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