Background:
In 1952, the 260 acres that is now the Cameron Tract was purchased by Starker Forests. The company vigorously managed the area for next several decades using a regiment of harvesting, replanting, road building and small scale prescribed burning. In 1994, Elizabeth Starker Cameron made the decision to donate the land to Oregon State University with the intent to be a demonstration forest aimed at small woodland owners. In 1995 and 1998, there were two small scale timber harvests on the property and a salvage sale in 2004 after a severe ice storm toppled nearly 14 acres of Douglas-fir trees.
Since then, official activity in the Cameron Tract has been limited partly due to cutbacks in the harvesting on the college forests. Since the Cameron was donated to the university, the College of Forestry uses the area as a field destination for various forestry classes. Residents living adjacent in the Soap Creek drainage as well as mountain bikers and horseback riders have become some of the Cameron Tract’s most frequent recreation users. Now, in 2013, an interdisciplinary effort from Oregon State University, the College Forests and Oregon State University Extension Services seeks to revitalize management activity in the Cameron and fulfill the original objective of the land set forth by Elizabeth Starker Cameron.
My role as a Master of Forestry candidate working on the Cameron Tract will be to assist with each activity and process that takes place on the land over the next year and a half. I plan to document each step of the process through a field journal, blog and photographs. I will also be an active part of facilitating communication the Soap Creek community and OSU as well as assisting in developing an interpretative program on the forest. Success of the Cameron Tract will involve a truly collaborative effort of each party involved and a transparency with adjacent residents and landowners.
Why is the Cameron Tract so important?
Privately managed forests have become vitally important to the US timber market with the decline of harvesting on federal land. Government owned lands comprise 60% of the forested area in the state, but only produce 16% of all timber harvests. Non-industrial private forests make up 16% of the non-government forestland base, but the ecological, social, and economic impact of this ownership category is disproportionately large. Private forests occupy a distinctive space in that they contribute to local economies and often provide a link between the urban and rural fringe. Managing these areas for sustainable multi-use is an innovative and new concept. The Cameron Tract provides the ideal venue for engaging in conversation about the place of small-scale forestry and demonstrating these areas can be actively managed in a way that is sustainable and lucrative for the family who owns them.
There will be many challenges to small-scale private management in the near future, as more people will be managing smaller holdings of land with less experience in the field of forestry. This is also due to a large number of retirees moving from urban to rural areas. The average size of a privately owned tract of timber is less than 100 acres. Half of the family forest owners have either harvested trees or expressed interest to in the future, but only 3% of them have a written forest-management plan. Trends with owners that are ageing and land use patterns suggest wide scale transfers of family forestland in the near future. There is strong evidence supporting the pivotal role small-scale forest owners’ play in the larger scope of forest management in the United States. It is important to continue to develop an understanding of opportunities available in recreation, forest management and to offer outlets for education so small scale land owners can become better forest stewards and understand how their management practices can assist with achieving optimal land health.
What will be happening this summer?
This summer the College Forests plans to lightly thin approximately 25 acres of timber in the interior of the Cameron. The unit contains high quality trees ideal for use as high value utility poles, which are currently selling for up to twice the value of regular timber sold to lumber mills. This project will involve cutting 5-8 trees per acre. The resulting stand’s appearance should not be detectable from Soap Creek road or anywhere outside of the boundaries of the demonstration forest. Work has already begun to improve the lower road in the tract to allow for the movement of equipment and the extraction of the trees. Over the course of the next few months, you may notice increased truck traffic on Soap Creek Road, Sulphur Springs Road and Tampico Road towards Highway 99. You may also hear the distant buzz of a chain saw or machinery. All harvesting and loading activities will take place during the week and no activity or hauling is planned for weekends and holidays. The selection and removal of the trees will serve as a demonstration for small woodland owners who may have a similar stand of timber on their land. This will be a first step towards making the Cameron Tract into a true demonstration forest. Revenue from the pole sale will be used to help fund further teaching, research, education and demonstration on the tract.
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