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NORTH COAST TIMES E A G L E , AUGTEMBER 2003
A POSITIVE VISION FOR LOCAL FORESTS
WATER!
BY JEFFREY REYNOLDS
As a player of the violin, which is constructed with
spruce and maple, I have some interest in the management
of forest land. The majority of public land in Clatsop County
is administered by the Oregon Department of Forestry. These
State forests are owned by all of the citizens of Oregon jointly.
They have been designated as lands to be managed for “the
greatest common good for all the citizens of Oregon."
As a citizen of Oregon from birth, I qualify the opinions
here with the fact I have personally seen and walked through
tens of thousands of acres of forest ranging in age from 20 years
to 200 years old, the majority composed of local 60-100 year old
“self-regenerated second-growth” and “structured management"
third-growth — with old-growth individual trees in deep creek
valleys and steep ridges. I am an expert in the field of identifying
and documenting causes of distress and mortality in conifers.
Factors include attack by insects, parasites, fungi, as well as
impacts from weather, creeks, roads, slope and geology.
These forests are primarily managed for timber volume
production, with an imperative to generate cash through ongoing
management activity. Here in the lush and rainy Pacific North
west, conifers enjoy a remarkable growth curve from seedling
through ancient age, and so it seems the justification for such
intense extraction rates is referenced in terms of volume that
Is “regenerated” and therefore called renewable. Unfortunately,
the volume in itself is not an indicator of other important and
essential intrinsic hydrological and ecological values.
What is hydrology? A science dealing with the proper
ties, distribution and circulation of water on and below earth’s
surface and atmosphere (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). I hope
we can consider together the hydrological impacts of forest
management activity. I implore the reader to recall the experi
ence of moisture in forests, and to remember looking up into the
treetops and watching clouds form in them and roll up out of the
forest. This is a scene that does not occur without treetops!
First and foremost, let's simplify by considering the
language of rules for timber management. While viewing a
timber management plan, replace the word timber with the
word water, especially when the word is followed by “volume.”
Consider this: we could manage for water volume production
with the common sense value of maximizing quality (which
incidentally would apply to both timber and water with my
proposal).
PAUL LACHINE
wide seller would be our dazzling Pacific Northwest forest
spring water. Water would be the jewel in the crown of indust
ries. The activities of modern foresters who gather firewood,
lumber for shingles, shakes, burls, poles and furniture hard
woods, edible mushrooms, florist supplies, herbs and medic
ines would form the appropriately local cornerstone for forest
work.
Currently, gathering and wildcrafting are regulated by
fees and permits that are restrictive to the poorest population
of Clatsop County which is the among the poorest in Oregon,
itself considered the poorest state in the country. Turning this
around requires the sustained effort of those of us who are now
making decisions, followed by the concurrence of future gener
ations. We must take the long view — not of piles of logs wait
ing for ships to haul them elsewhere, but rather the vision of a
forest managed for water.
This would first require a massive restorative effort that
would lay the foundation for water production. Restoration work
includes decommissioning of roads, replanting (especially of
clearcuts), surveys to identify species and habitat associated
with hydrology, and ultimately the construction of water collect
ion and distribution facilities in key locations while protecting
the core values of watershed restoration
The largest and oldest forest stands generate the most
clear cold water, as observed by hydrologists and forest ecolo
gists. The best way to create large old forests is by leaving the
oldest growing stands alone. Some of the youngest stands
require continued thinning, which is contrary to the notion that
“thins” should be composed of the large old trees. Even if we
manage for fire risk, we are still required by science to leave
the oldest, largest trees and thin the youngest stands of their
weakest members.
If indeed we are using a renewable resource, then
the young stands should be renewed to their maximum water
producing potential and change our priority for timber volume
to water volume. Intrinsic hydrological values are maximized by
allowing trees to grow for more than a century, with increasing
returns on the investment of time with this “no-action" altern
ative for older stands as centuries roll by. Such a forest has
a natural schedule for mortality of trees that is not cause for
human intervention and is in essence self-managing.
Many more people could work in ecological symbiosis
with the water producing forest. We would concern ourselves
with selective harvest of individual conifers and hardwoods for
the local production of value-added products such as musical
instruments, furniture, doors and high-end construction materi
als.
The hundreds of people employed in extractive practi
ces could be transformed into thousands employed in dozens
of industries that favor the production of water. Our top worid-
Meanwhile, local foresters in conjunction with national
and international scientists would conduct survey and labora
tory work for the purpose of learning more about plant, animal
and fungi species that have undiscovered potential for human
benefit — in the course of discovery promising the necessary
time required for the surveyed ground to gradually evolve into
older water-maximized stands.
Local contractors would be involved in the construction
of violin, guitar and furniture factories supplied by ecological
timber harvesting, such as horse logging. Older methods of
harvest are less efficient but more ecologically sound and carry
the potential of employing more people at the expense of
machines (the “Luddite” principle).
Finally, try inserting the word fish or salmon in place
of or next to “water." The reason is this: Salmon-run health
is associated with forest ecology in the form of nitrogen.
The source of the specific isotope of nitrogen found in older
upland forest structure has been shown to be the bodies of
ocean-going salmon!
I wish to offer an alternative for management that
includes and honors the power of children, who will be the
inheritors of the decisions of nowaday adults. The crux of the
problem is that we are talking about harvesting timber that
grows best in spans that exceed the length of human gener
ations. In these Coast Range forests, the long-term negative
impacts of current activity are obfuscated as we clamor for
cash in accord with that masterstroke of irony: school funding
through timber receipts. Indeed! A crumb from the plate of the
King’s Table as our forests are gobbled up in the horrifically
terrific feast of fools. Except I thought we were talking about
the people’s forests, not to be devoured at the whim of the
mechanized arrogance of any king.
(For further information, refer to Oregon GWEB Water
shed Enhancement Manual published by the State of Oregon,
and to Forestry & Salmon: A Report on Oregon’s Coastal
Watersheds and the Need for Forestry Reform published by the
Coast Range Association.)
Jeffrey Reynolds lives in Astoria and is among other
gigs, violinist for the famous ‘Heather Christi Band’. He writes
that he is. “Violinist, forester, father, who has played hundreds
of thousands of notes on a wood instrument, surveyed tens
of thousands of acres of forest in the Pacific Northwest, and
determined the cause of mortality or distress for many thous
ands of conifers. The thing is to “Love fiercely, love urgently,
love like your ass is on fire" (from the memorial remembrance
to deceased violinist Marty Jennings), which must be applied
to the core quality of life values of children, water and forest
ecology as it naturally stretches over centuries.
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