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The Forests of Oregon | |||
| The
World Forestry Center has its base in Portland, Oregon, USA. It sits
proudly on a hillside in Washington Park, which is adjacent to the 70
hectare
Hoyt Arboretum, which in turn neighbors the 2000 hectare "Forest
Park", the largest urban park in the USA. With giant stands of Douglas-fir
rising up behind the buildings in Washington Park, it appears to be a perfect
place for a World Forestry Center. It is not just the majestic trees or
the scenic landscape; Portland is famous for trade in forest products.
In the 1954 classic "To Catch A Thief", jewel-thief Cary Grant
needs to quickly invent a new, believable identity, and so he tells Grace
Kelly and her mother that he is from Portland, Oregon - in the lumber business. Portland, Oregon Portland sits near the confluence of two of the West’s mightiest rivers, the Columbia and the Willamette. Unsurprisingly, shipping and trade fueled the town’s early growth. The California gold rush of 1849 and the explosive growth of San Francisco demanded lumber, which was routed through the fledgling port on the Willamette. At the same time, Oregon Trail settlers brought agriculture to the Willamette Valley and mining and ranching developed throughout the inland west. As the port city to the Pacific Rim, Portland was ideally situated to export agricultural riches to the western USA. Portland’s primacy in the Northwest was solidified when the Northern Pacific Railroad arrived in 1883, linking Portland and the Pacific Northwest to the rest of the country. Three years later, Portland and San Francisco were linked by rail. Grain poured into Portland from the Columbia basin and as far away as Montana. By 1890, Portland was one of the world’s largest wheat-shipment ports. The world wars brought further economic expansion to Oregon, and logging of the great Northwest forests began in earnest. By WWII, Oregon had become the nation’s largest lumber producer. Even today, when the silicon forest has replaced the Douglas-fir forest as the number one industry, forest products remain a vital element in Oregon’s economic equation.  Portland, with 1.5 million people living in the metropolitan area, is the largest city and business center in Oregon. The State capital is actually Salem, a city of 115,000 people situated 60 miles south of Portland on the Willamette River. Three quarters of Oregonians live in the incredibly fertile Willamette Valley between these two cities. Outside of the valley lies a sparsely populated and wonderfully diverse landscape, featuring many endearing forest types. Forests of Oregon A rich and eventful past has led to an amazing diversity in Oregon’s forests. The Cascade Mountains and the Coast Range began to rise from the swampy sea about 13 million years ago, dramatically changing the climate of Oregon. The Cascades now separate the lush forests of western Oregon from the high desert and dry forests of the eastern part of the state. In addition, the Siskiyou mountains in the southwest separate the cool, humid northwest forests from the warmer, drier forests of California. While many broad leaved trees and shrubs are found throughout Oregon, conifers dominate the forests in all regions of the state. There are 30 species of conifers found in Oregon’s forests. Oregon’s largest tree is a Sitka spruce, due to its remarkable girth (circumference of 17.1m and crown spread of 28.4m). However, the tallest tree and state emblem is the Douglas-fir; Oregon has national champions in both the coastal and rocky mountain varieties (100.3m and 48.2m high, respectively). West of the Cascades, you could guess that any conifer in the forest is a Douglas-fir, and you would be right 8 out of 10 times. The planted and managed stands of second-growth Douglas-fir are some of the most productive forests in the world. Near the coast, where rainfall is higher and dense fogs cool the summer heat, Douglas-fir gives way to a dense mixture of western hemlock, Sitka spruce and western redcedar. At higher elevations, several species of true fir often join the mix of Douglas-fir and hemlock. The forests of eastern Oregon are greatly influenced by terrain, elevation and water availability. Ponderosa pine is the predominant species, both visually and economically, and is almost as prominent east of the Cascades as Douglas-fir is west of it. As elevation and rainfall increase, ponderosa pine gives way to a mixed conifer forest of Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine, western larch, Englemann spruce, and a mixture of true firs. Open, sparsely treed juniper forests occupy many of the dry, low-lying plateaus in eastern Oregon. The 35 species of broadleaved trees native to Oregon play fairly specialized roles in the forest. Some are early successional species, while others are specially adapted to hot, dry conditions, particularly where soils are shallow and moisture-holding capacities are low. Some broad leaved species are able to tolerate wet soils during the high-rainfall growing season. Despite the fact that no single broad leaved tree dominates any of Oregon’s forests, it is clear they are a vital part of the forest ecosystems. Red alder is the most common broad leaved tree in western Oregon and the most important hardwood by almost any standard. In cool, moist environments, it is an aggressive seeder and a fast grower, and therefore a potentially important economic resource for the state. Large, straight logs are valued for cabinets, furniture and pallet lumber. Small and crooked logs are used for toys, firewood and pulp to make paper and composition boards. Red alder is also commonly planted in Douglas-fir forests to help sites recover from root rot, particularly Laminated root rot (Phellinus wereii), and to help fertilize the site, as bacteria in their roots capture nitrogen from the air and make it usable by plants. The other primary hardwoods are black cottonwood, big leaf maple and white oak. In 1826, explorer David Douglas (of Douglas-fir fame) noted that oaks covered the low hills of western Oregon. They were a product of frequent fires - set by lightning and by Northwest Indians to improve food for deer and elk. Due to fire suppression efforts over the past 100 years, many of the open oak forests have been taken over by conifers. Despite this, Oregon white oak is still a prominent feature of the interior valleys. Forest Management in Oregon Today, Oregon’s forests cover about 11.1 million hectares, about 46% of the state’s total land mass. About 57% of all forest land in Oregon is owned by the federal government; 22% is held by private industry; 16% by non-industrial private owners; 3% belongs to the State; and 2% is in other public ownership.  The chart above shows the dramatic reduction in timber harvesting on federal lands since the end of the 1980s. This decline is largely due to environmental pressure on governmental agencies to halt or reduce logging in old growth forests. During the 1990s, the fractious debate between forestry agencies and organizations opposed to logging has largely centered on habitat for the Northern spotted owl and the Marbled murrelet. The spotted owl is widely distributed in forested regions of western Oregon and Washington, and in northwestern California, primarily in forest habitat structure and function typically associated with mature and old-growth conifer stands. They lay their eggs in tree cavities, or on a platform, often in a tree that has had its top broken off. The Marbled Murrelet is a sea-faring bird that returns to land every evening to nest. Like the spotted owl, murrelets prefers large, old trees for nesting. A surprising number of murrelets nest on state forest lands, using trees as young as 60-80 years old. This is possible because hemlock trees infested with mistletoe produce deformed branches with wide, moss-covered platforms required by the nesting murrelets. The Oregon Department of Forestry manages no old growth forest at this point in time. However, it has responded to this pressure on federal agencies by adopting a "structure-based management" approach to provide timber and habitat in perpetuity, and developing "habitat conservation plans" (HCP) to minimize habitat modification and mitigate incidental modification to the maximum extent possible. As well as providing for the welfare of the spotted owl and the murrelet, the department says these plans will help restore weak runs of Coho salmon by improving conditions in streams. The details of these two planning principles are still being formulated, under the watchful eye of Oregon’s public concern. During the last century, most Pacific Northwest forest managers have regenerated stands by "clear cutting", although various forms of selection cutting have been trialled. Douglas-fir thrives in the full sun provided by clear cutting For a number of reasons, including the failure of diameter-limit cutting to meet timber objectives and the risks of inadequate natural regeneration, clear cutting and planting with Douglas-fir became the primary method of stand regeneration by the early 1940s. Following passage of the National Forest Management Act of 1976, national forest managers faced a new set of management objectives, including maintenance of biological diversity. Since then, evolving forest practice regulations have called for the retention of trees, snags and logs during harvest with the intent of carrying these features through the next rotation. The U.S. Forest Service has now adopted a multiple-use approach to forest management on federal land. During 1997, a subcommittee of the Oregon Board of Forestry was charged with developing new rules for managing state forest land. The consensus of this subcommittee was that a multiple-use rule is too vague for state foresters needing a clear, defensible legal mandate to manage the forests to produce a sustainable supply of timber, as required by state law. The new rules focus on the growing and harvesting of trees for timber as the "leading use"; they direct the State Forester to manage state forest land for "sustainable timber harvest and revenues" while providing for other public resources. Public Values Public values regarding forests have changed rapidly in recent years. Much of the change results from significant urban growth throughout Oregon. While the population has changed, so has the public’s view of the importance of forests. Timber products and jobs remain important cornerstones of the Oregon economy. However, an increasing urban population looks to forests more for recreation, clean water, fish and wildlife. A growing number of Oregonians are calling for the protection of sensitive resources such as threatened and endangered resources. Finding an appropriate balance between competing ecological and economic values will continue to challenge public and private land managers in coming years. Written by Blair Freeman, Alumnus, World Forest Institute January
1998 |
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