Pterodactyl Nest and Forest Planning

We've had a rangy series of piles of blackberry canes by our driveway that we collected this last year and it was time to do something with it.  After some deliberation we decided to burn it.   I cut off a 4' chuck of it, pulled it into the driveway and put a little gasoline on it.  It would not light.  I put some paper towels under it and got that burning and some canes caught, burned and went out.  Deciding it was too much trouble and not being excited about the toil of moving and trying to burn already composting vegetable matter, I remembered something P said.   "It would have been nice if we piled it in the shape of a nest."   So I did that.  It has several advantages.  I looks nice and neat.  I can walk around the top of it to compact it and the pile can be a shelter for creatures during the winter and until it breaks down.  We can add to it as we do more clearing, though much of the big clearing is done.  I will put some of our wild-forage grass seed on the bare spots where much of the pile used to be when I seed the open areas on the property in the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday, Mike Nystrom DNR forester walked the property with us.  He said our management plan should be relatively simple.   Clear around all the trees planted following the logging (~1000 trees) and spray the spots.  The Douglas-fir will tolerate the spray and we should only have to do it once.   Get and install tree protectors.  Plant more trees to bring up the density of the planting in the cut areas.  Thin our alder stands and underplant with mixed conifers.   Mostly we should be planting western redcedar.  We can plant noble fir for some early harvest as Christmas trees in the areas that we want to limit the height of the trees.  After thinking about the dawning fact that we are on a trajectory to becoming tree farmers and understanding that the first harvest of big trees will be after our lives, we decided to go ahead with it.

Dale

what you don't see

Most of what we have been doing is not particularly visible.  Mainly we have been going around to places where we removed blackberry plants, cutting emerging growth and daubing the cane "stumps" with triclopyr.  We have been using sponge tipped wands built following a design from The Nature Conservancy and they work very well.  In this picture what you don't see is the old 8' diameter satellite dish.  It's gone, hauled away by Jeff Tangen to turn into an "umbrella" sculpture.  Under the dark spot (cedar mulch) is where the old concrete jacketed steel pole that supported it is buried.

We recently delineated all three wetlands in preparation for applying for a clearing and grading permit required before applying for a building permit to remodel the small house already on the property.

Our forest stewardship plan is coming along as part of a coached planning program of classes put on by WSU extension.  We are learning more about trees, native plants, forest diseases and insects, wildlife and habitat among other related topics.  The speakers are all great and the amount of information is almost overwhelming and exciting.

Dale