With Nebraska Forest Service reporting an 18 percent average loss in tree canopy across communities in the state, the Upper Niobrara White Natural Resources District (NRD) is reaching out to landowners and partnering with other agencies to replant its lost trees.
“It’s hard to identify a single cause. I’d call it a chronic problem,” Upper Niobrara White NRD General Manager Pat O’Brien said. “We’re re-educating producers about the value of windbreaks; we’re really working on trying to get as many trees and shrubs in on the ground as we can and working with producers to get things modified for them.”
In the past 15 years, wildfires have stripped more than 235,000 acres of forest just in the Pine Ridge area of the district alone. Fires in Niobrara Valley burned another 76,700 acres.
Add to that drought, early winter freeze killings, flooding – the west side of the state where Upper Niobrara White NRD is located typically is dry land – and disease, and the large ponderosa stands and other coniferous trees have been hit hard. The area is also still reeling from economic shifts a decade ago when commodities skyrocketed and many producers removed windbreaks and buffers to gain cropland and additional income.
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Owen County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) may be putting the town of Southport, Indiana back on the map through conservation efforts that include replanting acres of bottomland.
“This is great for forest management and forest restoration education,” Owen County SWCD Executive Director Devin Brown said. “There are several different types of plantings to show landowners different techniques if they want to restore their bottomland.
“We want it to be more restoration and recreation,” he said.
The town of Southport was wiped off the map with flooding in 1914; void of residences and businesses, the area became agricultural land for property owners that lived outside the area. But Owen County – with about 22,000 residents – maintains a robust forest products industry.
The SWCD wanted to get back to that in this bottomland area just outside of the town of Spencer and also create a place the public and various groups can visit to see different conservation elements.
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VIEW: NACD-NASF WEBINAR SERIES
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The NACD Forestry Resource Policy Group (RPG), in conjunction with the National Association of State Foresters (NASF) Forest Resource Management and Forest Markets Committees, held a webinar series on June 22.
Click the links below to view the recordings on NACD's YouTube channel:
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Minnesota
SWCD helps landowners identify oak wilt
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Oak trees are some of the most abundant trees in Minnesota, and they’re valuable for wildlife, lumber, firewood and shade. But the disease called oak wilt poses a threat to these trees — some of which are stately, longtime landmarks in communities across the state.
“I would say the reaction that a lot of these landowners had, with finding out that they had oak wilt, was really a feeling of being overwhelmed,” said Shannon Wettstein, district manager at the Morrison Soil and Water Conservation District, who works with landowners.
Oak wilt is not new to the state: it was discovered in 1945 and has been confirmed in 40 Minnesota counties. But the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is now finding cases farther north than before.
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Washington
District co-hosts
'Wildfire Walk'
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The walk provided perspectives on the past, present and future of Methow Valley forests from Susan Prichard, a Methow Valley resident and fire ecologist with the University of Washington, and Paul Hessburg, a landscape ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station.
“This forest is going to change tremendously,” Hessburg told the Methow Valley News. “The evidence is so overwhelming that we have to have a discussion about what we want for our forests.”
About 20 people participated in the Wildfire Walk, which was co-hosted by the Okanogan Conservation District and Fire Adapted Methow Valley.
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Wyoming
District assists with ash tree evaluations
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The Cheyenne Urban Forestry Division along with the Laramie County Conservation District will again be offering ash tree evaluations to gauge tree health and offer advice for care, replacement, and/or protection against emerald ash borer (EAB).
The University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension and Wyoming State Forestry Division will be assisting with evaluations as well.
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