July 7, 2023

After a very long week at fire school, we are back at the Starker office this week. As much as I enjoyed last week, I’m excited to get back to see what some normal weeks at Starker look like.

On Monday, Emily, Sabrina and I went out with Fred to work on cruising. I had never done it before and while it was definitely a lot of information to take in, it wasn’t as hard as I thought. I thought we were going to have to measure every tree in a stand and that is not the case. It is more like four to eight trees per plot.

For a measure plot we get the height, DBH (diameter breast height), crown percentage, and defect of each tree within the BAF (basal area factor). The BAF changes for each stand so we can make sure we only get the number of trees we need. For a count plot we just get the DBH and defect for each tree.

Basal area describes the average amount of an area (usually an acre) occupied by tree stems.

We had Tuesday off for the 4th of July, which was nice as it made the week feel a lot shorter.

On Wednesday, we got Kathy and Anthony back; they had taken Monday off. While they went out with Fred, Emily, Sabrina, and I went out with Reece. We learned how to recheck stands. For the plots we went to, we had to change the BAF because there weren’t enough trees in the old one. This experience really let me know what I need to work on, which for me is getting the heights of the trees.

On Thursday, Joseph returned from vacation and now there are six of us again. Today was a big step for us as we all were sent out to cruise on our own. Sabrina and I were partnered so we worked together on our plots.

While working the first plot, we got our first experience with bees. As I was walking away from the plot center, I accidentally walked right by a big nest that had fallen out of a tree at some point. I’m definitely lucky I didn’t walk right into it.

On Friday we’re supposed to go out with Fred to check the stands that we did on Thursday. I’m a little nervous to see the results but I’m just hoping we didn’t do awful. Whatever the results are, I’ll at least be able to find out what I need to work on.

Update from Fred: they “slayed” it.

Tonight, is the Philomath rodeo and some of us interns are planning on going to watch. Two Starker employees are supposed to be participating in a donkey race! I’m a backup and I’m not sure whether I want someone to change their mind or not.

 

July 3, 2023

Fire school has arrived!

After one week at Starker, getting used to the company and going to training, we are off to learn the basics of wildlife firefighting. We also finally have all the interns at work as Sabrina joined us on Monday as we got ready to leave for our week away.

I’m not sure what I expected from fire school, l but I’m very happy with what it turned out to be.

The first day we got here, we all got our name tags and found out which crews we were assigned to. Sadly, we were not all together, but it was nice to meet new people outside of our small group.

Kathy, Emily, and I were assigned to the Willow. Each crew had a crew boss and Willows crew boss was very nice and was very helpful. We set up our tents, had lunch and then got straight into our afternoon classes. We met our instructors and got started on the first couple units.

Day two and three were similar. We started our day with an amazing breakfast, and then went to morning classes. We had lunch and then headed out to the field. During our time out at the field, we went

through four stations: pumps, hose lay, fire shelters and hand tools. I like that we’ve been able to look at and practice these skills multiple times these past two weeks since I tend to learn better with repetition. We looked at two stations each day and at the end of the week we are going to use these skills to practice on a real fire.

Day four was similar but since we had our final classes of this week today, we spent two hours out practicing digging lines with our crews. I think my crew did a pretty good job and we were able to communicate well to make sure we were all getting what we needed from each other. Sometimes we would need to adjust how much we were taking and sometimes we would need to remind each other to drink water.

We worked well as a team and made sure we were all taken care of.

Friday we were off to combine all the information we’ve been gathering this week by mopping up a fire.

This week has been amazing and I’m so glad to have been a part of it, but I’m excited to get back to Starker to continue to learn new skills!

– Caroline Puckett

 

June 28, 2023

My name is Anthony Cafferata and I am going to be a Junior studying forest engineering at Oregon State next year. I am looking forward to the summer as an intern at Starker Forests. During the first week, I met my fellow interns and coworkers and I am very excited to spend the summer outdoors working with them.

Starker Forests had a great first week prepared for us. We learned CPR and First Aid, learned orientation skills in the woods, had brief fire training with ODF, learned about the company fire rigs and pumps, and toured Starker Forest land. Whew, we were busy.

We were shown many areas of the property and taught about Starker family history. During the tour, we stopped at an active harvest unit and got to see all the logs getting sorted and ready to be loaded on a truck headed for the mill. I learned about the process of shipping logs and how different logs are selected for different markets and mills.

My favorite part of the week was the tour as we got to see different areas of the forest, see differently managed stands (a group of trees relatively uniform in age-class distribution, composition and structure, and growing uniformly) and observe a log sorting operation.

The 2023 summer crew is all fresh faces this year. Six interns will experience what it is to be a forester and get to test their abilities and endurance. Starker Forests welcomes them.

Several have agreed to share their experiences in a blog over the summer.

June 26, 2023

My name is Caroline Puckett and this is my first year on the summer crew. I’m from Philomath and am very excited to learn more about what Starker does and use this experience to find out where I belong in the forestry community.

On Monday, we started out by meeting with Fred and getting our fire packs. Fred then gave us a tour of the grounds and told us a little bit about what we’re going to be doing this summer. We were also introduced to all the foresters and were given a quick overview of the history of Starker.

Everyone seems super nice and are all very willing to answer any questions.

On Tuesday, we worked on compass and pacing/map reading. I’ve had some experience with it, but it was nice to get a refresher and see where I need to improve. We also drove the trucks for the first time out to the Tum Tum Tree Farm and practiced navigating in the woods.

On Wednesday, we went to the ODF fire training. We spent the day going through six different stations: hose lay, pump, radio, fire lines, drafting and tablet stuff. It was my first time seeing most of these, so it was very cool to get the basic overview of how they work.

Thursday, we spent the morning working with Miller Timber on fire lines and getting an area ready for a broadcast burn. Before yesterday I had never done any of this so I appreciated both the practice and being able to see how experienced people do it.

After a lunch break, we took a look at the pumps on our trucks and practiced using both the volume pumps and the pressure pumps. I was able to help set up a dam in the water so we were able to get a stream deep enough to use with the hoses.

Friday, we toured several of the Starker properties.

This week is fire school and we will be camping out in Sweet Home. I’m very excited to learn some new stuff!

– Caroline Puckett

 

 

Sept. 27, 2022

Hello everyone!

School is back in session and I am starting my senior year. Last week was my final week as an intern at Starker Forests.

Last week was different from the rest since I was the only intern left. I was able to go along with Reece for a couple days to start the week. On Monday, we delivered culverts to a unit that needed them put in off Woods Creek Road, which ended up taking most of the day.

Tuesday was a new experience for me because I went out by myself for the first time. I was only doing a check cruise but it was still exciting for me.

On Wednesday, Reece and I went to a few different places where new roads had been put in and we spread grass seed on the sides of the road where there was bare dirt.

On Thursday and Friday, I went to the coast just north of Newport with Stephen and Lys where we placed pins with flags in the ground for a research plot. The pins marked where trees should be planted and the different colored flags represent which weevil repellent would be used for each different colored block of flags.

It is bittersweet as the summer and my internship comes to an end. I really enjoyed my work at Starker, but I am ready to knock out my senior year and graduate!

I want to thank everyone who took the time to read my weekly blogs and I would really like to thank everyone at Starker who made this summer a good one.

— Marshall Brattain

Sept. 15, 2022

Hello everyone!

After being out for two weeks with an illness, I’m happy to be back to work at Starker.

Last week was the final week at work this summer for John, Brandon and Robert but, I am sticking around for one more week before my senior year starts back up at OSU.

Last week, we started by doing some pre-thin cruising, where Robert and I went to the Upper Marys River tree farm to do inventory of a couple different stands.

Wednesday through Friday, we went to Duffy PFA, a stand within Beaver Creek tree farm, that will soon be harvested. Reece took us out there to show us how to make a boundary line in a unit as well as how to mark buffers. Buffers are so trees aren’t cut too close to a stream.

After doing the boundary line and after a couple of us interns endured some hornet stings, we split into groups of two and cruised the stand.

I really enjoyed working with the other three interns and I know they enjoyed their time at Starker this summer as well. I will miss working with them, but I am excited to see what my final week brings as the only intern left!

— Marshal Brattain

Aug. 24, 2022

Hello everyone!

Last week, we continued timber cruising. We started the week by doing a check cruise at the East Ray stand we visited the previous week. The results were much better than our previous stand, thankfully.

As we do more cruising, we’ve been paying closer attention to detail and each individual measurement.

Once we finished the check cruise, we went to a unit near the Wren Hill lumber mill called Lower Lalack Moser. The unit consisted of multiple different stands, so it took us a few days to complete.

Reece next took us to a stand off Norton Creek Road where we conducted a pre-thinking cruise. We used fixed radius plots, which means we counted any tree with an 8-inch DBH (diameter at breast height) or higher that was within 16.65 feet of the plot center. When the plots were completed, Reece and I conducted a check cruise, which went well.

After that, Reece and I went to a stand that was recently thinned, and we used a metal detector to find the metal stakes that were used to mark the previous plot centers. Once we reached the plot, we determined which trees in the plot were harvested so we could see how much volume was removed from the stand.

This week we will likely continue timber cruising so we are excited to keep improving!

 

— Marshall Brattain

The last week was one full of more learning than usual, which is always a great thing.

After learning how to cruise timber, the interns cruised a stand out near Blodgett without the help of Fred or Lys. After we finished the stand, Fred took us back out to the stand and showed us how to do a check cruise. A check cruise is a lot like how it sounds. We went back to the stand and went through our plots

again to see if any mistakes were made (there were). Fred taught us about the importance of taking our time at each plot and paying extra attention to detail with each and every measurement, as well as the process of entering the data we collected correctly.

Once our check cruise was complete, the rest of the interns and I went to the East Ray stand off Highway 20 where we did another check cruise, which went much better than the first.

This week, we will be working on a unit near the Wren Hill lumber mill. The unit includes five different stands, which will make things very interesting.

There is only about a month left until our senior years start at Oregon State, so we are making the most out of the time we have left here at Starker Forests.

 

— Marshall Brattain

Hello everyone!

Last week was an exciting one as we began timber cruising. Fred and Lys took us out to the Beaver Creek tree farm and took us through the process of what to do for each plot while cruising.

Once we arrive at the plot we want to measure, we count the amount of trees close enough to the plot center and big enough to be counted using an electronic relaskop. The goal is to have four to eight trees within the plot.

Once the number of trees in the plot is determined, we measure the diameter of each tree at 4.5 feet, which is called DBH (diameter at breast height). While one person measures the DBHs, the other person starts measuring the heights of the trees, usually using an electronic laser or a clinometer. When the height of a tree is determined, that person also determines what percentage of the tree is covered with live branches.

Lastly, each tree that was considered inside the plot is examined for defects in the bottom, middle, and top third of the tree. Defects are typically things like forked tops, stems that have crooks and bends in them, and scarring or fungus on the tree bark.

We did cruising for a few days, which us interns are slowly getting the hang of.

 

Friday and Monday, we went back to working on our stocking surveys for the summer.

Cruising is a huge part of what we do in the summers as interns so I am looking forward to seeing how that goes here in the near future.

 

–Marshall Brattain

This week, the interns were back at it doing stocking surveys.

Robert and I made a trip out to Alsea to the Missouri Bend tree farm as well as Bummer Creek tree farm. It has been very interesting to see how the trees are doing in different areas and whether or not they have been exposed to browsing from deer and elk.

This week, I encountered a lot of red cedars in some different units. In the 4-year stands they were doing very well and looked healthy, whereas in the 2-year stands I was in, there was more mortality.

I have been lucky to see the amazing views throughout the Starker land, like the one Robert and I saw on Friday at the NW Babe Reed unit in Beaver Creek.

We are about halfway through the summer now and I have really been enjoying the internship, I think the other three interns would say the same. We look forward to what comes next!

— Marshall Brattain