OFF PAGE ONE
Saturday, October 21, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 13A
FOREST: The average spacing between trees should be 18-20 feet
Continued from 1A
some of them will die,” he
explained.
Drought-stressed trees
are also more vulnerable
to pine beetle infestations,
Beechinor said, adding to
the amount of dead wood
that may fuel a potential
wildfire. If the flames
manage to climb into the
tops of larger trees, it
could result an unstoppable
inferno bearing down on
communities and the envi-
ronment.
Programs available
Currently, Beechinor is
in the middle of a three-year
project to treat 20 acres of
the property overlooking
the North Fork Walla Walla
River, with the help of his
wife, Cindy, and three kids
and five grandchildren.
Funding for the work
comes in part from the
National Fire Plan, a federal
program that allocates
money to states for forest
thinning projects. Grants
are awarded to landowners
through the Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry, reim-
bursing up to 75 percent of
the project cost.
Hans Rudolf, steward-
ship forester for ODF in
Pendleton, is often the boots
on the ground to assess local
properties and determine
where landowners could
target fuels reduction.
Nine times out of 10 on
site visits, Rudolf said there
is some part of a property
overstocked with trees
and brush. Healthy stands
tend to average somewhere
between 80 and 100 trees
per acre, he said, though
some areas have as many as
1,000 to 2,000 trees per acre.
“Basically, it’s a clump
of continuous fuel,” Rudolf
said. “So if a fire gets in
there, it’s not only going to
burn hotter, but a lot of times
it creates ladder fuels ... If it
gets into the tops of trees
and makes runs, there’s not
much our people can do.”
Rudolf cited the Eagle
Creek fire, which reached
into the tree canopy and
made a 12-mile run its first
night.
The National Fire Plan
provides grants for thinning
out small trees 7 inches in
diameter or less to improve
fire safety. The average
spacing between trees
should be 18-20 feet, Rudolf
said, providing enough of a
buffer to keep fires on the
forest floor.
Most
people
hire
contractors to do the work,
though Beechinor said he
and his family prefer to
do the job themselves. He
and Cindy even completed
master woodland manager
training through Oregon
State University Extension
Service in 2007, to help
them make informed deci-
sions on the ground.
“I like this kind of work,”
Beechinor said with a smile.
“We take great care.”
Wildland-urban
interface
Grants for thinning proj-
ects are often geared toward
the wildland-urban inter-
face, Rudolf said, where
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Tom Beechinor of Walla Walla stands next to a slash pile at the site of the most recent forest clearing project in northern Umatilla County
east of Milton-Freewater.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A view overlooking the North Fork Walla Walla River
watershed in norther Umatilla County.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Trees stacked in a slash pile from a forest clearing
project east of Milton-Freewater.
A cleared stand of Douglas and grand fir trees on
forest property owned by Tom and Cindy Beechinor
east of Milton-Freewater.
homes and cabins meet the
forest environment.
ODF protects a number
of wildland-urban areas
in the Blue Mountains of
Umatilla County, spanning
from Tollgate to the north to
Meacham in the middle and
Ukiah to the south. Specific
boundaries are mapped in
the county’s Community
Wildfire Protection Plan,
which was written and
approved in 2005.
“You
start
putting
400-500 structures into
a relatively small area, it
he added, especially consid-
ering the district may have
limited resources during a
wildfire.
“If we’re in a wild-
land-urban interface area,
we could have lots more
structures or residences than
we’re able to protect at any
given point,” Hoehna said.
“If somebody has a cabin
that hasn’t been thinned
around, we’re not going to
put people in there to defend
that structure.”
The issue boils down
to outreach and education,
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
creates a lot of dynamics in
that wildland-urban inter-
face,” Rudolf said, with fire-
fighters having to consider
things like access, propane
tanks and firewood around
homes. “It can add to the
complexity and sometimes
to the intensity of a burn.”
Matt Hoehna, ODF unit
forester in Pendleton, said
agencies will be working to
update the Umatilla County
Community
Wildfire
Protection Plan later this
winter and into next year.
Doing fuels work is critical,
Rudolf said. He understands
some people may be reluc-
tant to invest in thinning
work — perhaps they are
part-time or seasonal resi-
dents, or maybe they are
waiting to maximize the
value of their wood.
Jerry Lankford, owner of
Lankford Logging Inc. in
Pilot Rock, said log markets
have picked up somewhat
this year, but wood chip
markets are still struggling
as paper mills cut back on
production and biomass
continues to find its footing.
“We really don’t have a
biomass market to speak of.
Never have,” Lankford said.
“There’s a resource here
that’s not being utilized, and
we have an endless supply
of it.”
Dale Freeman, president
of the Langdon Lake Asso-
ciation, said the community
there completed a thinning
project through the National
Fire Plan four years ago.
Located near Tollgate,
Langdon Lake has 64 cabins
including one owned by
former U.S. Sen. Gordon
Smith.
“I think everybody was
on board to see what we
could do to enhance the
safety of our 160 acres,”
Freeman said. “Now, it just
looks beautiful up there.”
Cabin owners are further
subject to complying with
rules under the Oregon
Forestland-Urban Interface
Fire Protection Act, Freeman
said, which requires them to
remove excess fuels around
homes and other structures.
The law also stipulates that
firewood be kept at least
20 feet away from homes
during fire season, among
other regulations.
Recent fire seasons have
helped to hammer home the
importance of fire safety
and compliance in the
community, Freeman said,
referencing a pair of fires
on Weston Mountain earlier
this year that shut down
Highway 204 and threatened
structures.
“We’re praying to God
we never end up with a fire
up here,” he said. “But you
never know.”
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
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