Forest Mangagement - Low-Impact Harvesting

Project:  Wind Rim and Bonnibel Oak and Pine Restoration
Client:  Columbia Land Trust
Dates:  March – September 2008
Services Provided:  IRM completed thinning to recreate savanna and open woodland habitat on 12 acres at the Little White Salmon Biodiversity Preserve in the Columbia Gorge.  To limit site impacts, roads and landings, cut trees were removed using a forwarder.  The project borders USFW land and is being cooperatively managed to restore oak and pine, while maintaining habitat for the threatened western grey squirrel.  The biomass for this project was utilized to produce power, thereby reducing carbon emissions compared to standard practices of burning this material in piles.  Subsequent treatments included prescribed burning and seeding of native bunchgrasses and forbs.  An additional 20 acres of Douglas-fir forest were mosaic thinned to increase vertical/horizontal structural diversity.

Project:  Seessil Oak Savanna Restoration Project
Client:  City of Eugene
Dates:  2007
Services Provided:  IRM was contracted to develop and implement restorative prescriptions for old growth Oregon white oak savanna and dense California black oak woodlands in the West Eugene wetlands owned by the Bureau of Land Management. The site contains the largest California black oak trees in the Willamette Valley. Dense woodlands were thinned to recreate open woodland and savanna structure, snags created by topping, invasive shrubs were masticated, and native forbs and grasses were seeded.

Project:  Coburg/McKenzie Oaks Restoration
Client:  The Nature Conservancy
Dates:  Fall 2007
Services Provided: IRM was hired to provide restoration services to the Nature Conservancy on the 1,244 acre Coburg Ridge Preserve, the largest privately owned nature sanctuary in the Willamette Valley. Herbicide treatments were applied to control Gernanium lucidum, a noxious forb invading Western Oregon forests. Our Lightfoot machine was used to clear invasive pear and hawthorne from savanna and prairie habitats. Douglas-fir trees threatening mature oaks were carefully thinned using a harvester-forwarder system to provide maximum protection to soils and vegetation.  Prior to implementation work, we completed an analysis of current management plans and made recommendations to improve effectiveness of treatments and monitoring.

Project:  BGB Thin
Client:  BGB, LLC
Date:  Summer 2007
Services Provided: The Brew, Bentley, Gardner (BGB) thin was a thinning from below conducted on a 40-acre parcel on the Oregon coast just South of Newport.  This operation served multiple silvicultural goals including, improving stand health, improving diameter growth rates, providing Eagle and Ospray perching habitat, as well as providing the client with some income. 

Project:  City of Newport Salvage
Client:  City of Newport
Date:  Summer 2007
Services Provided: The 100+ mile per hour winds which hit the Oregon coast in December of 2006 caused a substantial amount of windthrow in the tall Western hemlock and sitka spruce stands surrounding the City of Newport.  Because the city was considering thinning the stand surrounding the waste water treatment plant anyhow, this provided an opportunity to simultaneously reassess the forest and create some income.  After the damaged fence surrounding the facility was repaired, a third objective of removing trees within 75-feet of the fence was also implemented.  The harvesting was done by Melcher Logging of Sweethome with a harvester and forwarder combo.

Project:  Gallagher Oak Restoration
Client:  Jack Gallagher
Dates:  Spring-Summer 2007
Services Provided: In the summer of 2007, IRM implemented an Oregon White Oak restoration thinning project on a 50 acre ownership near Corvallis OR.  Treatments were designed to release Oak from conifer encroachment, and provide for the long term viability of the stand.  IRM handled all aspect of the operation which included: silvicultural prescriptions, timber marking, log marketing, logging contract supervision, and slash treatment.  IRM used a Cut-To-Length logging system to minimize damage to the residual stand, and maximize log utilization and efficiency.  Activity fuels were masticated using IRM’s Lightfoot™ machine.
           
Project:  Ohmann Oak Restoration
Client:  Janet Ohmann
Dates:  Spring-Summer 2007
Services Provided: In the summer of 2007, IRM implemented an Oregon White Oak restoration thinning project on a 32 acre ownership near Corvallis OR.  Treatments were designed to release Oak from conifer encroachment, and provide for the long term viability of the stand.  IRM handled all aspect of the operation which included: silvicultural prescriptions, timber marking, log marketing, logging contract supervision, and slash treatment.  IRM used a Cut-To-Length logging system to minimize damage to the residual stand, and maximize log utilization and efficiency.  Activity fuels were masticated using IRM’s Lightfoot™ machine.

Project:  Carnine Thinning
Client:  Doug and Linda Carnine
Dates:  2006
Services Provided:  IRM was contracted to develop and implement restorative prescriptions on 60 acres of Douglas-fir and Oregon white oak woodland ten miles southwest of Eugene. Prescriptions were developed with an emphasis on releasing viable oak while protecting Western grey squirrel nests. Treatments were completed using a cut-to-length system using a harvester and forwarder. Follow-up treatments included hand piling and burning of slash and native grass seeding of disturbed areas. 

Project:  Drinkward Thinning and Fuel Reduction Project
Client:  Cecil Drinkward
Dates:  2006
Services Provided:  IRM was contracted to reduce high fuel buildups in pine stands for this Camp Sherman landowner. Treatments were completed using a cut-to-length system using a harvester and forwarder. Our Lightfoot machine was used to remove undesirable understory accumulation and other flammable fuels.  

Project:  Metolious Preserve Fuel Reduction
Client:  Deschutes Basin Land Trust
Dates:  2006
Services Provided:  IRM was contracted to reduce high fuel buildups in pine stands on 100 acres of pine forest on the Metolious Preserve.  Treatments were completed using hand crews, falling and jackpot piling fuels. Piles were burnt and burn circles seeded with native grass.
           
Project:  Reichman Oak Woodland Thin
Client:  Lynn Reichman
Date:  Summer-Fall 2005
Services Provided:  IRM was hired to complete a variable density thinning on 100 acres of oak woodlands outside of Eugene, Oregon.  The oak woodland had been encroached with Douglas-fir trees.  One of the objectives of this project was to remove as many of the encroaching Douglas-firs as possible.  The second objective of this thinning was to help create a healthy stand by harvesting the mature Grand firs that have become infested by the fir engraver beetle.  The third objective was to generate revenue for the present and future oak restoration work that will be conducted on this property.  The landowner is currently working towards being granted a conservation easement to ensure that the property is low-impact harvested in the future and that oak restoration continues.

Project:  Kings Slough Thinning
Client:  EENW, Portland, OR
Dates:  January 2003-December 2004
Services Provided:  The Kings Slough project was an innovative thinning applied on 250 acres of young coastal spruce/hemlock/alder and Douglas-fir.  These stands were clearcut by the previous owner in the early 1980s and planted to Douglas-fir.  Swiss needle cast, a disease that slows growth of Douglas-fir has infected these stands while natural reseeding of hemlock, alder and spruce has lead to tree overstocking.  IRM used a “variable density” thinning approach, whereby <1 acre patches were thinned to different spacings.  Some areas were left unthinned, resulting in a mosaic of horizontal forest structure.  These individual patches will develop differently, thus providing a range of understory and crown conditions for wildlife.  Equally important to the landowner, the forest looks and feels unmanaged and resembles a natural landscape.

Project:  Wapiti Timber Harvest
Client:  EENW,  Portland, OR
Dates:  Winter 2003
Services Provided:  Integrated Resource Management completed a 75 acre timber harvest on property outside of Newport, Oregon.  The forest, dominated by red alder and scattered hemlock was cut using variable retention system.  Instead of clearcutting, 4-6 mature spruce and hemlock trees per acre were left dispersed throughout the unit to provide legacy structure and a genetically adapted seed source that will interseed between planted seedlings.  The unit borders the Yaquina Bay estuary.  IRM applied harvest buffers three times the width that is required by state forest practice rules to insure the sensitive areas are protected.  Harvest patterns were analyzed from viewsheds across the bay to reduce the visual impacts of tree cutting.  The area was site prep sprayed in 2005 and planted with spruce, cedar, hemlock, and alder.

Project:  Bishop’s Hat Timber Sale Timber Marking
Client:  BLM – Eugene Oregon
Dates:  March – April 2002
Services Provided:     IRM Assisted the BLM, Eugene district by providing tree-marking expertise on a 125-acre timber dale.  IRM’s crews marked the timber according to a variable density silvicultural prescriptions, and install quality control plots.

Project:  Potter Forest Thinning, Pedee, OR
Client:  Potter Family
Dates:  March - July 2001
Services Provided:  The Potter Family Forest is a 40-acre parcel 20 miles Northwest of Corvallis, Oregon composed of early-seral to mature stands of Douglas-fir, grand fir, bigleaf maple and Oregon white oak. The tract had been subject to heavy high-grade cutting up until the early 1970’s when the Potter’s purchased the property. Over the last 25 years they have been planting trees and nurturing a new forest. In 2000, Integrated Resource Management developed a stewardship plan for the tract and conducted a first thinning as part of a long-term strategy to manage the tract using uneven-age methods. This harvest included snag and downed wood creation, release of mature oaks, along with thinning and creation of small (<1 acre) group selection openings. Minimal impact logging was accomplished using a bobcat-sized skidder that offers the advantage of very low ground pressure; low soil disturbance and residual stand damage.

Project:  Kosiosko Timber Sale EIS, Tongass National Forest, AK
Client:  Logging Engineering International, Inc.
Dates:               June 2000
Services:  IRM surveyed and classified creeks for presence of anadromous fish within harvest boundaries.

Project:  Salmon Curves Timber Sale Harvest Unit Design & Layout
Client:  Subcontractor to DEA, Inc. for the Mt. Hood National Forest,
Dates:  1998 -1999    
Services provided:     IRM assisted the Mt. Hood National Forest by providing computer visual simulation for a proposed 22 MMBF timber sale, which is visible from the historic Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood.  The simulation provided direction on how to mitigate the visual offensiveness of previously harvested units in the Salmon River drainage through the use of selective silvicultural and harvest systems.  IRM’s field foresters flagged and tagged unit boundaries, marked timber, and collected GPS data for the mapping of the timber sale. 

Project:  Barr None Waters Down Timber Sales, Logging Feasibility & Analysis
Client:  Siskiyou National Forest
Dates:  1997
Services provided:     IRM provided logging feasibility and analysis expertise on a 42 MMBF timber sale.  All methods of logging systems were analyzed and units, landings, and roads were located in the field. A report was provided outlining the appropriate system for each setting and was a supporting document for the EA. GPS coordinates were provided for landing locations and proposed roads.  Mapping of each harvest unit was done using ARCVIEW GIS.

Project:  Berg Forest Thinning
Client:  Mrs. Helen Berg, Mayor, Corvallis, Oregon
Dates:  1995 
Services Provided:  Integrated Resource Management developed silvicultural prescriptions, layout out and supervised logging on a 40-acre small woodland harvest. The harvest used free thinning and group selection methods.