International Fellow SpotLight: Abiodun "Abi" Solanke

Each month, you can learn about one of the WFC’s visiting International Fellows who has been selected for a six-month assignment to collaborate with forestry practitioners here in the Pacific Northwest. The Fellows are passionate, engaged in their local communities, and committed to driving change in forest management practices around the globe.

International Fellow Spotlight: Samantha Kwan

Each month, you can learn about one of the WFC’s visiting International Fellows who has been selected for a six-month assignment to collaborate with forestry practitioners here in the Pacific Northwest. The Fellows are passionate, engaged in their local communities, and committed to driving change in forest management practices around the globe. 

Join us at the World Forestry Center headquarters in Portland on May 26^th for a unique opportunity to meet these global leaders in natural resources management from eight different countries. Read more and RSVP here.

Hopkins Demonstration Forest

Date of Visit: July 17, 2015 
Type of event: Field trip 
Organization: Hopkins Demonstration Forest
Location: Oregon City, Oregon
Hosts: Peter Matzca/ Hopkins Forest Educator
International Fellows: Sarita Lama (Nepal), Miguel Sanchez (Bolivia), Robert Mijol (Malaysia), Stuty Maskey (Nepal), Qingxin Liu (China)
WFI Staff: Shadia Duery / International Fellowship Manager, Dona Ye / Intern from China

This day we went on a tour of a demonstration forest located in the outskirts of Portland. This 140 acres of forest tries to mimic the decisions that small forest land owners have to make to have a financially sustainable operation.

We observed different management practices side to side: even age, uneven age, thinning.
We learned that:

• Thinning can expose forests to abiotic damage.
• Abiotic factors can be the most damaging to a forest, i.a. snow can snap tops, freeze can kill trees, and wind.
• Stand Density Index (SDI) is the relationship of the sizes of the trees and the amount of trees per area, this relationship helps identify when is the optimal time for thinning to reduce density, and tree competition. 
• Alder and Pine like wet places and are good for root rot replacement species.
• Ponderosa Pine has a more fire resistant bark than other species.

MC Ranch

Date of Visit: June 22-26, 2015 
Type of event: Field trip
Organization: MC Ranch
Location: Eastern, Oregon
Hosts: Rex Christensen/ MC Ranch Forest Farm Manager
International Fellows: Sarita Lama (Nepal), Miguel Sanchez (Bolivia), Robert Mijol (Malaysia), Stuty Maskey (Nepal), Qingxin Liu (China)
WFI Staff: Shadia Duery / International Fellowship Manager, Rick Zenn / Senior Fellow, Dona Ye / Intern from China

Every year the fellows go on a 5 day learning adventure to MC Ranch in Eastern Oregon. The main goal of the trip is to learn how to manage natural resources in a dry ecosystem. Fellows learn by observing the practices done by an actual ranch manager (Mr. Rex Christensen).

Day 1

We began our adventure by driving from the western to the eastern side of the Oregon Cascade Mountains all the way to the Blue Mountains. MC Ranch is located on the outskirts of La Grand Oregon. A beautiful wood barn right next to a river lodged us during our stay.

Driving through The Gorge we got a taste of the bountiful cherry and peach production of this year.

Managing Change in our Community Forests: A Toolbox for Action

Date of Visit: June 4, 2015 
Type of event: Conference
Topic: Managing Change in our Community Forests: A Toolkit for Action
Organization: Oregon Community Trees
Location: World Forestry Center, Portland, Oregon
International Fellows: Stuty Maskey (Nepal), Sarita Lama (Nepal), Miguel Sanchez (Bolivia), Robert Mijol (Malaysia)
WFI Staff: Shadia Duery / International Fellowship Manager, and Rick Zenn / Senior Fellow

Invasive pests, changing climate regimes and increased urban density will cause changes in our urban forests in the coming years. What tools and strategies can managers use today to help our community forests adapt? This one-day conference provided participants with a toolkit full of possibilities, based on the most recent research in our field.

Keynote Address–Making Arborly Love: Urban Forestry Advocacy in the 21st Century
Erica Smith Fichman,TreePhilly Program Manager, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation

• Do your research
• Find good partners
• Build your brand

Soil! What it is and How it Works
James Cassidy, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon
Article about J. Cassidy

• Mollisols are the best soil type for agriculture (US has 28%)
• The answer is: Add organic matter!
• Organic matter and clay have a negative charge allowing for minerals (nutrients) that have a positive charge to attach to them.  

Fire Without Borders

Date of Visit: May 29, 2015 
Type of event: Field tour
Topic: Managing Forest Fire Hazards
Organization: Oregon State University / Forestry Extension
Location: Estacada, Oregon
Host: Glen Ahrens / Oregon State University / Forestry Extension
International Fellows: Stuty Maskey (Nepal), Sarita Lama (Nepal), Miguel Sanchez (Bolivia), Robert Mijol (Malaysia)
WFI Staff: Shadia Duery / International Fellowship Manager, and Rick Zenn / Senior Fellow

This field trip focused on learning about the behavior of the 36-Pit fire as told by those who experienced it, including details on fuel conditions, topography, weather, and the suppression effort. Discuss management implications with respect to fire resistance, fire resiliency, and fire safety.

Last September an unprecedented forest fire burned on Oregon's NW side, Pit 36 Fire. Over 5,500 acres of forest on Federal and private land burned down over 9 days. Low relative humidity, high temperatures, high East winds, and steep topography created the perfect conditions for a forest fire of large magnitude to spread fast.  Usually wind conditions slow down during night hours, but in this case they did not, allowing for the fire to grow overnight. The fire was human caused by a target shooting spark.

Forest fires are monitored with satellite imaging to declared them out, and this one has not been declared out yet, waiting upon a satellite image coming in the fall.

2015 Forests and The Economy Symposium

Date of Visit: May 27, 2015 
Type of event:  Symposium
Topic: 2015 Forests and The Economy Symposium
Organizers: Investigate-West and the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication
Location: Portland, Oregon
International Fellows: Stuty Maskey (Nepal), Sarita Lama (Nepal), Miguel Sanchez (Bolivia), Robert Mijol (Malaysia)
WFI Staff: Shadia Duery / International Fellowship Manager, Eric Vine / Executive Director

The Portland symposium featured leading experts that discussed innovative ideas and policy proposals for managing Oregon's forests.


The Missing Middle: Toward a Model of Sustainable Forestry for Oregon’s Private and Public Forestlands 
Panelists:

•     Brent Davies, Director of Forestry at Ecotrust
•     Peter Hayes, Co-owner, Hyla Woods and former Oregon Board of Forestry member
•     George McKinley, Executive Director, Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative

Sustainable forestry was defined as mimicking natural processes to attain long term forest health, managed for multiple values to meet human needs without degrading the resource.

Issue: Of the 4.3 million acres of family forestland is 1.9 is inside or within 1 mile of an urban growth boundary.
Q. How to compensate private owners to avoid having to change land use?
A. Aggregate small forestland owners to compensate them as a group. Embrace a landscape view to manage the forest with a shared vision.

Hyla Woods is a 1,000 acres forest land on the Oregon Coast that manages its land under FSC principles. FSC certification is not helping to provide premium prices for their products.

Issue: Not enough mill capacity in rural areas. Forests could be managed under restoration practices, providing small diameter logs (<10") from thinning to mills. There should be tax incentives for this mills to open.

Issue: Timber prices fluctuate a lot. How do you manage for the long term? Forests can be managed in multi treatment lots allowing for a diversification of products at extraction. Markets for small woods is starting to develop (i.e. Cross Laminated Timber CLT).