Applegater Winter 2014
21
MY OPINION FROM BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR
The art of forestry
by CHRIS bRATT
Living here in the Applegate for
38 years and working in the midst of all
these awe-inspiring sculptures of nature
changed my thinking about what is needed
to maintain and enhance a forest. Little
did I realize how much time, energy,
skill, knowledge and art was needed to
care for these individual masterpieces we
call trees, standing in these harmonious
landscapes we call forests. It doesn’t matter
if you believe that they were formed by
evolutionary processes, Mother Nature,
or some deity. We are surrounded by
truly great works of art native to our area
and beyond. We are living in a natural
history museum, a gallery without walls
that generates natural resources that are
beautiful, useful and necessary for human
and many other species’ well-being and life.
Scientific studies show that
most of the region’s forests have
been around for about 6,000 years
and have been constantly changed by
natural disturbances like weather, wildfire,
floods, insects, etc. These natural events
could make immediate changes to forests
or they could take many years to affect any
structural change.
But for these 6,000 years, it didn’t
matter at what pace natural processes
were taking place because we humans
were not a significant part of the changing
picture. The entire forest landscape was
growing very well without the concepts
of modern human science, intervention,
disturbance, management, or art. Without
human interference, our natural forests
changed over time, but they were always
in balance—an aesthetically pleasing
combination of all the parts.
But about 150 years ago, these
balanced, pristine forests were entered by
the more technically advanced Americans,
intruding pioneers, who built railroads and
brought new tools, inventions, energy and
ideas for using the region’s forests. Gold,
lumber and space for possible agriculture
were up for grabs. The resulting population
growth and economic opportunities led to
well over a century of unfettered natural
resource extraction (timber, minerals,
etc.) and other forms of development.
The consequences of these unrestrained
land management agencies (Bureau of
Land Management and US Forest Service)
continue a strong bias toward timber
production over other resource values
and forest health. The resulting ongoing
simplification of forest systems has become
a very great concern to many scientists and
citizens. Simplifying or eliminating the
stages of forest succession under “Intensive
Forest Management” has become the
standard practice. (In the illustration,
look at the difference in the time it takes
YRS
YRS
This illustration represents the age difference between our region’s forests in their functioning
natural state and the simplified, shortened and intensely managed state currently in practice
on millions of forestland acres. From “Modifying Douglas-fir management regimes for
nontimber objectives” by Jerry Franklin, Thomas Spies, David Perry, et al, 1986.
negative actions have left our Oregon
forests in such awful condition that many
will take hundreds of years to heal (if ever
given the chance).
The same appalling actions
are still being practiced today
under the names of “Intensive Forest
Management” and “Risk Management.”
Even with new laws protecting parts of
our environment, both industrial/private
forestland owners (accounting for about
one-third of Oregon’s forests) and federal
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Thinning should be considered
Editor:
Because the terminology that describes fire management activities can be vague and
sometimes contradictory, I feel the need to respond to the use of the term “thinning” as
used in Chant Thomas’ opinion piece in the last Applegater. I do this based on my own
fire experience as a division supervisor, hotshot crew foreman and fuels planner for the
Forest Service and as fire program coordinator for The Wilderness Society.
One of our most effective fire prevention tools goes by the name “thinning.”
Thinning can reduce fire spread and fire severity. Correctly done, thinning restores
ecosystem structure and function. Thinning works on the principle that tree diameter
is a function of spacing.
Most of the thinning in the Applegate is designed to reduce the rate of spread
and severity of wildfires. Thin-from-below followed by slash treatment is the standard
prescription for forests near houses, along driveways and evacuation routes. Thin-from-
below means you cut the smaller trees, often also removing sick trees and trees with a low
crown ratio. You usually leave the largest, healthiest trees of the most fire-resistant species.
In most cases you pile the slash and burn it after the fall rains have wet things down.
This reduces the load of small, highly flammable fine fuels that are richly supplied
with oxygen and can therefore burn with great intensity. Thinning also breaks up the fire
“ladder” of branches and leaves, reducing the likelihood of a surface fire transitioning
to a crown fire. Thinning increases the vigor of the remaining trees. These residual trees
increase in diameter and their crowns grow together, shading the ground. This shade
tends to decrease the amount of fine fuels growing at the surface, further reducing the
intensity of future fires.
Thus, a positive feedback loop is created. Larger trees tend to survive fires due to
their larger diameter, there is an increasing gap between surface and crown fuels, more
of the fine fuels are sequestered high in the tree crowns, and therefore less is growing
on the ground. The overall effect is an increasingly fire-resilient forest.
This type of thinning is a rough “fire surrogate” in that it imitates the thinning
effect of the once common low-severity fires found in mixed conifer forests, allowing
fire-resistant trees to grow very large. Even in the relatively dry forests of the Applegate,
the result of surface fires every 5 to 15 years was the very big, fire-adapted trees we
occasionally see today.
Thinning is a powerful tool for reducing the amount of high-severity fire. If people
who live in mixed conifer forests want to be fire safe, they should consider thinning.
Rich Fairbanks
Jacksonville, OR
to develop a forest between a natural and a
managed timber stand.) This kind of forest
management reduces the options of forest
managers and communities, and it also
ignores major elements needed to make
the whole ecosystem work.
Many citizens, scientists and
land managers are increasingly
concerned about the elimination of
species, functions and other important
values that natural forests provide. We
don’t even know yet what all the parts of
a forest ecosystem
are, let alone
what they do. It’s
Chris Bratt
obvious to me that
the present policies of “intensive forest
management” (extensive clear-cutting and
herbicide use on private lands) and “risk
management” (reduced species survival
levels and lowered resource protections to
a degree that’s barely sustainable on public
lands) must end, even if it reduces forest
timber-cutting objectives. The real art of
forestry is maintaining and enhancing
the biological diversity of these precious
forests (original works of art). It will
require a lot more artfulness than we have
shown to develop approaches that retain
the complexities of our natural forests.
We can no longer put our forests at risk at
this very massive scale for the economic
benefit of a few.
More imaginative leaders are
needed—foresters and scientists, forest
managers and planners, politicians and
loggers, communities and individuals,
citizen foresters and conservationists—to
open our eyes and minds to long-term
forest sustainability. Artists are needed to
sculpt a new creative art of forestry, one
that restores and mirrors nature. We need
a new “Forest Renaissance” that reflects the
harmony between all earth’s creatures and
brings our dying forests back to life. It’s
time to get out your easel, canvas and art
supplies and paint a new picture, because
humankind’s most inspiring masterpieces
need your help.
If you think I need help too, give me
a call and let me know.
Chris Bratt
541-846-6988
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Opinion pieces and letters to the editor represent the opinion of the author,
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Next deadline:
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