Summer 2018 ForestLife
Forestry at Soda Springs: Back to the future
Schroll Timberlands has enlisted Pacific Forest Trust to advise them on forest management at the McCloud Soda Springs property to meet our shared goals, consistent with the terms of the conservation easement.
This forest has been harvested numerous times in the past hundred years. Even with this land’s excellent timber-growing soils, the removal of the huge old growth ponderosa pine, clear cuts of the mixed conifer forests, even-aged pine plantations, fires, farming, and grazing have all left their marks. Meanwhile, California has grown steadily hotter and drier, even on this rainy side of Mount Shasta.
Schroll and PFT have a vision for the future forests of Soda Springs, which looks a lot like the original forests of the Mount Shasta region did: mixed conifer stands with fewer trees per acre; more big trees with thick bark, mixed ages, and spacing that varies from tighter groups of trees to grassy openings to widely spaced trees; wet meadows with aspen stands around the many springs; and oaks flourishing alongside the pine and fir. This is a forest condition that scientists say will be more resilient to fire that passes through, better able to tolerate drought, and less susceptible to epidemics of tree-killing insects.
It’s going to take work and time to restore these conditions at Soda Springs. About 70% of the property is in 30- to 40-year-old ponderosa pine plantations. The mixed conifer stands include a few scattered older trees. The plantations are growing well but densely stocked. In places there are thickets of young trees in the understory, competing for water and raising fire danger for the property and surrounding residences. The wet meadows have shrunk as thirsty conifers have migrated toward the year-round springs.
PFT worked with the consulting forestry firm WM Beaty and Associates to prepare a Non-Industrial Timber Management Plan for Soda Springs that meets the requirements of the conservation easement. In early 2018, the first timber harvest operations occurred since Schroll Timberlands purchased the property. The logging was focused on thinning the plantations and making their spacing more varied, removing the more flammable small trees, and reducing conifer encroachment around Soda Spring Creek and Squaw Valley Creek to make more room for the aspen stands and raise the water table.
More in this Issue of ForestLife
- President’s Letter
- Restoring carbon rich, climate resilient forests across the west coast
- A first for Oregon: Mountcrest Forest conserved
- What price a watershed?
- Pioneering progress on forest and climate policy
- Donor Profile: Andrea Tuttle, PhD
- Saving beavers, headwaters, and tall timbers at McCloud Soda Springs
- A fabulous Forest Fete!