Hardwoods, sale of carbon, vineyards in our future

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With so much of Curry County forested, a good portion of the county’s residents live on forested land and many residents either derive all or part of their livelihoods from the trees on their lands.

So it was with great interest that many folks came to the Gold Beach City Council Chambers last Thursday to listen to Oregon State University’s Extension Forester Tristan Huff about the economic issues facing private tree farms in the area.

What is the future of timber sales in Curry County?

How is the disease to Port Orford Cedar and red and black oak being combated?

How is coastal climate change affecting Curry County?

Is there a viable industry for selling carbon credits? Is there a real market for carbon?

Huff, newly hired, and located out of Coquille, had answers to all of these questions and more.

Future of private timber

Huff said those with tree farms should consider growing more hardwoods. The hardwood market is the future of forestry in Central Curry County. Woods such as madrone, tan oak, myrtle and Port Orford Cedar can bring a nice price for the saavy marketer. It makes for a nice niche market along with traditional woods like the Douglas fir. It also gives the small landowners some flexibility.

Sudden Oak disease

The phytaphthoras virus that kills California red and black oak is being aggressively combated in California through such methods as quarantining. With the disease spreading to the Southern Oregon and the South Coast forests it is expected that Oregon will adopt equally strenuous methods. The problem with this particular virus is that there are some 120 species which can act as hosts for the virus, said Huff, including rhododendrons and huckleberries. The disease will kill red and black oak, but will not kill myrtlewood.

Climate change

Huff said that in the Western United States generally, more intense winters and dryer summers are expected. However, that trend does not hold on the Southern Oregon Coast that has its own ecosystem along the sliver of the United States that includes Curry County. Global warming is actually expected to lead to wetter summers along the Southern Oregon Coast as fog will be a large influence.

“It’s anybody’s guess what kind of woods will grow best in the future. It’s best to be diverse and grow resilient species,” said Huff. “Don’t have everything the same age.”

Huff also said that because of global warming the kind of weather in Northern California will likely be spreading north. Besides hardwoods, Huff said, this means the weather in Southern Oregon will begin to resemble the Napa Valley. People should consider vineyards in our area.

Port Orford cedar

Huff said that nurseries have been successful in growing fourth and fifth generation disease resistant seeds with more than a 50 percent survival rate. Therefore, the Port Orford cedar may soon see a resurgence.

Carbon markets

Carbon credits are now actually sold on the commodities markets. There is a Chicago Climate Exchange. In order to be able to sell carbon, carbon output must be measured by people certified to do such things.

Huff said one’s carbon is put into a bigger carbon pool. At the moment the price of carbon isn’t very good, but Huff said that with cap and trade proposals being made in Congress he expects the price for carbon credits to improve.