Bend pine trees targeted for cutting to save aspen

BEND, Ore. (AP) - Sometime this fall, U.S. Forest Service crews plan to canoe across the Deschutes River to an aspen stand between Benham and Dillon Falls and cut down the encroaching pine trees.

As aspen stands across the West are aging and not being replaced with new trees, the agency's goal is to rejuvenate this 68-acre stand near a popular recreation spot, by removing competing trees that are shading them out.

"It's a huge, large-scale problem that's been brewing for 100 years, and it's really getting serious," said Jim Lowrie, a wildlife biologist with the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District.

The problem is that many aspen stands started as a result of fires, and need disturbances such as wildfires to clear out areas so the sprouts have a sunny area to grow, he said. But people have been actively putting out wildfires for about a century now.

"We have older stands that were probably established 60 to 80 years ago by some disturbance, probably fire, and because we kept the fires out, the conifers started to come in," Lowrie said.

The conifers compete for nutrients with the aspens, and shade them out, he said. Aspens, which sprout from the root systems of other aspens, grow best in warm soil, so the shade hinders regeneration.

"I wouldn't call it endangered, but aspen is slowly losing ground because we're preventing fire, and they only live so long," said John Thiebes, a wildlife biologist with the National Wild Turkey Federation.

To rejuvenate the stands, aspens need something like fire or the removal of trees that shade them out, he said.

"Without that influence and without regular fire that reduces the competition, aspen will slowly disappear," Thiebes said.

And aspen stands are beneficial for a variety of wildlife, he said, providing sprouts that are good food for deer, buds for migratory birds to feed on, understories where insects thrive, habitat for woodpeckers and good calving sites for elk.

In one aspen stand along the Deschutes River Trail, the Forest Service already has thinned the conifers that are smaller than 12 inches across and is planning on using inmate crews to pile the wood. And this fall, if the funding comes through, crews will cut trees at a larger site across the Deschutes River, next to lava flows from Lava Butte.

It's a stretch of the river popular with canoers, kayakers and commercial rafting trips, as well as hikers and bikers, Lowrie said. And keeping aspens there is a benefit not only for the wildlife, but for the scenic qualities the aspens bring to a forest dominated by evergreens.

The easiest way to get to that site is to canoe across, Lowrie said, so crews will take hand tools to cut down the small pine trees at that site. And where it's possible, they will try to salvage some of the trees as firewood, he said.

The Forest Service has thinned out conifers to make aspens healthier at other sites in Central Oregon and is taking a comprehensive look at which stands need help and where to focus restoration efforts, Lowrie said.

"It's become a very large problem, in terms of the scale of it," he said.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)