A Run Up The Hill

Friends and family have been reporting back about the forests between our farm and the highways to both Seaside and Tillamook. The devastation from the snow/ice event last month shows large swaths of alder and fir trees that have been snapped off. Large tops are hanging precariously above the ground. While we did not see that much damage here at the farm level, Mike was anxious to get up the hill to inspect our roads and look for damaged trees.

It was in early February when we planted our newest round of seedlings in the forest and it has been that long since I have walked up the hill to check how our plots are looking. With the drier weather, Mike was able to take the logging dozer up the hill on the hauling roads. He had several trees that he had to clean out of the path as he went up the hill but he was able to open the main skid roads (these are the smaller trails that we use to drag full-length trees out of the forest, and to drive the Gator around in the sections). Our damage overall was minimal compared to those reports just a few miles away.

Most of the newest trees that have been planted seem like they are doing well, it doesn’t look like the deer or elk have been messing with the cages or the seedlings so far. But across the hillside to the test plot where the trees are now three years old, showed most of the cages torn off, the bamboo stakes tossed helter-skelter and some of the cedar trees nibbled down to stubs.

You may remember that I doused the tips of the bamboo stakes with hot sauce in an effort to thwart uninvited browsing when we noticed the chewed ends. When that didn’t seem to dissuade the browsers, I added dish soap to the hot sauce and went around dipping the tips of the bamboo. When that seemed to have little effect I went so far as to mix crank case oil in the mixture and tried again. The flavoring did not keep the wildlife from messing with the bamboo stakes but they did not seem to go back and nibble on the actual tree.

After I salvage and re-cage and re-stake what is left of the young trees, I may have to pull out my mixing bucket and try again to discourage the browsing. Just a couple more years and the trees will be tall enough to be above the browse-line and free to grow, I just have to get them to that stage.

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