Forest Management

Fuels Reduction

The Natural Resources Department works in parternship with Douglas Forest Protective Association and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to carry out fuels reduction activities on Tribal forest lands. These activities include thinning excess trees, pruning low branches, and treating the resulting "slash" by one of several methods. Light volumes of slash may be "lopped", or cut into short pieces and scattered about the forest floor to decompose, while heavier slash loadings are usually piled and burned during the wet season. Where road access allows, slash may also be chipped with a mobile chipper.

Dense stands of trees with low-hanging branches can create serious fire conditions should a wildfire start. The objective of fuels reduction work is to reduce the volume of forest fuels so that any wildfire that happens to start is easier to control. A side benefit of the thinning is that scarce water, sunlight, and nutrients are shared among fewer trees. The result is a healthier forest.

Recent fuels reduction work on Tribal lands includes 47 acres of cutting, lopping, and scattering on the Winston property adjacent to Wildlife Safari. An earlier project on the same property involved cutting and piling of slash; these piles will be burned during the coming wet season. Another recent project included cutting and piling, then burning the piles on 43 acres of Tribal properties along the Canyonville-Riddle Highway and Rod & Gun Club Road. Our fuels reduction work is targeted toward the "wildland-urban interface", or areas where population centers meet rural forestlands, as well as areas surrounding critical infrastructure, such as the Tribe's drinking water system near Canyonville.

Noxious Weeds

The control of noxious weeds is a constant battle throughout the western United Sates. Tribal lands are no different. Noxious weeds displaced native plants, occupy agricultural land that could be growing forage or other valuable crops, and present potential harm to animals when toxic weeds are consumed. The Tribe works with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, Douglas Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to manage noxious weed outbreaks on Tribal lands. Treatments include both manual pulling and herbicide spraying.

The most serious noxious weed on Tribal lands is Paterson's Curse. Paterson's Curse has toxic properties similar to those of Tansy Ragwort, and is palatable to livestock. This weed is known to occur at only two locations in Oregon: near Lebanon in Linn County (detected in 2003), and near Dillard in Douglas County (confirmed in 2004). The Dillard site includes approximatley 70% private land and 30% Tribal lands. The Tribe has been a funding cooperator in Paterson's Curse eradication efforts since treatments began in 2004.

Another target weed on Tribal lands is Wooly Distaff Thistle, considered by some to be the worst of all Douglas County thistles. Wooly Distaff Thistle is not palatable to grazing animals and wildlife, is rigid and spiny at maturity, and does not "melt down" in the winter. Thus, Distaff Thistle forms dense patches that take land out of production. This weed occurs on 37 sites in Oregon, with 34 of those sites in interior Douglas County. Distaff Thistle occurs on and near Tribal lands near Dillard. Treatment began in 1987, the same year Wooly Distaff Thistle was detected in the area.

Other recent and planned projects include work on Himalayan Blackberry, French and Scotch Brooms, and Yellow Starhistle. Sometimes these control efforts are in conjunction with another project, for instance the conversion of areas of noxious weeds along streams to native shrubs and trees, while other times the control  work stands on its own. In all cases, the objective is to ride the site of noxious weeds and replace the weeds with more desirable plants.

Forest Management Planning

An important conponent of any planning effort is knowledge of the resources at  hand. In forestry, an inventory provides that knowledge. A forest inventory is accomplished by an intensive colleciton of data on a systematic grid of plots spread througout the forest. Data colleciton includes tree and shrub composition, size, age, growth rates, and many other parameters. These data are summarized to help answer management questions such as: How fast are the Tribe's forests growing? Where are culturally-important shrubs such as California Hazel found on Tribal lands? What restoration opportunities, such as oak woodland restoration, exist on Tribal lands and where are they located?

The Natural Resources Department is currently planning a forest inventory project with the support of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This work will be informative for developing a forest management plan for Tribal lands. Such a plan, along with the environmental assessment required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), will soon be underway on Tribal lands.