August 12, 2017: Linn County Small Woodlands Picnic

August 12, 2017: Picnic

By Sherm Sallee

On a perfect summer day in August, a group of small woodland owners and friends gathered at Udell’s Happy Valley Tree Farm near Lebanon. The purpose was to meet new and old friends, learn a little about tree farming and have a great meal. All these objectives were met.

We started at 9:00 am with coffee, tea, juice and pastries. Following introductions and a brief description of the property, we took a pickup tour to portions of the property. This included a look at the results of a couple of small clear cut areas. We discussed the procedure of site preparation and planting. One area was treated in the fall following harvest and planted that winter. The other area was left untreated for a year to allow the vegetation to sprout and was then treated and planted the following year. The area that was planted in the first year following harvest shows the results of an extra year of growth while the area treated after letting vegetation grow for a year does not show better vegetation control. As a result, we no longer delay site preparation and planting. Another point of interest here is that a portion of the area is quite wet. The harvested Douglas-fir trees were not doing well in the wet area. We decided to plant Willamette Valley ponderosa pine in this wet area. The pine is doing quite well and the Douglas-fir planted outside the wet area is also doing great.

At our next stop, we saw a 5-acre area that was clear cut and planted about 11 years ago. These trees are doing very well and will soon need to be considered for a pre-commercial thinning. At this location, we saw two trees that had lightning strikes on June 18, 2016. The strikes were about 100-yards apart. The smaller of the two trees is now dead while the larger tree continues to thrive.

Our final stop on the tour was at a pond that Bert and Betty Udell constructed when they first purchased the property in 1964. The pond is doing quite well and was a thing of beauty with the water lilies in full bloom. A fish or two even surfaced for the group.

A potluck lunch with grilled hamburgers and hot dogs followed the tour. As usual, the Linn County Small Woodland cooks created a meal to die for. Fay Sallee brought some exhibits that 4-H youth had put together showing insects found in the forest. There was also an exhibit showing different facts about Oregon. It is set up as a quiz with an answer sheet provided.

I want to thank several people who were a great help in making this event successful. Nancy Mauter put up, and took down, all the tour signs. Jim Cota, who was not able to attend, donated the hamburger from a 4-H auction beef he purchased. Brad and Christy Tye grilled the meat and arranged the food for serving. Debbie and Bill Bowling made a special trip to get a backup grill. Lee and Shirley Peterman brought extra bottles of water. Mike Barsotti took lots of photographs to document the fun. Brad Withrow-Robinson got out information about the event through his e-mails and website. He also attended the event and was available for answering many questions.