient for us.”
Beginning in December and
then a couple times a week,
seedlings are delivered in bulk
by semi-truck and trailer to the
coolers. During a normal plant-
ing season from December to
April, the Norris coolers store
1.5 million young trees for
five timber companies, Wesley
Orchards stores 1.5 million trees
for five companies and a few
smaller timber owners, and Fern
Holly stores 2.5 million trees for
two companies.
In the past, Kruse Farms of
Roseburg stored seedlings in its
cooler for a timber owner until
that company built its own cooler.
Evan Kruse said the farm’s cooler
is available to storing seedlings.
“We want to provide a ser-
vice, help these timber compa-
nies out and make it easier for
them to get the trees every morn-
ing,” said Paul Norris, owner of
Norris Blueberry Farms.
Norris said he was approached
several years ago about the use of
the coolers.
“They came to me and said,
‘Hey, you’ve got coolers. Can we
use them?” Norris said.
While providing a service,
storing the seedlings is diversity
for the farms, earning revenue
and extending the use of its facil-
ities beyond the summer and fall
harvest seasons.
Periodicals postage paid at Portland, OR,
and at additional mailing offices.
Location: Scio, Ore.
Projects: Restore wetland
prairie for native species
and wildlife, and improve
wildfire resiliency across
property.
Accolades: 2020 Tree
Farmers of the Year, Linn
County.
which Peterman has used to
fashion wooden fencing and
bird boxes.
For several years, Jolliff and
Peterman have also provided
sturdy hardwood branches
to an artisan in Eugene, Ore.
who makes 19th-century style
brooms. The broomsticks are
especially popular with peo-
ple who play Quidditch, a fic-
tional-turned-real sport from
the Harry Potter universe.
“We have our sticks from
Bogwood all over the world,”
Peterman said.
While the EQIP project for
fire resiliency will expire this
year, Peterman said their work
as tree farmers is never truly
finished. There will always
be more trees that need to be
thinned, and more areas that
need to be replanted.
“I have worked almost
all my life in various physi-
cal jobs,” Peterman said. “I
have never in my life worked
harder physically, but I can
literally and honestly tell you
I’ve never been happier at
anything I’ve ever started and
done.”
Wilco nets record sales, income in 2020
Farm stores,
e-commerce
experience surge
Entire contents copyright © 2021
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dba Capital Press
be announced sometime later
this year, Bugarsky said.
Bugarsky said they are
looking for a partner with a
proven track record of suc-
cessfully promoting retail
products. “We think we’ll
have a good idea in the next
6-8 weeks of where there will
be interest,” he said.
In spite of the exceptional
world, regional and local chal-
lenges of 2020, Bugarsky reit-
erated the co-op’s combined
balance sheet is strong. Wil-
co’s board of directors have
authorized paying out more
than $2.5 million to members.
Looking ahead to 2021,
Walker, the co-op’s CFO,
said he expects sales will con-
tinue to grow, albeit at a more
moderate rate. E-commerce
should continue to grow, he
said, as should propane sales.
“Wilco is very well capital-
ized and financially strong,”
he said. “Our debt level is
moderate, and better than the
industry average in the indus-
tries we compete in.”
CALENDAR
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press.com or by email to newsroom@capitalpress.com.
TUESDAY-THURSDAY,
MARCH 16-18
Oregon FFA State Convention (virtual): Convention
2021 will be virtual due to current COVID restrictions. Web-
site: https://oregonffa.com/state-convention/
TUESDAY-THURSDAY, MARCH 23-25
Public Lands Council 2021 Legislative Conference
(virtual): The conference will focus on legislative strategies
to advocate for the livestock industry in the nation’s capital.
Website: http://www.publiclandscouncil.org
TUESDAY, MARCH 30
Practical Sensory Programs for Factories and Qual-
ity Managers (online): 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. The Practi-
cal Sensory Program course is designed around a learn-
and-apply model. Each participant will get a kit to have
hands-on activities to reinforce the concepts learned. He or
she will walk away with practical skills that can be applied
immediately. The course fee is $285/each individual. Con-
tact: Catherine Cantley, 208-426-2181, catherinecantley@
techhelp.org
FRIDAY, APRIL 16
AgForestry Leadership Class 41 Graduation: 5 p.m.
Red Lion Hotel, Wenatchee, Wash. Celebrate the gradua-
tion of AgForestry Leadership Class 41. This celebration was
rescheduled from its origination April 10 date. Table spon-
sorships are available. Cost: $60/adults, $20/child. Website:
http://agforestry.org/graduation-class-41/
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Index
Markets .................................................10
Opinion ...................................................6
Tom Miller
Miller wins $500
Coastal Farm &
Ranch gift card
from Northwest
Ag Show
Capital Press
Tom Miller of Turner,
Ore., won a $500 gift
card from Coastal Farm
& Ranch courtesy of the
Northwest Agricultural
Show.
A chance to win the
gift card in a drawing was
offered to everyone who
registered for the North-
west Ag Show, which was
online this year for the
first time ever.
The ag show has been
at the Oregon State Fair
and Exposition Center the
past two years, and will
return there next year.