Benton Small Woodland Association Annual Picnic

Saturday, July 26 at 11:30, Castle Family Forest near Wren

The Castle Family Forest is our favorite location for the picnic. There is a shelter with picnic tables in a beautiful setting, with a restroom on site. After lunch you can take a walk on trails winding through the diverse forest.

Bring your own lunch and chairs.  Drinks and dessert will be provided.   

Directions: The Castle Family Forest is located on the Kings Valley Highway (Hwy 223) about a mile north of Hwy 20.  Watch for signs on the west side of the highway, just north of the Wren Community Hall. 

The longitude and latitude are 44.604130, -123.425829.

Limited parking at the shelter. Parking is available just inside the gate and across Highway 223.

No registration is required.  Bring a friend!

For more information, contact Sarah Edwardsson at sedwardsson@sbcglobal.net

Saturday, July 20, 2025 3-6:00 p.m.

At the tree farm and ranch of Rick and Brenda Epp

9216 Lookingglass Rd

BBQ dinner, beverages, and table service provided

Douglas County Livestock Association

Oregon Farm Bureau

Douglas Small Woodlands Association

Bring a chair and a potluck dish to share

RSVP by Friday, July 11

douglaschapteroswa@gmail.com -

oswa.org/douglas or QR Code:

Bring a neighbor, Meet a neighbor, Be a neighbor, See you there!

Guest speakers, Landowner information, Youth Activities, and more!

Fox Tree Farm Summer Tour

Saturday, July 12, 9:00-1:00

Tree Farmer of the Year 1997

-200 Acres Mechanical Thinning

-Redwood Planting 2007

-Pond Development

-Off-Grid New Home

Registration Required by Friday, July 11

9:00 Social with Coffee and Doughnuts by AgWest

10-12:00 Tree Farm Tour

12:00 Lunch provided by the Douglas Chapter and the Fox Family

Directions to tree farm provided upon registration.

You are invited to an upcoming educational field day hosted by the OSU Forestry and Natural Resources Extension: Thinning Your Forest - Mark Havel Memorial Field Day.

This event offers a valuable opportunity to learn about forest thinning and to remember our friend and partner in forestry education, Mark Havel, who was instrumental in establishing the Thinning and Pruning Demonstration area at Hopkins Demonstration Forest.

Overview: Once you have established a stand of trees, thinning becomes your most important treatment for directing the course of forest development and stand conditions to meet your objectives. This field day will combine instruction and demonstration to cover:

• How trees compete and grow

• Making decisions based on age, size, and season for thinning

• Spacing and selection of trees to remove or retain

• Methods for harvesting and yarding small trees in crowded stands

Date & Time: Friday, July 12, 2025

• 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM: Optional gathering with morning welcome and refreshments, dedicated to remembering Mark Havel.

• 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM: Educational field day on forest thinning.

Location: Hopkins Demonstration Forest 16750 S Brockway Rd Oregon City, OR 97045

What to Bring: Please bring appropriate outdoor clothing and footwear for a workshop in the woods. Coffee, hot water, and morning refreshments will be available.

Accessibility & Accommodations: This workshop will take place in the woods, involving periods of standing and walking on uneven terrain. A bus will be available to transport individuals into the woods from the Hopkins Demonstration Forest parking lot.

Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made by July 7, 2025, to Jean Bremer at 503-655-8631 or jean.bremer@oregonstate.edu. If you have any questions about the format or if cost is a barrier to your participation, please also contact Jean Bremer.

Cost & Registration: $5.00 per person. Please register online at: https://beav.es/N6o

Special Appeal from OSU Extension Forester Glenn Ahrens: Glenn Ahrens and the event organizers are trying to find someone who has been using the small-scale logging equipment and other “future forestry products” that Mark Havel made. They are hoping to feature some of Mark’s tools and equipment in one of the demonstrations in a young timber stand at Hopkins. If you have or know of someone who has Mark Havel's equipment and might be willing to participate, please contact Glenn Ahrens directly via email at glenn.ahrens@oregonstate.edu.

This is a wonderful opportunity to learn, connect, and honor Mark Havel's contributions to our forestry community. We hope to see you there!

View our full schedule on the 2025 OSWA Convention Page

Lodging

A variety of hotel, guest house, and campground options are available in the corvallis area.

Tour # 4

Crestmont Farm: Ecologically Enhanced PCT (Pre-Commercial Thinning)
Thursday, June 19 • 1 PM - 4:30 PM

Meet at Philomath Scout Lodge.
Carpool for tours. Short walks. Dress for the weather.

Travel to the award-winning Crestmont Farm property with owner Ed Easterling and his team for this special tour. Traditional Pre-Commercial Thinning (PCT) operations leave stands with dense slash, limited wildlife habitat, elevated fire risk, and challenging firefighting conditions. Crestmont’s creative Plantation Transformation Strategy (PTS) addresses those issues and more. This tour contrasts PCT and PTS with hands-on demonstrations of cost-effective practices to deliver highly valued ecological, fire-resilient, and aesthetic results, proven with adapted variations over hundreds of acres.

https://www.crestmontfarm.com/

Tour # 6

Oregon State University Research Forest Hiking Tour
Thursday, June 19 • 1 PM - 4:30 PM

Meet at Philomath Scout Lodge.
Carpool for tours. Forest Trails. 2 miles. Dress for the weather.

Join Dr. Mark Swanson, OSU’s Starker Chair of Family Forestry for an insider’s guide to field research conducted at the world-famous McDonald and Dunn Forests and the Peavy Arboretum…

https://extension.oregonstate.edu/people/mark-swanson

https://cf.forestry.oregonstate.edu/our-forests/mcdonald-and-dunn-forests

Tour # 3

Starker Forests: Successful Reforestation
Thursday, June 19 • 1 – 4:30 PM

Meet at Philomath Scout Lodge.
Carpool for tours. Short walks. Dress for the weather.

Travel to the nearby Starker Forests properties with the company’s professional foresters to see recent plantings, site preparation, learn about tree selection and proper tree planting techniques, protecting trees, conducting inventories, and complying with Oregon’s reforestation rules.

https://starkerforests.com/

Tour # 5

Foraging Your Woodlands Walk
Thursday, June 19 • 1 PM - 4:30 PM

Meet at Philomath Scout Lodge.
Carpool for tours. Short walks. Dress for the weather.

Explore the Oregon State University Peavy Arboretum with local Extension Forester Lorelle Sherman. Summer is a season of abundance in our Oregon woodlands. From wild herbs and salad greens to berries and shoots and edible blossoms, this is an amazing time to learn about the diversity of wild foods around us. This hands-on workshop is designed for those who love exploring nature but are new to foraging. We will cover the core aspects of plant identification, ethical harvesting practices, and how to safely prepare your wild harvest. 

https://extension.oregonstate.edu/people/lorelle-sherman

https://cf.forestry.oregonstate.edu/our-forests/arboretum-facilities

Tour # 2

Wren Hill Lumber Company & Patrick Lumber Manufacturing Mill Tours
Thursday, June 19 • 7:30 AM – Noon.

This tour can be paired with Thursday afternoon tours.
Carpool from Philomath Scout Lodge. Wear closed-toed shoes or work boots.

The Patrick Lumber Manufacturing facility is a local resaw operation specializing in Oregon hardwoods and making a wide array of products for many different industries. Patrick Lumber is expanding into new markets and adding a new sawmill to their operation. Wren Hill Lumber Company opened in 2023 and is a fairly new arrival in the sawmill industry. They are installing a larger system to handle logs up to 31” diameter. They buy many conifer species.

https://www.patlbr.com/

https://www.wrenhilllumber.com

Tour # 1

Lamers Forests: Discover Coast Redwoods
Wednesday, June 18 • 2-5 PM

Note Wednesday date. Meet at Lamers Forests near Monmouth. Short walks, dress for the weather.

For 44 years, Lamers Forests have experimented with planting numerous tree species. Their Coast Redwood experiments go back 37 years, and the plantings were so successful they are now planting only Coast Redwood. Lamers Forests now has more than 20,000 Coast Redwoods planted on their property. You will see Coast Redwood planted on varying sites from near swamp to dry upland sites from 200’-600.” You will also see their extensive road network, thinned stands of Douglas fir, several ponds they built, and much more.

Columbia County Chapter Board Meeting

June 10, 2025

7:00pm

Fern Hill Grange, Fern Hill Rd, Rainier OR

Neighbor to Neighbor Tour

Visit the Stimson sawmill and the Matteson Demonstration Forest

Yamhill County Small Woodlands Association Annual Meeting

Elections, Member Meeting, Optional $20 meal

Speaker TBD

Join the Benton Small Woodlands Association members at an informal gathering at Greg and Marilyn Palmer's tree farm near Monroe.

We will meet at 6 pm on Thursday, May 22.

The 34-acre property has diverse forestry features, including:

•    3 acres of meadow and 1/4 acre of vineyard

•    23 acres of older, naturally seeded forest. Part of this area was logged in 2022. The larger trees (24" DBH) were removed. The remaining forest contains multiple species.  Clusters of oak trees have been preserved.

•    8 acres of young stand (15 to 30 yr) that was formerly Christmas trees. This is being thinned annually for firewood.

•    A small clear cut of 2 acres that has been replanted

•    Electrical power sources other than conventional grid

•    A very welcoming pond

Our special guest will be Brentley Hartman, who is a Community Wildfire Forester for ODF. He will share advice about home hardening, water for fire control, evacuation routes, and other considerations for those living in forested rural areas.

We will be walking will be across a meadow with hidden ruts and logging trails, with approximately 200 feet change in elevation.

Address:  23981 Hawley Creek Road, Monroe

Date and time:  Thursday, May 22, 6 p.m.

 Carpooling is encouraged - bring a friend!  If you have questions, call Sarah at 541-231-7829 or send to sedwardsson@sbcglobal.net