The Challenges of Burnt-Out Markets
The Defrees family of eastern Oregon are no strangers to the challenges that come along with forest ownership, having owned a 2,000-acre ranch for more than 100 years.
In 1986, the Defrees were hit hard when lightning sparked the Huckleberry Forest Fire — a wildfire that would go on to burn 9,600 acres in their area. The wildfire took with it virtually every ponderosa pine, Western larch, Douglas fir, white fir and black pine tree on the 500 acres of their land it swept through.
It was a hard lesson for Dean and Sharon Defrees, two of the family members who oversee the ranch. While the family cared for the land regularly, the area that had burned was a bit overgrown with trees growing close together. The fire could have been managed better had they thinned those stands of trees.
Afterwards, as they tried to restore, they were met with a series of other challenges.
With the widespread destruction of the wildfire, seedlings were in high demand with federal agencies given priority, making it hard for family forest owners to purchase them. On top of this, the burned forest was inundated with several species of bark beetle and the infestation spread to the healthy, unburned trees growing in adjacent areas.
But the Defrees persevered. They were eventually able to replant, planting 5,600 seedlings of Douglas fir, ponderosa pine and white pine helping their land regenerate.
After all was said and done, the family took on a more aggressive management style, placing more importance on the need for wildfire prevention. They rewrote their management plan, and as a family agreed to thin each section of their trees moving forward each year. This would ensure if a wildfire struck again, their larger trees would be spaced farther apart, so they could control the fire and help the land better survive.
For years, they stuck to this plan, yet outside their property factors began to change. Starting in the mid-1990s, the nearby mills began to struggle. Federal lands management and thinning normally fueled the bulk of these mills’ volume. But litigation and lawsuits surrounding Forest Service lands halted operations. Without the business, one by one the mills closed. Mill closures meant loggers and truck drivers for hauling were no longer needed, so the contractor and forester community dwindled as well.
For the Defrees’s community, 17 mills dwindled down to two. Both are 70 miles away, and only one takes pulpwood, or small diameter material. The next closest mill to take pulpwood is 175 miles away.
Without assistance, and an outlet for wood material, many landowners in the area began to pull back their management activities. Timber stands were left alone, becoming more and more overgrown with each passing year.
The Defrees family began to take on more of the workload themselves. Sharon took a master forester course through the Oregon State University Extension Program — not just because of the program’s passion for conservation and to make more informed decisions — but also due to the lack of foresters available in eastern Oregon to assist landowners. They purchased logging equipment, tractors and other gear to help take on the hard labor themselves.
Just this winter, the Defrees family took on the task of fire-proofing 24 acres along their western property line that borders federal land by thinning out the ponderosa pine stands. They did the hard labor themselves, taking down the trees that were 9 inches or less in diameter, or were diseased. But they will need to pay a truck driver to help haul the material to the pulpwood mill. The mill offered them $26 a ton, which in total will not cover their costs. Out of pocket, the Defrees will end up spending $8,000 to $10,000 to complete the job.
Other neighbors have said they too need to conduct similar thinning projects, but cannot afford it due to the lack of reasonable markets.
The Defrees know their efforts this fall are helping the health of their woods. But, they worry most about the roughly 400 more acres that need the same treatment to keep a wildfire that will inevitably strike from getting out of control and destroying the land. They will have to wait until they are able to afford to make that investment, unless more market opportunities become available.
The couple often reflect on the decades before, when markets existed and management was affordable, and hope for a day when this balance is back to normal and the community is safer from wildfire.
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