Applegater
Applegate Dry Forest Restoration Pilot
Winter 2011 9
Notes for
Applegate Field
Trip on Dry Forest
Restoration
Dry Forests include sites that are
characterized by the Ponderosa Pine,
Douglas-Fir, Oregon White Oak, and
Jeffrey Pine Series as well as the dry plant
associations belonging to the Grand Fir
and White Fir Series.
Dry Forests were characteristically:
• Subject to frequent, low severity, and
mixed severity fires;
• Open forests or savannas (also, stands
that are apparently first-generation for-
ests occur frequently in southwestern
Oregon);
• Dominated by small population of
old and large trees of drought-and fire
tolerant species;
• Spatially heterogeneous (structural
mosaics, often including openings); and
• Spatially and temporally continuous
(didn’t usually experience stand replace-
ment events so multi-aged forests typical
and stands poorly defined).
The Middle Applegate Watershed Landscape Restoration Pilot Project:
An opportunity for forest restoration,
spotted owls and collaborative planning
The Middle Applegate Landscape
Restoration Pilot Project will be an adven-
ture in collaboratively-designed and adap-
tively-managed forest restoration. The
project will emphasize the use of active
management to restore forest resilience.
Proposed forest treatments will be guided
by existing regional knowledge and expe-
rience linked to the restoration principles
of noted forest ecologists Jerry Franklin
(UW) and Norm Johnson (OSU). A
strategic focus will be close consultation
with the US Fish and Wildlife to integrate
northern spotted owl recovery and habitat
needs into ecological forestry restoration
practice. The pilot project will also pro-
vide a transparent and inclusive planning
and implementation process to promote
community dialogue.
In February 2010, the Southern
Oregon Small Diameter Collaborative
and Applegate Partnership and Watershed
Council submitted a request to the Secre-
tary of Interior to develop a community-
initiated pilot project. Recently, the Col-
laborative and Partnership worked with
the Medford BLM, Rogue-Siskiyou For-
est, US Fish and Wildlife, Southern Or-
egon University, and community partners
to host the October conference, Solutions
for Forests: Active Management Perspectives
for Southwest Oregon. Through presenta-
tions, field tour and group discussions,
the conference informed and advanced
shared understanding on the role of active
management in forest restoration, and
engaged participants in outlining steps for
potential landscape restoration projects,
including the Middle Applegate Pilot.
Now is a Good Time
Many southwest Oregon forests,
as well as the resources they host and
the values they reflect, are at significant
risk. This is particularly the case for dry,
fire-adapted forest types common to the
Applegate Valley. Past land-use decisions,
fire suppression, stand development trajec-
tories; and expected climatic impacts paint
a scenario in need of attention and action.
Many forest managers and community
members share recognition of these factors
and the pilot project will provide an oppor-
tunity to translate recognition into action.
In addition, Secretary of Interior Salazar
supports a Medford BLM collaborative pilot
that provides timber resources in the near
term and informs long-term sustainable for-
est management that is socially acceptable,
ecologically sound, and economically viable.
An Opportunity for the Middle Applegate
The projected Applegate pilot is in
the Applegate Adaptive Management Area
(AMA) created by the Northwest Forest Plan
(See map above). AMA’s were created to
demonstrate, test and monitor collaborative
approaches to forest management, similar to
that of the proposed pilot. AMA’s provide
the context for transparent innovation. The
middle Applegate also includes significant
contiguous BLM forest and substantial dry
forest acreage. The pilot will share assess-
ment findings and coordinate management
activity with adjacent public and private
land managers.
What’s next?
An existing collaborative framework
will advance the emerging pilot. The Apple-
gate Partnership and Watershed Council is
a community-based organization of long-
term commitment and wide-ranging action,
and the Southern Oregon Small Diameter
Collaborative (aka, the Knitting Circle) is a
regional collaborative with broad perspec-
tives working to advance restoration for
forest and community benefit. These related
efforts have developed principles for active
forest management and will provide com-
munity outreach and education to inform
and build support for the project, as well
as cultivate regional and national interest
group commitment.
The Medford BLM’s success with
small diameter, stewardship and biomass
utilization will be incorporated into pilot
planning, and industry representatives,
restoration practitioners and local foresters
will be consulted to maximize economic
efficiency. The Rogue-Siskiyou National
Forest and US Fish and Wildlife will be
key partners, working to model agency
coordination and cooperation.
Existing agency data, current land-
scape assessments (e.g., The Nature Con-
servancy Applegate Fire Learning Network,
Applegate Fire Plan, Small Diameter Col-
laborative) and the Franklin and Johnson
restoration principles (See Sidebar right)
will be used to create a rapid landscape
assessment within six months. This assess-
ment will be a key early step to inform
where restoration treatments are most ap-
propriate and which treatments should be
prioritized for implementation. The pilot
does not intend to treat the whole middle
Applegate, but to provide a strategic blue-
print that clearly identifies where the need
and opportunity for restoration exists. The
project will generate a series of timber sales,
stewardship projects, and service contracts
beginning in fiscal year 2012.
For more information please contact:
Jack Shipley • 541-846-6917
Applegate Partnership and
Watershed Council
rockycreekfarms@apbb.net
George McKinley • 541-482-6220
Southern Oregon
Small Diameter Collaborative:
collaborative@jeffnet.org
Information on the Solutions for Forests
Conference, Franklin and Johnson Prin-
ciples, and other reading:
www.solutionsforforests.org
Elements of silvicultural prescriptions
to restore dry forests:
• Retain older trees (conifer and hard-
wood) and improve their survival po-
tential by eliminating nearby competing
vegetation and ground and ladder fuels.
• Retain other key structural/composi-
tional elements in the stand.
• Leave areas in the stand untreated
(“skips”) to provide:
—Diversity in structural conditions
(e.g., heavily shaded areas);
—Retain desirable snag and down
wood features;
—Provide hiding cover and break up
visuals (e.g., for wildlife); and
—Protect sensitive areas (e.g., seeps,
rock outcrops).
• Thin remainder of stand (after old tree
protection and skips) to:
—Favor more drought-and fire-
tolerant tree species;
—Protect hardwood species with high
wildlife value (may require removal of
some dominant/co-dominant [but never
old] conifers);
—Increase the average diameter of the
residual stand; and
—Reduce overall stocking levels to a
target basal area or density.
• Option: Create some small openings
for intolerant tree regeneration (e.g.,
pines) and plant if seed sources are lim-
ited or absent;
• Treat activity fuels, such as by broadcast
burning or pile-and-burn; and
• Enhance heterogeneity and avoid creat-
ing homogeneity within stand.
Portions of Dry Forest landscapes
need to be retained in denser forest
states to provide for a diversity of forest
structural conditions, including habitat
required by specific species, such as the
Northern Spotted Owl and its prey
species.
There is no single “correct” silvi-
cultural prescription, especially regard-
ing the thinning component! There are
many variations that can achieve the
ecological restoration goals, such as
tradeoffs between basal area, species, and
DBH targets.
Reprinted by permission of Dr. Jerry
Franklin and Dr. Norm Johnson