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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2015)
Applegater Summer 2015 Fire-resistant plants versus chocolate cake Dyer’s woad—unwanted in the Applegate Valley by SIOUx ROgERS by bARbARA MUMbLO Looking for a short tutorial about fire-resistant plants, I consulted the website of Wasco County, Oregon (http://co.wasco.or.us/). There, I gleaned a list of fire-resistant plants. Before I share that list with you, though, let’s cover a few basics about fire-resistant. Fire-resistant According to Fire-resistant Plants for Home Landscapes, plants must be alive “Homeowners should take active steps to minimize...the fuel and to do their job. If a plant is fire hazard around their homes...[in order to] create a fuel break listed as fire-resistant but and help protect their home by blocking intense heat.” is not also deer-resistant, there could be a conflict of interest. In contrast, plants that are highly Planting fire-resistant plants and then flammable have these general characteristics: interspersing them with highly flammable • Contain fine, dry or dead material, such plants negates the first. This reminds me of as twigs, needles, and leaves. my mother who ate huge slices of double- • Leaves, twigs, and stems contain volatile decker chocolate cake with a small glass of waxes, terpenes (e.g., essential oil from nonfat milk. Didn’t work—she was stout. conifers), or oils. Planting fire-resistant plants close • Leaves are aromatic (strong smell when to decorative flammable objects—maybe crushed). a wonderful old wooden ladder with • Sap is gummy, resinous and has a strong flowerpots hanging from it—is bad news, odor. except for the fire. “Oh goodie,” says the • May have loose or papery bark. fire. “Now I have an easy way to climb up Avoid planting both ornamental to the roof.” and native plants like ornamental juniper, If you are planting trees chosen from bitterbrush, manzanita, sagebrush, and the fire-resistant list—actually all trees— ceanothus around your home. They can remember to plan ahead. At maturity, the be highly flammable. canopy (the spread of the tree) should be Bark mulch is often used in home at least 10 feet away from a structure’s roof. landscapes. If you landscape with bark Even better if it’s 30 feet away. The trees mulch, keep it at least 30 feet away from should also be at least 10 to 30 feet away buildings. from each other, based on their predicted Below, I have excerpted from the mature size. Wasco County list of fire-resistant plants, “Resistant” is different from to include only plants that I am very “retardant,” so don’t confuse the two familiar with. These are plants I know grow words. Resistant is like trying not to eat just dandy in southwest Oregon. The list that big piece of cake. Retardant is when for “Trees—Deciduous” was extremely the dentist sutures your lips closed. No way long, so I listed a mere few. can you eat the cake. The bottom line: keep dry plants According to Fire-resistant Plants for and volatile plants far away from your Home Landscapes, a Pacific Northwest house. Deciduous plants, i.e., ones that Extension publication, plants that are fire- drop their leaves, must be removed. No dry resistant have the following characteristics: or dead material next to a house. • Leaves are moist and supple. Perhaps this information will help, or • Plants have very little dead wood and maybe you find lists boring and long. No tend not to accumulate dry, dead matter— safety first. Fire-safe property is material. up to you. • Sap is water-like and does not have a Sioux Rogers • 541-846-7736 strong odor. dirtyfingernails@fastmail.fm For several years, I’ve been noticing Dyer’s woad plants (Isatis tinctoria) in the Provolt area. Dyer’s woad is a major noxious weed (invasive species) of concern around Yreka and is found in smaller amounts in southwest Oregon. Around Yreka, it covers some fields much like our yellow star thistle does here. Dyer’s woad is in the mustard family. It can resemble some of our weedy mustards—tall with yellow flowers, but if you look more carefully you’ll notice that the leaves are pointed and have a blue- green tint with a white mid-vein. To me the plant looks like a bouquet of lighter yellow flowers. The feature that really distinguishes it, though, is the fruit. When the pods are mature they hang down and turn a dark brown. This species produces lots of tiny seeds and can grow near water (or not). It — Fire-resistant plants — Ground covers Carpet bugleweed Creeping phlox Creeping thyme Hens and chicks Kinnikinnick Sedum or stonecrops Snow-in-summer Wild strawberry Perennials Chives Coralbells Coreopsis Cranesbill geranium Daylilies Evening primrose Hostas Iris Lamb’s ear Lupine Red-hot poker Yarrow Shrubs and broadleaf evergreen Cotoneaster Lilac Oregon boxwood Oregon grape holly Privet Rhododendron Snowberry Western azalea Western spirea Shrubs—deciduous Blue mist spirea Flowering currant Goldflame spirea Pacific serviceberry Red osier dogwood Wood’s rose Trees—conifers Lodgepole pine Ponderosa pine Sugar pine Trees—deciduous Alder birch Ash Aspen Beech Black locust Horse chestnut Maples Oaks Walnut This is a partial list of fire-resistant plants from http://co.wasco.or.us/. 23 can easily move down the river…or along a road if the soil is moved. I’ve seen these plants off Highway 238 in the area where the old bridge is on Powell Creek. I’m thinking this weed may have been brought in when Highway 238 was rerouted away from the old bridge. There are also some plants located in the fenced areas where the road relocation occurred, as well as at the Provolt Seed Orchard. The Bureau of Land Management has been working on controlling this weed and will do so again this year. While you are out and about, let us know if you see some Dyer’s woad in different locations. Recently some was spotted near the Applegate River downstream of the site on Highway 238. We’d like to get rid of this species before it becomes more widespread and more difficult to control. Give me a call if you find some. Barbara Mumblo • 541-899-3855 Botanist, US Forest Service Siskiyou Mountains Ranger District bmumblo@fs.fed.us Photo left: Dyer’s woad plant. Photo bottom: Mature Dyer’s woad pods. Photos by Barbara Mumblo. Applegate Partnership throws its weight around by bARbARA SUMMERHAWk Having acquired the use of a medium- sized Caterpillar excavator, the Applegate Partnership and Watershed Council (APWC) is taking out stubborn, hard-to- remove blackberry bushes that suppress the regeneration of young trees and shrubs. The big machine is needed to extract the invasive berries along Thompson Creek so that native trees and shrubs can be planted in their place along the stream, to provide shade and cool water temperatures for returning salmon. Part of the larger Thompson Creek restoration project, blackberry removal is an ongoing riparian restoration project partially sponsored by the O r e g o n Wa t e r Enhancement Board (OWEB) and private funders, according to Jakob Shockey, riparian program manager for the APWC. In the near future, the APWC hopes that the Caterpillar excavator along with an operator can be contracted out to local landowners in need of large-scale blackberry extraction. Blackberry pie and jam may be sweet, but the bushes are invasive and destructive. Watch the Applegater Facebook page or check out the APWC home page at www.applegatepartnershipwc.org for updates on the possibility of contracting the big machine from the APWC. Barbara Summerhawk APWC Board Member barbs@apwc.info HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!
