TREE TALK
by Gary Martin“Opportunity”
How’s it going this month! Our longer daylight is looking nice. Now if we could just warm up a bit. Sorry my photo’s not the best; but it’s meant to show a “two-storied” forest. We have this “look” when there are tall, “overstory” trees with shorter, “understory” trees beneath them. This is a pretty typical situation and it presents some opportunities and challenges as we manage the forest. Opportunities exist when the understory is healthy. Challenges occur when the overstory is unhealthy. Let’s look at overstory trees first. They are usually older, bigger trees. At various times over the years, they have kicked out seed and created new little trees. The taller trees are shading any trees beneath them. They have a bigger, more established root system which can take water away from any smaller trees beneath them. Our main concern is the health of these overstory trees. The main thing we look for is dwarf mistletoe disease. Mistletoe really thrives in two-storied stands. This parasitic plant produces seeds that fly out of the host tree and can infect host trees in the understory. This is a bad situation. Let’s look further into this mistletoe plant in a future “talk”. So that’s our challenge; mistletoed overstory trees. We pretty much know right away that such trees need to be harvested. We’ll prescribe an “Overstory Removal”. Basically, all trees of commercial size are harvested and all the overstory trees are removed. This can work good.
Now, our challenge is to look at the understory trees. If they are healthy, we have a great opportunity to manage them into the future. If the overstory was healthy, the young, small trees are likely to be healthy and we’re in good shape! This is a great opportunity to utilize the natural regeneration and save on tree planting costs. Our next step will be a pre-commercial thinning at the appropriate time. If the overstory trees were mistletoed, the understory trees are bound to be infected to some degree. We’ll take a close look and determine how bad the infection levels are. If the majority of young trees are uninfected, we’ll manage them into the future. This is good! A nice, side note is that we have the opportunity to apply for funding from the U.S. Forest Service to help us do these surveys. They’ve helped us in the past and this works out great! If our recon shows that the majority of little trees are mistletoe infected, then we’ll need to prep the ground and plant new, healthy trees.
Sometimes, we’ll leave a few of the bigger, overstory trees as “seed trees”. If they are healthy and not infected with mistletoe, they can kick out seed for us and create some more young trees. We call this a “Seed Tree / Overstory Removal” prescription. These seed trees will serve additional purposes as “reserve trees”; providing benefits such as shade, wildlife habitat, future soil wood and diversity.
Our Ponderosa pine and western larch trees provide the best opportunities for these treatments. So anytime we walk into an area like our photo shows, we are greeted with a good opportunity. Nature has given us a chance to harvest older trees and to manage the younger trees for the future. Get ready for spring and we’ll talk with you again next month! J
Fish & Wildlife Youth Coordinator News
My time is too valuable to share
During my time here at Fish & Wildlife, I’ve talked with people who shared time with the kids or planned events for the outdoors. In this conversation I come to find out they stopped doing these things with the kids for the same reason. That reason would be “it’s too hard to plan things with the kids, when you have to do all the work yourself and the kids don’t appreciate all that you have done for them.”
Well, first, I would like to talk about kids not appreciating the work done to put on events. A lot of the kids I work with here don’t always come out and say “Thank You” but rather they ask “when we gonna do this again?” To me that is better than a Thank You, it shows the things you are offering to them are worthwhile learning or doing and if you continue to do these things the kids will be around every corner looking for you or start to offer help or ideas. That is the whole purpose in sharing your time.
Who knows, when you’re too old to hunt or fish, your freezer will still be full because you took a little bit of time out of your life to teach someone, that is how a Thank You can be appreciated in a longer but more appreciated manner.
The other purpose of this write up is that people tend to schedule events for the outdoors without the use of other resources that are out there and willing to join in.
The Fish & Wildlife Youth Education Program is not just here for the kids but also here for people interested in creating a positive attitude in the outdoors or things to do with wildlife, so if you are interested in working with kids I am interested in finding a way the program can help support your needs, by doing this it will help install other people’s ideas or plans in teaching our youth in their education. That is the main goal: to teach our youth proper ways and traditions when they go outdoors.
Please contact me here at Fish & Wildlife if you would like some help or even if you have ideas that you feel could help me.
2nd Annual No Tell’um Bighorn Show January 28th & 29th, Nespelem C.C.
This was the second year for the Bighorn show, and I hope it continues to be an annual event.
Tony Ankney and Darnell Sam have put their efforts into putting this event on for the public to enjoy, while showing horns was a major part of the show, there were booths selling items, booths like the Fish & Wildlife Youth program were able to advertise their efforts and to encourage the kids to get signed up with the program.
As a person who works with the youth all the time, this event was set up to let the kids hunting efforts be rewarded not for the size of the animal but for just bringing their antlers in. Tony and Darnell had drawings for the kids as well, not just for the adults. To me that shows their goals are to help the youth or at least show interest in them.
Hopefully, next year the Fish & Wildlife Program can help more to get involved with the show, in order to do this I need to be contacted at least five weeks in advance to get my best efforts forward.
The Fish & Wildlife program had a raffle to help create funds to purchase items to teach in and out of the schools. There were two items in the raffle. First prize was a Martin compound bow, the winner of this was Darnell Sam. Second prize was a .17 HMR chipmunk rifle and Dave Sibble of Coulee Dam won this.
People need to show their support for these events, not too many people take time out of their lives to work with the public as these two guys have, Thank You for your efforts. Hope to see the next Annual Bighorn Show!!
Aaron Carden, Fish & Wildlife
Hunter Education Class
Dates: April 6-7, 2006
Place: Nespelem Community Center (fishbowl)
Contact: Aaron Carden at 634-2151
There will be a pre-registration date to receive books and paperwork. Any kids under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a parent unless agreed on by the class supervisor.
There are other classes available throughout the year; I will put out the dates at a later time.
This class will be conducted by Rick Desautel and Aaron Carden who are currently Hunters Education Instructors for the State of Washington.
Archery and Gun Clubs
I am seeking adults in the four districts of Nespelem, Omak, Keller and Inchelium that are interested in helping start out archery and gun clubs. By having such clubs in your area, opinions or ideas about hunting or any other regulations will be heard as a group to make possible changes.
Also, it will give the youth leadership to start their education in the outdoors from different people which is needed on our reservation.
My need for these clubs is to make scheduled events not in just one area but all areas of the reservation, such as archery shoots, hunter safety classes, rifle shoots, and taking the younger generation out to harvest their first deer, etc. I will be involved with these clubs to help get them off the ground. Please contact me if you are interested or have any resources to offer.
Aaron Carden, Fish & Wildlife Youth Coordinator
Phone (509) 634-2151
Colville Reservation Conservation District (CRCD) board
A position is available for a volunteer supervisor from the Inchelium district to serve on the Colville Reservation Conservation District (CRCD) board. We are seeking a person who will be committed to attending a meeting once a month.
Other requirements include conservation concerns and/or agricultural experience, and have concerns or interest in improvements for the Inchelium area.
Please contact the CRCD office at 634-2374 on Thursdays. CRCD meetings are the 3rd Thursday of every month.
