Property Findings
1. Wildlife & Biological Resources
The Gahr forest has a rich variety of biological resources. The careful, selective cutting of the past 15 years has helped maintain tree species diversity. Aside from the remaining large oaks however, there is little remnant old forest character. In assessing the sufficiency of wildlife habitat on the forest, the primary document used for establishing minimum acceptable levels was the 1988 USDA publication: Management of Wildlife and Fish Habitats in Forests of Western Oregon and Washington.
Snags
The numbers of living and dead snags on the property are insufficient to sustain many woodpeckers and smaller foraging birds. Only two snags were tallied during the cruise, both of them oaks in Type 2. The target of 2 live and 2 dead snags per acre (with at least 20% of these in over 24" DBH) can be attained over time by: (1) permanently protecting wildlife trees that will become large snags over time, (2) restricting salvage of scattered dead trees and (3) marking and protecting existing snags from logging damage.
Coarse Woody Debris
Down woody debris is an important part of forest wildlife habitat and a future source of organic matter for soil structure and fertility. Coarse woody debris levels were measured at an average per acre weight of only 3 tons. This compares to commonly measured rates of 7-to-15 tons per acre on similar sites. There is a relative scarcity of new large down logs, a concern for long-term CWD levels. This can be remedied by: (1) Allowing the natural decline of living and dead snags, and (2) preventing larger trees that die in the forest from being salvaged. If tree loss is widespread and represents significant economic loss, salvage may occur.
Understory Vegetation
The forest includes understory plant communities typically associated with oak stands in succession toward Douglas-fir. Native species tend to predominate in areas less impacted by past logging. However, invasive non-native evergreen blackberry and scotch broom are a threat, and have choked out native vegetation on woodlands in the area.
Grass, hazel brush and poison oak tend to dominate the understory on drier, more open, oak dominated stands. The shrub and herbaceous layers may also include such plants as yerba buena, wild rose, and snowberry.
Where there is more moisture (e.g., Type 3) vine maple becomes more prominent and swordfern tends to dominate the forest floor. This is common where there is a bigleaf maple overstory..
On the lower slopes, the forest type changes to a more open, oak savanna type, with more grasses and hazel (lower Type 2)
Other common plants include: Salal, brackenfern, huckleberry, black raspberry, wild blackberry, vanilla leaf, columbine, iris, miner’s lettuce, and false solomonseal.
Property Findings (biological resources, cont.)
Special Habitat & Conservation Zones
The property includes several areas where harvest activities could have a significantly undesirable impact on habitat quality. Some sites have significant aesthetic and ecological value, which should be preserved. Year-round springs and ponds that originate in Type 3 provide important late summer watering holes for a wide variety of wildlife species. The Gahr’s value the undisturbed patches of maple and oak here, with open understories dominated by swordfern. These acres are recommended as a reserve.
Type 5 -- the forest stand with the largest and highest quality oak -- has been managed as a reserve. Future harvests here will continue to be low-impact, removing Douglas-fir that threaten to over-top and kill legacy oak trees.
The acres of Type 2 that are north of the main haul road are reserved as a mixed Oak/Douglas-fir woodland. Management objectives here are to provide an example of low-impact harvests (probably only single tree selection) that help maintain the hardwoods in the stand, by selective removal of fir.
Landscape-level Considerations
From a landscape perspective the Gahr forest is not currently unique-mixed oak and fir stands are still fairly common in the surrounding area-though it will become more so in time. Many owners (especially forest industry) consider mixed stands to be underproductive from a timber growth standpoint; oak woodlands on these lower foothill sites are being clearcut. Over the next 10 to 20 years the Gahr forest will play an increasingly important local role as a model of oak woodland conservation.
2. Riparian Areas
As discussed above, the property has several ponds that collect water from the draws in Type 3. This watershed area of Type 3 is managed as a reserve, and the ponds and drainage are worthy of protection. Muddy Creek, a fishbearing stream, flows through the lower farmland, outside the woodland zone. There are no other riparian resources in the forest.
Skid trails should avoid wet areas to the greatest extent possible. Existing road and trail layout effectively protects most other riparian resources. Restricting logging to the dry season and proper water bar installation will offer further protections. Soil mobility from past harvest activities appears to be minor and localized.
3. Forest Soils
Section to be completed.
4. Forest Health and Protection
Management activities within the forest can either increase or decrease the risk of forest loss or decline from fire, wind, soil disturbance, insects and disease. Forest protection is accomplished through thoughtful actions that reduce this risk.
Insects and disease
At present there is little evidence of tree loss from insects or disease on the Gahr Forest. Phellinus (laminated root rot) is the most common threat to Douglas-fir in western Oregon. This fungus may be present on the property, though no active infection pockets were noted. Also present in low levels are Red ring rot (Phellinus pini) and brown cubicle rot (P. schweinitzii), which cause minor annual merchantable volume loss. Older, less vigorous trees that have prior stem injuries can lose most of their merchantable value as the rot progresses. Healthy trees are much more resistant to decay.
Swiss needle cast disease (P. gaeumannii), a native fungal pathogen, has been recently impacting hundreds of thousands of acres of Douglas-fir on the Oregon coast. Serious disease symptoms were believed to be limited to the wet fog belt (within 15 miles of the coast), but foliar loss and growth impacts have been found over a broader area of the coast range in recent years. The sudden increase in severity of this problem illustrates the potential risk to the forest from disease, and the wisdom of encouraging multi-species stands that are inherently less vulnerable. Insect defoliators such as Douglas-fir tussock moth and the western oak looper are also capable of doing damage if populations reach high levels.
The best protection against disease and insects is to promote a healthy, diverse forest with abundant wildlife habitat. Healthy trees are much better at resisting disease and insect attacks. Diversity in tree species reduces the chance of insect and disease infestations, while lessening the impact if one tree species is lost. While Douglas-fir will be the dominant tree on the Gahr forest, maintaining other species will help maintain long-term forest health. Planting should feature multiple species of trees when regenerating the forest. Good management practices such as soil protection and thinning to increase stand vigor will help protect the forest. By increasing wildlife habitat, the natural control of feeding birds, mammals, and other insects will be enhanced.
Blowdown and fire risk: While it should be understood that fire in the forest can be beneficial, the risk of catastrophic loss from wildfire is always a concern. The two primary causes of wildfire are "Man" and "Lightning". This plan stresses (1) reducing the risk of a fire starting and (2) reducing the size and hazard of any fire by preparations which include upgrading and maintaining logging roads and trails, minimizing concentrations of slash, avoiding slash burning, preventing trespass, and maintaining basic suppression equipment (shovels, crawlers, etc.). It's also important to follow the basic Department of Forestry rules on fire safety, especially when harvests coincide with late summer fire season.
Blowdown and snow breakage is a threat to trees of poor health and vigor. After a harvest trees that have not acclimated to the new conditions are susceptible to wind damage. Trees are generally stable and vigorous, with little indication of post-harvest trauma following recent cuts.
Non-native plants and animals may pose a threat to forest health. Himalayan blackberry and scotch broom are invasive, non natives that can take over the understory of much of the forest. Evidence of this can be seen neighboring properties, where the shade tolerant evergreen blackberry has invaded both openings and denser stands. Attention should be paid to this in harvest planning and silvicultural prescriptions.
5. Recreation and Aesthetics
The Gahr forest currently receives considerable recreational use. Hiking and nature appreciation by the owners and their bed-and-breakfast guests are important activities on the property.
Aesthetics are important to the Gahr family, especially in areas visible from the houses, roads and main trails. Most of the forest is visible from the paved county road that runs along the west side of the farm. Light-impact individual tree and small group selection harvests will have minimal visual impact from close-up or afar.
Some sites have family significance, and these areas will be managed as reserves, where maintaining and enhancing the "old growth" character of the site take precedence, and equipment intrusion should be avoided. This area amounts to approximately 10 acres, or about 10% of forested acreage. This will not pose a significant forest management or financial burden.
6. Economic Analysis
The 1998 cruise measured an annual conifer growth rate of 366 bd.ft. on volume of 3,000 bd.ft. per acre, or 12.0%. This rate of growth is on existing merchantable trees, and does not include "ingrowth" of currently undersized trees (pre-merchantable). This reflects both the relatively young age of the Douglas-fir and the high rate of growth from past thinning.
Stumpage appreciation over the past 3-4 decades has been 1-2% above inflation. Ingrowth can account for an additional 2-4%. The total rate of return is the sum of these three components, and is likely to be in the range of 15%-20%. Institutional investors have increasingly viewed timberland investments as providing respectable returns with a relatively low economic risk, and have invested heavily through the 1980s and 90s. A detailed discussion on timberland return and risk is found in the appendix.
6. Access
The Gahr forest has a network of earth-surfaced roads that provide access to all the timber stands on the property. A dirt haul road provides access to upper forest and a log landing.
Landings and skid trails are also in place. Most of the skid trails are well-designed, but some exceed 40% slope or are unnecessary. These trails should be decommissioned or rerouted as they are encountered during harvest planning -- if there is a better, lower impact alternative. The overall goal of restricting trails, roads and landings to 10% of the property is met when skid trails average 150 feet apart.
7. Boundaries
Boundaries are generally easy to follow old fence lines. A line of fence posts indicates the northwest corner and part of the west line. Other lines and corners are identified only by old flagging, or are not documented.
Boundary evidence should be improved. Lines should be inspected and maintained at no more than 7 year intervals, and blazed every 15 years.
8. Legal Restrictions
The Oregon Forest Practices Act became law in 1972. The Act provides for a set of rules establishing minimum standards (e.g. slash disposal and reforestation requirements) which encourage and enhance the growing and harvesting of trees. Harvest rules have also been updated to regulate the maximum size of clearcuts and provide for green tree retention within clearcuts. At the same time, the act considers and protects other environmental resources-air, water, soil, and wildlife. The Act has been updated to regulate forest practices when they conflict with "special resources" (sites used by threatened and endangered species, sensitive bird nesting, roosting and watering sites, significant wetlands, and biological sites that are ecologically and scientifically significant).
The forest practice rules for streams were revised and the new rules went into effect on September 1, 1994. These rules are more restrictive and extend riparian protection to much smaller streams and wetlands. These rules are likely to be revised again in 2000, as the State and Counties struggle to protect recently listed salmon and steelhead runs in the Willamette river.
Possible rule changes are not likely to greatly affect the property because of the limited riparian features. The rules generally allow no logging within 20 feet on each side of streams except to convert hardwoods to conifers. Within a wider zone (from 20 to 100 feet depending on stream width) owners are required to leave up to 230 square feet of conifer basal area per 1000 feet of stream. At this time these wider riparian restrictions do not apply the one seasonal drainage in the forest, and should not limit any planned management activities.
The Forest Practices Act requires that an operator, timber owner, landowner or owner's agent, before starting a regulated operation, notify the State Forester. This includes any commercial thinning or harvest, road building, scarification, burning, or spraying. Forest Products and Severance must be paid annually for all harvested forest products.
9. Tax Status
The Gahr Forest is currently taxed under the Designated Forestland program.