The Potential of the Alder Resource: Challenges and Opportunities

1. The Potential of the Alder Resource: Challenges and Opportunities David Hibbs and Andrew Bluhm Hardwood Silviculture CooperativeDepartment of Forest Science Oregon State University

2. Outline: • Why care? • The needs • HSC role • Comparing alder and conifer management • Why manage alder? • “Capture” alder Growth Rates, Yield targets • Landscape diversity, disease resistance, N fixation, wildlife diversity • Plantations vs. natural stands • DBH growth • Height growth • A step: Taper and volume equations • Targets and unmet needs

3. LARGE ALDER INDUSTRY • 10,000 direct jobs in the hardwood industry generating $300 million in wages and salaries   • Multiplier effect: estimates of 20-40,000 additional jobs with another $300-600 million in wages and salaries • Dave Sweitzer, WHA

4. The Alder Resource • An accidental crop in Douglas-fir country • Harvest has far exceeded replacement for at least a decade • Forest managers have poor experience with alder • Timber land owners do not believe that alder is an economically viable crop • Forest managers do not know how to grow alder

5. The Challenge: Demonstrate the Potential of Alder • Grow alder deliberately in plantations • Develop tools forest managers need • Teach management methods • Demonstrate yields

6. Hardwood Silviculture Cooperative • The HSC is a research and education program begun in 1988 and focused on the silviculture red alder and mixes of red alder and Douglas-fir. • The goal of the HSC is to improve the understanding, management, and production of red alder.

7. HSC: Overview • Thirty-six study installations from Coos Bay, Oregon to Campbell River, BC • 4 thinning studies in natural stands (Type 1) • 26 variable density plantations with thinning and pruning treatments (Type 2) • 7 replacement series of red alder/Douglas-fir mixtures (Type 3)

8. Red Alder vs. Douglas-fir • Red alder usually has: • Lower basal area and volume in older stands • More rapid early growth • High-grade lumber/veneer as key product • Red alder vs. other hardwoods: • Red alder has: • Local processing and utilization • Wide geographic range and large volume • Much higher value

9. Gains from management • Sawtimber yields and economic return can be greatly improved with management of most tree species - both red alder and conifers - but the return for alder is greater • With red alder, management may be needed to make the difference between good and poor results

10. Alder sites • Millions of acres of better conifer ground in PNW west of Cascade crest • Can grow as well in Oregon and BC as it does in Washington

11. Growth Rates • Red alder exhibits very rapid juvenile growth rates • Therefore, a primary management objective would be to capture this difference • Although height growth rates decline rapidly after 20 years, a short-rotation, high-value crop can be achieved From: Peterson, et. al., 1996. Red Alder Managers’ Handbook for British Columbia,

12. Landscape Diversity- Disease Resistance • Swiss Needle Cast • First observed in the OR Coast Range in the 1990’s • Covers about 50,000 hectares today • May be causing as much as 50% volume growth loss in some areas. Source: Swiss Needle Cast Cooperative, USDA Forest Service

13. Landscape Diversity- Disease Resistance • Laminated Root Rot • Various root diseases are estimated to affect about 10% of Douglas-fir stands in the PNW • Annual losses are estimated at 4.4 million m3 (157 million ft3) of timber in the PNW and BC • Infected areas may can remain a hazard to new Douglas-fir planting for as long as 100 years Source: USDA Forest Service, Dr. Bob Edmonds

14. Landscape Diversity- Nitrogen Fixation • Red alder fixes atmospheric nitrogen • Symbiotic relationship with Frankia • Rates vary but usually range between 100-200lb/ac/yr • Therefore, alder has the ability to enrich/improve soils

15. Landscape Diversity- Wildlife/species diversity From: Wipfli, M., et. al. 2003. Managing Young Upland Forests in Southeast Alaska for Wood Products, Wildlife, Aquatic Resources, and Fishes

16. Plantations and Natural Stands

17. Natural Stands vs. Plantations: Why manage for red alder? • Research results indicate that the growth and yield of managed alder plantations exceeds that of natural stands.

18. Plantations • Observed vs. Predicted Heights • Planted alder is taller than natural alder • 13 plantations at 4 alder densities (only 1 shown here) • Natural red alder stands from Harrington and Curtis (1986). Site index base age is 20 years • Data is for the 100 largest tpa

19. Diameter growth is rapid and sustained except at very high densities

20. Thinning response • Compare thinning at age 5 and 8 • Thinning needs to be early – before year 10 • Rapid diameter growth offers the possibility of a later commercial thin

21. How Big Will They Be At Age 25?

22. What Is The Volume Of A Tree? • Trees have a form and the form can change with management • Volume is determined by form • We developed new taper/volume equations • Form/volume are affected by management

23. Tree Volume Table

24. Targets • High-quality sawlogs, not pulp • 20 MBF in 25 years? • 25 - 35 year rotations • 12 – 15 inch dbh logs • 4000 – 5000 cubic ft per acre • Commercial thinning option? • Still needed: • Older plantations • Growth models

25. Conclusions • Alder industry is vigorous and growing • A lot of change is happening in the woods (+) • Much learned about management • A way to go yet on attitudes • Huge potential

26. h The End