IRM Forestry - Forest Management - Low Impact Harvesting

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: 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: 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: Bishop Hat’s Variable Retention Thinning
Client: Bureau of Land Management, Eugene District Contact: Peter O’toole
Dates: November 2000 - September 2002

Services Provided: Integrated Resource Management completed tree marking on 125 acres of second growth Douglas-fir forest.

Project: Kosiosko Timber Sale EIS, Tongass National Forest, AK
Client: Logging Engineering International, Inc., Dallas Hemphill
Dates: June 2000

Services Provided: Integrated Resource Management 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., Ron Bockelman, Mt. Hood National Forest, Ray Weiss
Dates: August 1998 - August 1999

Services Provided: Integrated Resource Management 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. Integrated Resource Management’s field foresters flagged and tagged unit boundaries, marked timber, and collected GPS data for the mapping of the timber sale. Integrated Resource Management used the Landscape Management System (LMS) to modify existing obtrusive clear cuts to reduce visual impacts, and mimic forest edges created by natural disturbance patterns.

Project: Barr None Waters Down Timber Sales Logging Feasibility & Analysis
Client: Siskiyou National Forest, Brian Marrs
Dates: March - August 1997

Services Provided: Integrated Resource Management 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.