Land trust thins some trees to let others thrive: It’s about the big picture

Land Trust's aspen restoration project takes off at Indian Ford Meadow Preserve.

Marking trees is not something Amanda Egertson takes lightly.

She’s humbled when she ties pieces of orange plastic to the ponderosa pines, she said, because it’s those flagged trees that crews will cut down.

But Egertson, a land steward with the Deschutes Basin Land Trust, said she has to think of the big picture. By cutting some of the pine and juniper trees at the northern end of the nonprofit’s Indian Ford Meadow Preserve, Egertson and the land trust hope to allow the aspen to thrive.

“If we don’t cut some of these trees, then all of these trees are going to die,” she said, pointing to the aspen stand.

The aspen restoration project, going on this week outside Sisters, is just one of the habitat-improving efforts the land trust is involved in. Once the organization purchases a property or obtains a conservation easement ensuring that land will be protected, there’s still work to do to ensure the area is ecologically healthy and that people can enjoy it and learn from it.

Indian Ford Meadow Preserve, part of which is open to the public, was actually the reason the land trust formed, she said. Community members in the mid-1990s were concerned about development.

The land trust has grown to include four preserves, with one at Camp Polk, the Metolius Preserve and the Thomas Preserve, an island in the Deschutes River, as well as multiple easements. Before the organization buys a property, staff with the organization design a management plan to prioritize the restoration work that the site needs the most.

“It’s ongoing,” Egertson said. “I don’t feel like we’re ever done.”

At the Metolius Preserve, for example, the land trust has thinned trees, worked on removing obstacles for fish, installed a kiosk and done trail work. At Camp Polk, it’s working on a major project to restore the meandering path of Whychus Creek.

And at Indian Ford Meadow, it’s cutting other trees to protect a previously healthy aspen stand that is now struggling, Egertson said.

“There seemed to be a high proportion of dead or dying” aspens, she said. “The ones that were living were not doing well.”

The mature aspens didn’t have as many leaves, and the shoots poking out of the ground were getting gnawed down by deer. Pines were blocking out sunlight and the junipers were hogging water.

The aspen grove’s neighbors noticed the decline.

“The ones on my property, or next to my property, they’ve always struggled since I’ve owned my house,” said Tyler Hoyt. He took action last year, thinning junipers and some of the little pines on his property.

He’s noticed a significant improvement in his aspens after thinning the other trees, he said, but he doesn’t know if it was because of the thinning or because it was a good year for aspens everywhere.

But he said neighbors are glad to see the land trust taking action to help the aspen stand.

“I’d love to see the aspens flourish, just because they’re not very common in our area,” Hoyt said.

To plan the project, the land trust used a forestry consultant and talked with neighbors to ensure they were OK with the proposal.

And while agencies like the U.S. Forest Service must go through environmental assessments and layers of permits, the land trust was able to move quickly, noting the problem in the fall and, thanks to an anonymous grant, starting work on frozen ground in the winter.

This week, a crew from the Sisters Tree Service is cutting the trees, burning slash and saving other logs as firewood for neighbors and local charity organizations. This summer, the land trust is planning a “fencing potluck” to temporarily keep out hungry deer while the young trees grow.

The site, near the marshy ground along Indian Ford Creek, is a natural fit for aspen, Egertson said.

“It’s a unique opportunity to preserve this little grove,” Egertson said.