Pierce County Chapter, Washington Farm Forestry Association Newsletter Volume 28, Number 3 December, 2015
President’s Message With 2015 rapidly coming to a close, and we are looking forward to 2016. Our monthly meetings will continue at the Puyallup Library on the first Wednesday from January through May. Some of the topics are already scheduled:
January 6: Tom Skaggs, Ph.D., PE, Manager, Product Evaluation, APA – The Engineered Wood Association. Cross Laminated Timber.
February 3: Dick Miller, RMZ Templates.
March 2: Rachel Konrady, King County Conservation District, and Kristi McClelland, King County Water and Land Resources. Discussion on Designated Forest Land tax status, and landowner opportunities.
April 6: This month is open for topic and speaker requests.
May 4: Kelsey Ketcheson, Forestry Program Coordinator, South King County, Washington State University Extension: She is developing various seminars in South King County. I will forward her announcements to all.
June 18, 2015: WFFA Annual Meeting, in conjunction with a celebration of the 75th anniversary of tree farming in Montesano.
Summer, 2015: Summer tour.
Board Meetings Board meetings are scheduled to be held quarterly, before the general membership meetings in January, April, July, and October.
Treefully,
Dave Townsend President, Pierce County Chapter, WFFA
TreeGreen News: December, 2015 1
Woodlot Ramblings By Bob Arnold
Firewood has been a constant source of income from our tree farm from the day we bought the place in January of 1971. It has been a source of income to friends in need of cash, Forestry students, my FFA chapter, a law student who traded firewood as a Christmas present to his parents for legal advice and on of the more memorial experiences to a cousin. In early 1972 a first cousin of mine was fired a day after giving his two week notice of leaving as a ranch manager of 8,000 acres in California. He came to Washington with a 3 month pregnant wife, a 2 year old daughter and no job in sight. His firewood inventory consisted of a two wheel drive ¾ ton pickup, a Sears and Roebuck chain saw with a 16” bar and a single bit boys axe with a 2’ handle. I ran an ad in the News Tribune and got 15 or so orders for $25 a cord. That price is pre-1973 oil shortage. It is more like $200-250 a cord today. I loaned him 2 pieces of ¾” 4’ x4’ plywood to stand up in the front and back of the pickup box. The top edges of the plywood had holes for holding the two pieces upright with rope when the wood was loaded from the sides. Hence 8’ long bed, 4’ wide bed and 4’ high plywood equals 128 cubic feet (one cord). This was when pickup sides were much lower and could be loaded while standing alongside the truck not the ridiculous jacked up things we have to deal with now. The place was logged primarily for Doug Fir in 1969-70 and the junk wood, Alder, was left standing. There were no roads just high clearance skid roads to the trees. He had backed his truck in close to the trees to reduce walking and carrying. He had one tree down, bucked, split (with a splitting maul loaned by me) and loaded by his wife, which held up the front piece of plywood. It was about a foot above the truck cab. The second tree he started on was 3-4 feet directly behind the tailgate and leaning slightly towards the truck. I told him the primary lean was towards his truck but he assured me that it would fall away from the truck as that would happen with a deep undercut on the side away from the lean. He put his undercut close to the ground to save wood and deep to direct the tree away from the truck. The tree barber-chaired (split up the trunk from the undercut) and fell and bent the tailgate first and then mashed the edge of the plywood in about 6”, which saved the cab. A deadly silence ensued, particularly from his wife. The tree was carefully processed, loaded. With the careful falling and processing of other trees the cord was done. When all the gear was loaded and it was time to leave the truck would not move even with the tires spinning. As the truck was loaded it sank down under the weight of green Alder. One of the shock absorber struts sank down on one of those stumps from the earlier logging and hidden in the sale. My cousin, both of us came from farms in Kansas, was bull headed but self-reliant. He jacked up the truck as high as it would go, crawled underneath with his chainsaw and cut as much off the offending stump as he could manage. Crawling out from under he lowered the jack so the wheels would touch and as he rolled forward and the shock absorber strut would clear the stump and he would be free to go. He put the truck in first gear, revved the engine, dropped the clutch and it rolled forward with the strut clearing the stump. As the truck rolled forward, it also dropped due to the weight of the firewood and the left end of the rear bumper caught on the stump. Deadlier silence ensued. The bumper was bent back at about a 60 degree angle and was a bit loose. Between the two of us we got it back up and tied off with some baling twine (the farmers duct tape). When they delivered the firewood to a little old lady she sweet-talked them into stacking it as well. He listened to my experiences in the firewood business with considerably more interest for the rest of the 15 orders.
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Announcements:
Puyallup Watershed Initiative: The PWI is looking for other landowners that have done EQIP, WSU coached planning, thinning, or other stewardship or planning activities that would make good examples for new or unengaged landowners. Funds from PWI will support a freelance science writer (proposed to be Andrea Watts) to craft two stories of forest landowners that showcase stewardship options available to new or unengaged landowners. This is part of the Mid-watershed COI outreach strategy to new or unengaged landowners.
Sherry Fox Sherry is remembered for her incredible energy and contribution to the causes of small forest landowners in Washington State. Sherry served in multiple volunteer leadership roles for the WFFA at the local chapter and state level from 1993-2002, as the WFFA Policy Coordinator from 2002-2010, as well as the small forest landowner representative on the Forest Practices Board from 2001-2008. Sherry’s leadership was a testament to commitment to maintaining small forest landowners as a critical and viable part of the forested landscape of Washington State. Sherry and her husband, Tom, were also active in the Washington Tree Farm Program and were honored as the Lewis County Tree Farmers of the Year in 2003, Washington State Tree Farmers of the Year in 2004, and Western Regional and National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year in 2005.
WSU Research Dr. Barrington Herman, PhD., Staff Scientist, Institute for Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, is looking for 4 or 5 sites in Pierce county to conduct a two-year study on alder and soil conditions.
Family Tree Farm Day: Elaine and Heather Hansen are working on getting a Governor's Proclamation (maybe of "Family Tree Farm Day" or something similar) on Jan. 21, 2016, and coordinating this with a SAF event and a Legislative Open House/Meeting that night. This would also be an opportunity for folks to go to legislators' offices and hand deliver invitations to our June 75th Anniversary celebration.
Got E-mail Now? If you are receiving this newsletter the old fashioned way and have a new E-mail address, please send it to Dave Townsend at [email protected]. Newsletters are sent via bcc, so your address is safe. Having your e-mail address facilitates correspondence, saves time, and saves our organization money.
Chapter Officers:
PCFFA Chapter officers and directors for 2016 are: President Dave Townsend 425-746-4523 [email protected] V. President Jeff Rodger 206-351-7871 [email protected] Treasurer Gary Snyder [email protected] Past President Bob Arnold 253-845-2242 [email protected] Newsletter Ed. Bob Arnold 253-845-2242 [email protected] Secretary Sylvia Russell 360-832-1712 [email protected] Director 10 Rick Pabst 253-862-9076 [email protected] Director 11 Kay Townsend 253-565-7172 [email protected] Director 12 Steve Townsend 253-565-7172 [email protected] Director 13 Frank Shirley 253-884-2283 [email protected] Director 14 Paula Hopkins 253-833-9111 [email protected]
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