Central Oregon
March Meeting Details
date: Tuesday, March 18
place: King's Buffet, 2000 NE 3rd Bend (located in the Wagner Mall behind McDonalds)
time: 6:00pm
speakers: Ron Boldenow, COCC, and Paul Stell, Bend Parks and Recreation District
subject: Come listen to how trees and vegetation will be managed and how the park will deal with insects, wildfire and the management of recreationists.
Questions? Please contact Ed Keith () at work (541.447.5658) or at home (541.447.7317).
From the Chapter Chair
I'm excited about being Chair of our central Oregon SAF. This is my second stint as Chapter Chair, after serving in the early 1990s. Hmmm. I wonder if there is a pattern developing here?
I think we have a great leadership team in place for the coming year and have some exciting programs planned. Please look for those in monthly program announcements. Our first program in January we had Steve Lent from the Bowman Museum who spoke on Historical Highlights of the Ochoco National Forest. The program was a real hit and was attended by over 30 members, including a good contingent of students from COCC and OSU Cascades.
Chair-elect Needed!
We currently have a vacancy in our Chapter leadership team. We need someone to step up to the plate to serve as Chair-elect. What does the job entail, you ask? As Chair-elect you help plan monthly programs and contribute to the running of our chapter. We use a team approach to do this, so work is shared. As Chair-elect you would be expected, then, to move up to Chapter Chair next year, so there is a two-year commitment.
If you interested in getting involved in leadership, this is your opportunity! I know that some of you do have the time. This is a good way to give back to your profession.
Please consider helping out and serving your profession.
SAF Woodcut for Coastal Storm Victims
Bob Alverts from the Capital Chapter is organizing a wood cut to help those affected by the coast storms in December. They need help in heating and drying out their homes. Bob is asking for our help. He is looking for logs that could be converted into firewood. What they are really short on is seasoned firewood.
He asked me if our chapter could help find any seasoned pine that could be donated. Thus, I need your help. Do you know of anyone who would be willing to donate a log truck or even a rail car load of dry logs to be used as firewood? If so, please give me a call (548.6088). In the meantime, I will find out where this firewood should be delivered too. Thanks.
Calendars for the 2008 OSAF Annual Meeting
The 2008 Annual Oregon SAF Meeting will be held in Eugene at the Valley River Inn, May 6-8. The theme for this year's annual meeting is Policies and Tools for Emerging Issues, and it's being hosted by the Emerald Chapter. They have an exciting program, which includes Jim Brown, former State Forester, as the keynote speaker. There will be an awards banquet, field trips and spouses' tour. Rick Steber, western storyteller from Prineville, is the featured speaker at the banquet. Please plan on attending and supporting our colleagues in the Emerald Chapter. You can access the registration form here.
Treasurer's Report
The 2008 approved budget totals $4,750. It consists of $2,550 for donations; $800 for meetings and BBQ; $200 for awards; $800 for committee budgets; $300 for office supplies; and $100 for miscellaneous. The donations include: COCC scholarship, OSAF foundation, Foresters' Fund (National and State); Leadership Conference (to include students of COCC); and forestry skills competition.
Our Urban Forests
First in a series exploring the topic of urban forests and the practice of urban forestry. By Mick Sears, CF, Past Chapter Chair, Prof. Natural Resources, ret.
As I have been asked by the Forestry Department at COCC to teach an Urban Forestry class, I thought it appropriate to create a series of background articles for the Central Forester to identify and describe some of the important topics for my fellow SAF members.
My first installment was to be an overview of urban forestry concepts and statistics, however the December 23, 2007 issue of the Los Angeles Times and its front page headline "Fiery Home Invaders", a discussion of the impacts of the San Diego area wildfires, presented an interesting segue to a major urban forest concept Ð that of the 'wildland-urban interface'. Fire and the urban response to minimizing its destructive impacts, as the "Firewise Communities" approach describes, is something we all need be aware of and 'preach' to the local authorities.
Most of you are probably aware of 'defensive landscaping', irrigated landscape strips, low fuel volume plants, and the need to remove dead wood and flashy fuels. Likewise the high risk of wooden shake/shingle roofs, and fire retardant (flame resistant) exterior home wall construction, is well known. Also in this general category is research that shows house placement, especially where there is an upslope to the house, which is taking advantage of the view, is critical in reducing upslope 'convected' heat and its much increased (over radiated heat) potential to propagate combustion.
I am reminded of the unexpected consequences of the Laguna fires (Orange Co. in So. Calif.) not too many years ago. These high end homes, with their tile roofs, stucco walls, and fire reducing landscapes were thought to be almost immune to fire. Amazed fire officials were at a loss to explain why so many of them were destroyed. Further investigation revealed that they burned from the inside out. Flying embers and debris broke the large picture windows allowing "spot fires" to develop within the house. From then on I always included the need for plywood sheet protection where this would be a problem when I talked to my urban forestry students about their consultation opportunities with homeowners.
The Times article noted that the San Diego County homes "had been built to the highest fire standards, with a slate roof, and tempered windows...and brush had been cleared to 150 feet". Investigators found that burning embers, blown by the Santa Ana winds had gotten in through the 'doggie door'. "Fire officials believe that embers driven by the raging winds through small openings or against exposed wood were responsible for igniting a majority of the 1,125 homes leveled by the fires". Other weak points were attic vents, barrel (roof) tiles with unsealed openings, broken windows, decks with exposed understructure, and eaves with exposed ember collecting niches.
An interesting fall-out of the mandatory evacuation orders given to homeowners, was that those who refused to leave were in a position to douse smoldering embers which collected in the above weak points, and as noted by firefighters, continued to smolder for hours or days, and thus were discovered in time to prevent greater damage to houses.
The wildland-urban interface, and urban development proximate to it, is a major component of the urban forest and is impacted by many other natural and human forces, and I will describe at another time, but fire, and the great effort in our area to control and manage it, makes this 'Firewise' knowledge especially relevant.
Central Oregon Officers, 2008
Below is the current slate of Chapter officers for 2008. When you get a chance, please thank them for keeping our chapter vital and strong.
Stephen Fitzgerald: Chair
Vacant: Vice Chair
Mick Sears: Past Chair
John Arena: Treasurer
Ed Keith: Newsletter Editor
Stu Otto: Membership
Ron Boldenow: Policy/Education Chair
Mick Sears: Education
Finally, if you have any ideas for programs or activities we could do, please contact me by phone (548.6088) or email . See you at the next meeting!!
