The fire-prone forests of southern Oregon attract many people seeking their own “little slice of Heaven.” JPR recently tagged along on an OSU Extension Service seminar designed to teach newcomers from the city how to keep their woods from going up in smoke.
Many think mowing grass and fencing out critters are inviolable American traditions. In the forest, maybe not.
Tal Blankenship: “It’s like... go back to the city! Why would you move to the country and bring the city with you?”
You might call Tal Blankenship a purist, perhaps even more so than the other five forest families who host the seminar. Some cater to wildlife, some do selective logging, and some just want to make the place look nice, but all of them have a healthy respect for wildfire.
Like the one that forced Ed Reilly’s family to flee. Pointing to the mountainside above his house, Reilly describes for seminar students how the fire raged its way down the hill.
Ed Reilly: “All of this right here burned, right in front of the house. And all of that down there, that hillside up there, burned all through here. It was a 26-hundred acre fire.”
What didn’t burn? His house -- a testament to the concept of “defensible space,” that buffer between the home and anything that might catch fire.
Seminar organizer Max Bennett, an Extension Forestry Agent , says it’s probably impossible to prevent wildfires, but you might be able to control how they behave.
Max Bennett: “Yeah, you’re going to try and reduce the incidence of fire, but really what you’re trying to do is turn your forest into a forest that can survive. Instead of a fire raging through the tree crowns it will creep along on the ground or under-burn.”
To protect the home and make the forest as resilient as possible to wildfire is to reduce flammable materials. Dead trees, for example.
Bennett chops some bark off a sickly-looking tree. There, just behind the bark, wiggles a single Western Pine Beetle, perhaps a scout emitting pheromones, inviting a mass attack from thousands of his kind that can turn a live stand of trees into firewood in short order.
Bennett says if people understand the consequences of their actions in the forest, they don’t need stringent rules.
Max Bennett: “There aren’t the tablets that I come down from the mountain, and ‘here they are,’ there’re a lot of different ways that could be the right way and really a lot of it is about, what is your vision for the land, what are your goals, what are your objectives, and then how can you construct a plan that will help you realize that.”
Your objectives might be having a nice lawn, or attracting animals, but no matter what your priorities are, Bennett says they could very well change.
Max Bennett: “One of the landowners around here, he said, ‘At first I was doing wildlife enhancement. And then I decided to do wildlife DE-hancement.’”
Most of the woodland owners who hosted the seminar have managed their land for decades.
Seminar attendee Peggy Martin admits she and her husband underestimated the work it takes to maintain a home in the forest. Had she known, would she have moved somewhere else?
Peggy Martin: “That’s a very good question.”
But, in the few months since they bought their property, Martin says they’ve gotten a lot done, and now enjoy a strong sense of accomplishment and bonding with their forest.
Peggy Martin: “Since we’ve been here and seen that we can accomplish things, it is very encouraging and I do feel we did the right thing. But if somebody just told me about it without having had the experience, it probably would have scared me away. Maybe we would’ve looked for a retirement spot in Hawaii down by the beach or someplace like that.”
Moving to the forest may sound idyllic, but Max Bennett says the dream often ignores those pesky responsibilities, beyond just mowing the lawn.
Max Bennett: “The biggest misconception’s how much work it is, the idea that I’m going to be able to get out on the porch and sip my iced tea and watch everything happen and nature will take care of herself and it’ll all be good.”
The forestry seminar is one of several classes offered year-round by the Extension Service.
