Applegater Summer 2019
Managing your land
for biodiversity
BY SUZIE SAVOIE
Many of us are lucky to own property
that borders publicly owned Bureau of
Land Management or US Forest Service
land. In many areas that land still has
intact or healthy native-plant communities
that support an abundance and diversity
of native pollinators, birds, and wildlife.
Many of our privately owned properties
also benefit from having relatively intact
habitat. However, around our homes,
gardens, farms, and developments, in
many cases that habitat has been degraded,
altered, or eliminated.
Through the use of native plants,
landowners can restore or increase the
biodiversity on their land to compensate
for the habitat loss caused by homesite
or farm development. The Applegate is
rich in biodiversity, partly because it is
located in the Siskiyou Mountains, one
of the most botanically diverse regions
of North America, but also because of
the large amount of publicly owned land
that has not been altered and developed
in the same way that private land has.
Eighty-six percent of the United States is
privately owned, and 45 percent of Oregon
is privately owned. As private landowners
there is a lot we can do to manage for
biodiversity to support intact native-plant
communities and wildlife habitat.
“Landscaping in this crowded world
carries both moral and ecological
■ BRAD BARNES
Continued from page 1
22 years of those years he was the logistics-
maintenance officer!
I would hazard a guess that most
Applegate residents have not had the
pleasure of meeting Brad, since most
of his workdays are based around the
maintenance and repair of the district’s
28 vehicles and engines and seven fire
stations. However, because Brad also
serves the district as an emergency medical
technician (EMT), a National Fire
Protection Association firefighter, and an
engine boss at the rank of division chief,
he does frequently go on emergency calls.
Brad, along with his wife, Colleen,
and their four children, moved to the
Applegate Valley in the late 1980s.
Shortly after, Brad happened to notice a
“Volunteers Wanted” sign in front of the
AVFD headquarters. A trained mechanic,
Brad decided to volunteer his mechanical
skills to help the district. Then-chief
Ron Yarborough said he’d rather train
Brad as a volunteer firefighter. Excited at
the prospect of serving his community,
Brad attended the very first Rogue Valley
Firefighter Academy in 1988!
Over the years Brad has seen a lot of
changes in our fire district. A total of
seven stations now dot the valley to meet
constituents’ needs. (The closer the station
and fire engines, the faster firefighters can
get to our homes!) And the district now
has seven paid staff members, along with
dozens of volunteers, to respond to our
emergencies across the valley.
responsibilities that we can no longer
ignore,” says entomologist Douglas
Tallamy. The research of Dr. Tallamy, an
entomology professor at the University of
Delaware and author of Bringing Nature
Home (Timber Press, 2009), has shown
that nonnative ornamental plants support
29 times less biodiversity than native
ornamental plants. Currently, however,
80 percent of the plants in our suburban
landscapes in the US are nonnative. This is
a problem because 90 percent of the insects
that eat plants can develop and reproduce
only on the plants with which they share
an evolutionary history.
Here are some examples: Monarch
butterfly caterpillars eat and develop on
native milkweed; Clodius parnassian
butterfly caterpillars eat and develop on
native bleeding hearts; buckwheat blue
butterfly caterpillars eat and develop on
native buckwheat; red admiral butterfly
caterpillars eat and develop on stinging
nettles; snowberry checkerspot butterfly
caterpillars eat and develop on native
snowberry plants—and the list goes on.
Without the native plants that insects
need to reproduce, the food web for
native species is diminished or destroyed.
Tallamy’s research demonstrates that
native plants (annuals, perennials, and
woody species) support, in general, three
times as many species of butterflies and
21
were those with a plant
composition of more than
70 percent native plants.
Although this research
was for chickadees on the
East Coast, the same is
probably true for many
bird species in our region
as well.
T h e U S Na t u r a l
Resources Conservation
Service also advises a plant
composition in yards
that’s at least 75 percent
Plant native plants on your land to increase biodiversity and native. By incorporating
benefits of pollinators and wildlife. Photo: Suzie Savoie. native plants into your
landscape you are
moths as introduced plants. Native woody creating a sanctuary that benefits wildlife
plants, specifically, used as ornamentals in and biodiversity.
gardens support 14 times as many species
Planting native plants in degraded
as introduced ornamental plants. Plants habitat in undeveloped areas of your
and animals that have evolved together land increases biodiversity and benefits
depend upon each other for survival, pollinators and wildlife. Native potted
whereas many cultivated and hybridized nursery plants grown from locally sourced
plants sold in nurseries may lack essential native seeds can be planted in appropriate
nutrients and provide inadequate access areas in the fall for the best establishment.
to pollen and nectar, or they are not used Locally sourced native seeds can also
as larval host plants. They are essentially be sown into burn pile areas, disturbed
useless to native insects and wildlife.
sites, and areas with sparse vegetation
The use of native plants in landscaping in the fall and winter to increase species
is essential to ensure breeding birds richness and diversity.
have enough insect prey to eat. Because
Native wildflowers and shrubs are
caterpillars are so reliant on native plants beautiful! Reestablishing native plants in
to reproduce, caterpillars tell us a lot about an area currently dominated by nonnative
the health of an ecosystem. Researchers grasses or invasive species will beautify
have found that a single breeding pair of your land and leave an ecologically
Carolina chickadees must catch 7,500 beneficial legacy for the future.
caterpillars to rear one clutch of young and
Suzie Savoie
that the only yards able to produce enough
Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds
chickadees to sustain a stable population
klamathsiskiyou@gmail.com
I usually have our
scanner on at home to
be aware of activities
around the valley. I’ve
noticed that Brad comes
across as very calm,
almost unflappable. He
said he taught himself
to do this because it’s
important to be “calm
and collected” for the
patient. He also feels it
indicates leadership and
control of the situation.
Fire engine renovated by Brad Barnes, former Chief Fillis,
In retirement, Brad Barnes will spend more time
I asked Brad about
and Terry Riley in 2006.
fishing and restoring old cars.
his most frightening
c a l l . He d e s c r i b e d
fighting an interior structure fire, saying He described how the weather plays an
Happier thoughts were needed, so I
it’s an eerie feeling being inside a building integral part in any wildland fire; it can asked about retirement plans. What will
with flames all around. It’s hard to differ from one part of a fire to another, Brad and Colleen be doing next year?
breathe, the visibility is low, and you and it can change quickly. (I’m thinking Brad plans to find more time for hunting
have to yell to communicate with your maybe there’s a bit of scientist here?!)
and fishing, both fresh and saltwater. (I
partner. He said the new SCBAs (self-
Brad also noted that he feels our forgot to ask who does the cooking of
contained breathing apparatuses) really constituents are super savvy and “dialed- said bounties.) Brad also spends a lot of
help with communications as well as in” to their responsibilities as landowners his downtime restoring old cars. A 1955
safe breathing. He was quick to say that by providing safe driveways and bridges, Dodge Royal Lancer is his next project.
saving a home or any structure from fire and, of course, by continuing to do their
And, of course, there are the
is extremely satisfying and rewarding, fuel-reduction chores each year. (So let’s grandchildren to visit! Brad’s extremely
especially being able to help save a family’s keep it up—firefighters do notice and will proud of his grandson, who contracts as a
valued possessions.
wildland firefighter during the summers.
go the extra mile for us!)
Brad also shared how rewarding it feels
Sandy Shaffer
I asked Brad what his most unexpected
to help an elderly person who has slipped surprise was as a firefighter—something
sassyoneor@gmail.com
and fallen in the bathroom, on the stairs, that he hadn’t expected to feel. His Note: Watch for my article in the
etc. And delivering babies? I asked. Oddly response: having to perform CPR on a next issue (fall) of the Applegater. I will
enough, he has not delivered a baby on a friend, realizing that the outcome might discuss the logistics-maintenance officer’s
call in all of these 30 years!
not be what he was hoping for. He said duties and tasks and include some cool
Brad told me that he really likes the it’s still difficult for him, even after all pictures. You might be surprised...and
challenges of fighting wildland forest fires. these years.
possibly interested?
Burn
Reminder
Before burning outdoors any time of year,
check with your county to
make sure that day is an official burn day
and not a NO burn day.
•••••
Jackson County • 541-776-7007
Josephine County • 541-476-9663