Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 1962)
efoirest Ye 1-9 n A r unn Meios rorword Reforestation n the Rogue River National for est took a big step forward during 1962, according' to Forest Supervisor Carroll E. Brown. Major emphasis was the ' tree planting of recently tractor-cleared portions of several large, fire-caused 50-ycar-old brushfields. The largest of these brushfield is the Cat Hill Burn on the Butte Falls dis trict. Forty-eight hundred acres of the 14,000-acre burn are scheduled for brush clearing and wind rowing using large logging tractors with mounted brush blades. At the end of June, 720 acres had been cleared. Another 850 acres are under contract and should be completed before winter. Planting Follows Close Tree planting and tree seeding is following as close behind the clearing as the planting season will permit, Brown said. Douglas-fir, white fir, and Shasta red fir are the preferred tree species for planting in this area. Success has been en couraging to date, he add ed. Due to the threat of early brush competition, large, vigorous planting stock is being used. Any established reproduc tion is saved In the clear ing operation. Much of the area is a wall of various brush species IS feet high, dwarfing a D-8 tractor, and so dense that few animals larger than a rabbit can penetrate it. Brown said the clearing operation has uncovered rows of ponderosa pine that were planted in the middle '30's by the CCC's following a trial clearing .. operation. Brush competi tion was so severe that few of the trees have grown over 8 lo 8 feet tall after 25 years. u yiw-jt ';;riw wwwm This recent clearing shows windrows and the care taken lo preserve established reproduction and pole stands in Cat Hill Burn area near Butte Falls. Several local firms are engaged in the clearing op eration. L. H. Dalkcnberg of Central Point is clearing a 400-acre contract area. He is assisted by Bernie Hughes of Medford. Ragsdale and Fisher of Eagle Point are work ing on a 340-acre contract. F. W. Christean of Central Point, Ken Jackson of Merlin, and J. and R. Equipment Service of Ruch have completed similar contracts. It is estimated that the entire project will require 8 to 10 years to complete. The Prospect district will complete the brush clear ing of the 1,200-acre Peavine Burn this year. Half of the area is now cleared and planted. L. H. Dalkenberg, R. A. Bross, and Fred Harvey have done the clearing work, The Union Creek district is well along with the brush clearing and planting of the. Huckleberry Mountain Burn. Two hundred and sixty acres have been completed to date, and 300 acres more are scheduled this year. Three more years will be required to complete the 2,000-acre project. Dalkenberg and Harvey have done the clearing work. Ashland District Area Cleared A 2fi-ncre area on the Ashland district was cleared by Brccounl brothers, and 42 acres of the O'Brien Burn nn the Applegate district by Fred Harvey, When the 7,000 acres of old burns are again in trees. Rrown estimated that at the timber rotation age . of too years over 200 million board feet of timber can be pro duced from the areas. Based on the current market price. Ihls represents a stumpage of $4 1 million. One-fourth of this dollar value will be returned to Jackson county in lieu of taxes. The total cost of brush clearing and tree planting is estimated at near $700, 000. This may seem a long time lo wait for a timber crop. Half of this 100-year rotation age has already been lost due to the areas supporting only brush for more than 50 years. Other values than timber are also being restored. Cattle, deer, and other game will soon avail themselves of the new types of forage that will appear. Christmas trees and other minor forest products will soon be avail able. Stream Flow Increases In the cleared area of the Cat Hill Burn the stream flow has increased and what once were dry draws are sizable streams of clear, cool water until mid-summer. , Recreation and camp sites may some day be established in some of the areas once water and tree shade are restored. Early, attempts to reforest the Cat Hill Burn began with the seeding of 1,000 acres to Scotch pine, European larch, and Norway spruce. The seeding was all done on the snow from November, 1910, to February, 1911. Workers camped in tents at Twin Ponds. Supplies were hauled by wagon as far as the roads were passable, then packed by y horse. The seeding failed primarily because of rodents and rabbits. In 1925, more than 100 acres were planted to ponderosa pine in the brush that was already well established, but rodents, rabbits, and a summer drought destroyed this effort. Between 1935 and 1939. a 35 Cletrac and a 50 Cater pillar tractor with blades cleared parallel strips, and ponderosa pine was planted. Clear 10 Mile Strips In 1936, the CCC's cleared over 10 miles of strips. The cleared lanes became game trails, and deer and rabbits destroyed the planting. Experimental burning was tried T&-Si&tx.:tJ-.!. aJ.'J ',. .'. ... Service road breaks windrows of brush in the Cat Hill burn area where a tractor clears the land for replanting. in the fall of 1939 and most of the top growth was killed, The brush immediately resprouted. Using more modern means, 20 acres were aerially sprayed in June, 1955, but with only a fair top kill. A brush cutter pulled by a D-8 Caterpillar tractor was tried in 1957. This machine used so successfully in the South, and later east of the mountains, failed here. A root plow was tried in 1959, and was helpless in the tall, dense brush. This combined experience proves the value of a large logging tractor to completely remove the brush. Competi tion to the newly planted seedlings is then materially re duced; crew travel in planting, seeding, and later main tenance is no problem; and the habitat of rabbits, the primary cause of seedling loss, is removed. During the 1962 reforestation effort, 1,518.5 thousand trees and 330 pounds of tree seed were used to reforest 4.666 acres of freshly harvested areas and old burns. Thinning of overstocked stands and the release by destroy ing brush competition accounted for 486 acres. Pruning of selected, desirable young trees was conducted on 766 acres. The antibiotic treatment of 1,135 acres of more than 200,000 young white and sugar pine trees was accomplish ed. This treatment is proving effective to kill blister rust cankers on infected trees. Immunization also is afforded for an undetermined period of time against future attacks. A helicopter spray job of 144 acres of white and sugar pines in the Jim creek area of the Prospect district in ' October using the antibiotic Phytoactin is being watched with considerable interest. Although over 25.000 acres of white pines in Idaho have been effectively aerially treat ed using Phytoactin, this is the first attempt of this type of treatment in Oregon. urch. State Go to Same Class in One Verboort Schoo ! Building .1" .iA l j. V PL hKj SWA. U L !' W at verhoorl s visilattnn srhonl here amt,,ar ni.tvinl a di iv,ii,n v,n,..n h tearhir In school's hmrhronm d'Ph BY ANN H. PEARSON United Press International Verboort. Ore.-ll'PH-Church and state go to class across the hall from each other in this old farming community's little white frame schoolliou.se. A Verboort youngster thinks nothing of attending parochial grades 1-4, graduating to public grades 5-fi, and moving on to parochial grades 7-8 to finish his elementary education. The unusual and amicable arrangement between public school district 97 and the parish's visitation school has existed for years. All Laws Being Obeyed Those in charge insist all laws are being obeyed. And sturdy Verboorters vigorously defend their system against larger neighboring districts that would like to divide district 97 s properly among their own tax rolls. Verboort was settled around 1875, mostly by Catholic Dutch farmers from Wisconsin. The parish school started soon afterward. The public school district was set up in 1H03. Since anyone can remember, just lo public elementary classes have been offered. The voters closed a public high school five years ago. The students attend neighboring high schools. Buildings In Row The school and parish buildings run in a row along a quiet street shaded by giant redwoods and surrounded by Hat fields where cattle graze a small white building for grades 1-3, Hie very Rev. William R. Killon's home, the red btick church, the nuns' quarters, t ho white school house for grades 4 8, and the sheet metal gym. Inside the building for grades 4-8 are three classrooms. At one end is grade 4. taught by a Sister. At the other end ate grades 7-8, taught by a Sister. In the center classroom are public grades 5-6. taught by Mrs. Donald Gross, a Protestant, who is teaching on an emergency slate certificate while pursuing her own studies. It Is her first year at Verboort. Contain Religious Articles The parochial classrooms contain religious articles, but these are absent from Mrs. Gross's classroom Mrs. Gross says Verboort's five-member all-Catholic school board has "bent over backward'' to nuke sure her teaching remains purely secular. The board even stopped her from using an arithmetic book written by Catholics, even though a pupil termed the alternative state-approved text "bahy work.". Downstairs from the classrooms is the library, used bv all The property is owned hy the p.in.h. School district 97 rents its classroom, plus use of the library, gym and other facilities, from the parish for S2.000 a year. The district's budget this year Is M.V37.V Including VYtlliil for Mrs C.ro.s. and lor teaching materials One of its larger items is S2.500 to pay tuition to neigh boring districts for a handful of non-Catholic residents of district 97. Another big item of district 97 is S3. 700 for transportation. Under the law, the buses also carry the parochial grade pupils who live along the public students' routes. The secret of the church-stale recipe seems to be unanim ity among the parents of Verboort. Until this year, the public grades were 7-8. The decision to change them to 5-6 was reached. Father Killion said, through meetings and consultations. The arrangement has several advantages for Verboort, mainly financial. Verboorters themselves benefit from the public school taxes they pay. If the district were dissovlcd. most of them would send their children to the parish school anyway, while paying taxes to another district. And the parish would need new funds to handle grade 5-6. Benefits From Transportation Verboort also benefits from the public bus transporta tion. The 41 pupils in grades 5-6 don't lack religious train ing. They are released for 20 minutes before lunch each day for instruction by Sister Superior Mary Marciana. During that period, Mrs. Gross gives Sister Marciana's class a science lesson. Mrs. Gross's one non-Catholic pupil has the choice of tlending the science lesson or studying. A spokesman for the state department of education de scribed the situation this way: "It just happens there are no dissenters down there . . . everything goes along peace fully." Threatening Co-Existence But changing times are treatenting such co-existence, which already has come lo an end in other areas of Oregon. The Rev. Martin Thielen of Portland, director of educa tion for the Archdiocese, says although the arrangement has been cleared by the slate atlorney general's office, he would prefer separate schools. And it's new times, not church-state conflict, that threaten Verboort's special arrangement. The trend in Oregon is toward larger public school districts. Just this fall, the county school board approved plans to wrap Verboort's district 97 into a larger district that will offer publication from grades 1-12. and the matter appears headed for a vote. SETT... Thi is Vcriniorfj, VisilHimn school, It ended by vrtttar and nnn-rrul;tr tudrnti alikr, without Trirtion and with the ' inn-ifiil nf 11m k!"rnird " ilTIl f I
