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[sanrico AT highdesert.com]

Here I am again, with the tree-thing (finger still in air, getting a 
cramp...but
it's worth it. Another subject).
I guess I keep coming back to this because, on my mahvelous 5 acres of
so-far-nothing, I dreamed of having...trees. Maybe something else later, but
first...trees. Nothing grows there, not even rocks. I had to drive several 
miles
to import a few boulders so the sparseness (sparcity? sparcitude? Arrrgh!)
wouldn't make me crazy. It (the land) sits "on/in" the Mojave riverbed. It 
didn't
bother me that somewhere in the paperwork it mentioned, "Subject to 
inundation".
When I gleefully bought it - maybe...twenty years ago - it was only 12' down 
to
water (not potable, but water nonetheless). Even the much-maligned tamarisk 
finds
my beloved dirt repulsive; I don't include salt-cedar on my mental checklist 
of
invasive species...after all, everything that grows had to grow SOMEwhere the
first time, and I kinda like the grey-green-shaggy (and if vodka and 
salt-cedar
are the worst things we ever get from the Russians, that's OK with me). The 
few
trees I planted years ago, in carefully researched-and-prepared spots, and 
which
I drove twice weekly (3-hour round trip) to water faithfully, gave up the 
ghost
and expired. I didn't hold actual funeral services, but came close. Anyway, 
blah,
blah, blah...the following is just for everyone's perusal. 
Sandy
P.S. Marie, I'm SO jealous. You have trees - AND teeth! 

One size fits all - Small-diameter trees become a commodity in the 21st 
century,
enivronmentalists and the timber industry agree
November 29, 2004


When George McKinley looks at the dense stands of small trees in southwestern
Oregon, he sees more than forest health and wildfire threats. 

He sees opportunity. 

By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune 


http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2004/1128/local/stories/01local.htm 

(Thanks to Bill von Segen, Paul Galloway and Craig Rawlings for passing this
along. Russ) 


"Focusing on these small-diameter trees holds promise — it might even allow 
us to
move forward," he said of the decades-old debate between conservation and
cutting. 

"It might allow us to take a fresher look at resource management in general," 
he
said. "There is potential as a forest health and community safety issue." 

Advertisement Click Here McKinley is among a growing number of local 
residents,
including environmental activists and timber industry representatives, seeking
common ground in the woods. 

Although there are still unresolved issues, including how much and where the
trees could be harvested, those looking for conflict resolution stand 
together on
logging small trees from overstocked forests. 

"Size matters when it comes to finding peace in the woods," said Dominick
DellaSala, ecologist with the World Wildlife Fund office in Ashland. "Small 
trees
is one issue where we have agreement across interests." 

"It’s the right thing to do," said Ken Cummings, chief forester for Boise 
Corp.
in Southern Oregon. "If there is anyone who can’t get on the side of better
utilization, well, I’m not sure where they are at." 

An example of broad-based support was illustrated in the 40-acre Boaz project 
on
Bureau of Land Management forestland in the Little Applegate Valley that began
early this year. 

Officially known as the Boaz Forest Health and Small Diameter Utilization
Project, it is expected to produce some 250,000 board feet of small-diameter
conifer logs when completed next year. 

The project was funded by federal Title II money provided through the 2000 
Secure
Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act. The project contractor was
paid $3,000 per acre for the thinning. 

The Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, an environmental group known for 
holding
resource management agencies’ feet to the fire, supported it. So did the 
Southern
Oregon Timber Industries Association, an industry group equally adamant about 
its
views. 

All of the Boaz fir, cut into lumber by a portable mill capable of handling 
up to
9-inch diameter logs, has been sold, said McKinley, who worked on the 
project. He
has a load of incense cedar logs that will soon be delivered to customers to 
be
used for paneling and siding. 

In addition to being a small forestland owner in the Greensprings area, 
McKinley
is the project director of Jefferson Sustainable Development Initiative. The 
new
nonprofit group promotes regional sustainability and cooperation. 

"We have to find ways to work cooperatively on projects to demonstrate that 
you
can work in the woods, improve forest health and contribute economically in 
terms
of strengthening the rural work force and providing material for regional
markets," he said. 

Importing wood products from other nations that have no environmental 
safeguards
only transfers environmental problems to those areas, he said. 

But he agrees with others that it’s a challenge to find a big market for
small-diameter material. 

Right now, the small-diameter material is being used locally for posts and 
poles,
firewood, log furniture, log homes, chipping and as fuel for power plants 
such as
Biomass One in White City. 

But that limited market could easily be flooded by a glut of material, 
McKinley
said. 

"We need to find out where the existing markets are," he said. "What I’ve 
found
with the small-diameter material we’re using now is that most of it is a way 
to
help offset the cost of doing the basic prescription necessary." 

Some believe the answer would be to build a local commercial mill in the Rogue
Valley capable of cutting lumber out of small-diameter logs. 

"It’s a win-win," observed Cummings. "You don’t have to burn it. There is no
downside there. 

"The problem is handling the material right now," he said. "We’re not talking
about pickup loads of firewood you or I may cut on a weekend. We’re talking 
about
billions of board feet." 

Even on its second-growth forests, which already have been logged once, Boise 
is
producing between 20 tons and 30 tons of material per acre which could be 
chipped
or used in a small-log operation, Cummings said. 

Public forestlands often have a higher stand density, he said. 

"If you do the math of burning all that, it creates too much smoke," he said 
of
the region where pollution from wood-burning smoke is already a concern. 

"Air quality is as important as water quality," he said. 

DellaSala would agree. 

Done correctly, removal of small trees from an area can improve forest health 
and
reduce the threat of a devastating fire, DellaSala said. The result would be a
boost to the local economy by providing jobs in rural communities, he said. 

"But we have a history where the economic cart is put in front of (the)
ecological horse," he said, referring to efforts to cut large trees. "Our 
concern
is really size and where you do the work." 

Areas such as forest plantations, overstocked stands and the rural interface
would be good candidates for thinning small trees, he said. 

"The Achilles’ heel is how we are going to pay for it," he said. "There is 
always
the deal to let the big trees pay for the small ones. That’s what the Bush
administration wants to do." 

Bad idea, said DellaSala, noting that the big trees are vital to maintaining
forest health. 

He suggests that instead of providing funds for below-cost timber sales, 
Congress
should earmark that money for restoration activities and small-diameter
tree-harvest projects. 

"Nobody is going to make a killing on small-diameter trees, but they can make 
a
living," he said. 

It’s exceedingly difficult to carve a living out of harvesting small-diameter
trees, cautioned Amy Wilson, coordinator for the Resource Conservation and
Development Council based in Grants Pass. The five-county program was 
developed
by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

"It’s almost like recycling," she said. "It’s something that needs to be done.
But it’s labor intensive with an end product that is not that valuable." 

There is only one large commercial operation using small-diameter logs in
Washington and Oregon — Vaagen Brothers Lumber Inc. out of Colville, Wash. 

A large commercial enterprise to harvest small-diameter logs locally would 
need a
guaranteed steady source of wood to keep in business, said Dave Schott, 
executive
secretary of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association. 

"But it’s a great way to thin forests that need thinning," he said. "You can 
make
great two-by-fours with small logs." 

Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council in 
Portland,
stresses the industry still has plenty of interest in old-growth timber. 

"To think that everybody has retooled and is not interested in old-growth 
timber,
that’s a fallacy," West said. "There is still a lot of interest in that 
product." 

Phil Clark, who started Out of the Woods Ecoforestry in the Little Applegate
Valley with Joe Schattler more than half a dozen years ago, figures small logs
are the future. 

"Our perspective is that there is a growing market," Clark said. "My partner 
says
it’s like organic food was 20 to 25 years ago. Now look at organic food. You 
find
it all over." 

The firm, which now has nine full-time employees, focuses on thinning to 
reduce
forest fuels, harvesting in an environmentally friendly manner to produce 
Forest
Stewardship Council certified products. 

The small-diameter material is processed with a portable bandsaw mill. They 
are
now building a drying kiln for flooring and molding products. 

"The challenge is to gear up to use small diameters," he said. "The wood 
isn’t as
clear (as that from larger logs). There are more knots." 

But he figures it has a use and beauty all its own. 

So does George McKinley. 

"The potential is there to move us forward," McKinley said, adding, "We just 
have
to take advantage of the opportunity." 

Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at 
pfattig AT mailtribune.com 

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