Not too many youngsters would pass up the opportunity to get their hands in the dirt and enjoy a crisp but comfortable morning in the woods. And for their parents or grandparents, the 33rd annual Starker Forests tree-planting day on Saturday provided the option to create family memories.
Heck, they even got a hot dog, cup of hot chocolate and a T-shirt.
Beyond those fun aspects to the activity, the event also educates. Youngsters learn how to plant a tree, as one might expect, and also get a fair idea of what a forester does for a living. Plus, the activity just might plant an important seed in the minds of the participants to appreciate and value what trees do for the world.
“Given the advent of electronics and video games, we love having the opportunity to have our local youth out here and experience what it’s like for us foresters when we work in the forest,” said Jennifer Beathe, forester and outreach manager for Starker Forests. “We want to give them the chance to think about the future and think about the fact that they’re doing something for the benefit of the future here in the forest.”
Philomath High School forestry students help at the event, which this year was located on a section of land off Decker Road that is still often referred to as the Dan Farmer Tree Farm site. A 3-acre area was plotted for the planting of 1,200 trees.
“This is a little bit of a passion,” Philomath High forestry instructor Simon Babcock said while taking a timeout from assisting students. “I know a little bit of the history of this area, too, so it kind of sends it home.”
Caroline Puckett, PHS senior, said she enjoys showing “the kids a small part of the process of how we get our favorite products — paper towels, things like that that we use everyday — and letting them feel like they’re a part of that.”
Sophomore Caleb Babcock loves being a part of the event with participants gaining an understanding of the future outcomes.
“I just like being in the outdoors and then seeing the whole process of planting a tree, having a tree get big and then harvested and everything — it’s just the process is really cool,” he said.
Beathe said the event included 120 youth tree planters along with 100 adults and about 25 Boy Scouts that set up “the kitchen” and took care of the post-planting food and drink.
Douglas fir is the predominant species to be planted, Beathe said, but several other types also go into the ground, such as western red cedar, grand fir, ponderosa pine, incense cedar and sometimes Alaska yellow cedar, hemlock, yew and spruce.
“The rotation age at Starker Forest is about 50 to 70 years so it’s a little older than the industry average but it fits our values and our culture at Starker Forests,” Beathe said. “For every tree we harvest, we’re replanting three in its place. There’s no more of a sustainable business model than active forest management.”
Simon Babcock said the event helps his students develop solid leadership skills. Sixteen serve as plot leaders.
“We’ve also been setting up the plots over the past couple of weeks, so they also get the reforestation side of it — selection, measurements,” he said. “And then also they have to instruct people on how to plant properly, so there’s that silviculture side of things for sure.”
Each planting spot gets a bamboo stake.
“We want to maintain that spacing so there’s no question about where to plant the trees,” Beathe said. “We will have tree-planting inspectors come through on Monday and if any of the trees aren’t planted quite right, they will replant them so they survive. We want to have a really high seedling survival.”
The students embrace the opportunity to get out of the classroom.
“I keep coming back — it’s a fun experience,” said Puckett, who was participating in tree-planting day for the third time. “It allows me to use some leadership (skills) to show a group of people how to do something. I think it’s cool that I know how to do something well enough to show other people.”
Simon Babcock said it’s been a learning experience for him as well over his two decades of participating in the event.
“The first one I did was just over the ridge over there,” Babcock said. “We go by and visit them when we’re out here doing these, just so I can tell them the stories about how it has changed, how it’s gotten better.”
The site of this year’s planting has been used for educational purposes over the years, including stream studies with an easy-to-access location.
“It’s also got beautiful trees that grow here as well,” Simon Babcock added. “So it’s always been a preferred tree farm for us to go visit and see. They’ve got a lot going on — lots of these different species as well.”
Indeed, a lot to be seen.
“There’s also the old stumps from the first time they harvested before so it just has a lot of mystic value to it,” he added. “So if you see a big stump with springboard holes, those are the ones I’m talking about.”
Starker Forests completed its planting season, so Saturday’s event was an addition to the work that’s already been done.
“We start planting in the fall once the rains come,” Beathe said. “That allows us to take advantage of soil moistures, warmer soils, and we get some root growth during that time. Then the trees shut down and go dormant for the winter.
“Those trees that were planted in the fall, when they start growing in the spring, they have a head start,” she added, “but this is a very normal time to plant trees into February and March and if you’re up in the mountains under snow, you know you’re going to be planting in May maybe — that would be normal for that area.”
In all, Beathe said Starker plants about 500,000 trees a year.
“We’ve been in business for 88 years this year, so I can’t say we’ve planted 500,000 a year since then but that’s a lot — millions and millions of seedlings over the years.”
