Written by Jon Brown of Prunus LLC and Janelle Wicks, FOMR Director
Photos by Jon Brown and Travis Miller, Malheur NWR Habitat Ecologist and Supervisory Biologist
The conversations about response and restoration began nearly as soon as the lightening ignited both the Stubble and Jackass Butte Fires. As the fire slowed and immediate risks subsided, those conversations made pathways for the start of tangible support that Friends of Malheur could offer the Refuge. We are concerned with the needs now as much as the plans for the months and years to come and we intend to be ready to help however help is needed. We see it as our role as Friends to be at the ready for our Refuge.
The work we have put into building relationships and resources over the last several years has already proven useful in meeting the mandate of our Friendship. Not only has employing a Conservation Stewardship Technician meant that FOMR could engage in post-fire impact survey and photo documentation needs (Thanks, Ian! More to come on that in a future article.), but our history and ongoing arrangement with Prunus LLC arborists Jon Brown and their skilled crew meant that when Travis shared a concern about hazard trees at critical access points for fire personnel and Refuge staff I could respond with, ‘FOMR can help with that!’.
Did you know that FOMR contracted with arborists to perform a comprehensive Tree Inventory and Risk Assessment back in 2019? or that we have been co-funding an effort that we call Conservation Pruning in the 6 years since? Because of this work Jon and his colleague Paola Smith were already on standby for a green light to come out to the Refuge in August with their shiny new tomography equipment. We had to hold them off a few days when the fires flared up, but ultimately this timing would work out better than we could have hoped. Within days of Travis expressing concern and a need for the reduction and removal of severely damaged willows in the Buena Vista Unit we were able to get the Prunus Team down there to clean it up AND check on the health of the Buena Vista cottonwoods AND perform the tomography screening of the three largest cottonwoods at Refuge Headquarters.
Below is an account from Jon about the work they accomplished from Aug 14 – 17th.
Supporting Malheur after the stubble fire
A grove of 100-year-old decadent willows growing over the Buena Vista canal access road were structurally compromised by the Jackass Butte Fire. The damage to these willows was clearly due to the intensity of high heat fire that persisted at the ground beneath these willows. They were a hazard for refuge staff and fire personnel who were in need of routine travel through the area.
We were able to safely remove the most dangerous trees to reopen the access road to staff, retaining the trees over a small pond for habitat. We anticipate new shoots emerging from the roots in the spring.
An interesting observation made during the course of this work was that there must have been a full century of debris from these willows at their base, fueling the fire. Because of their location this area would have long been undesirable or impossible for ranchers of the Blitzen River Valley to move cattle through here. The absence of browsing and pressure from movement of large animals of any sort would mean these willows grew unencumbered for over a century.
At the same time, we could see a history of pre-settlement willow harvest. Several large base stems featured a series of cut scars of the same size and height. This type of routine harvest would have spurred annual growth of desirable like sized, straight boughs for any number of uses by the Waa-da-tika Band of Northern Paiute.
Assessing fire damaged trees at Buena Vista
The Jackass Butte Fire burned the historic Civilian Conservation Corps barn at Buena Vista Station. As the fire moved through the area it scorched the bases of the surrounding cottonwoods. These trees have persisted in the area for over 100 years and have been identified in the 2019 Tree Inventory and Risk Assessment as needing ongoing monitoring due to their size, age, and proximity to historic resources in addition to the incredible wildlife habitat they provide.
They may not be able to recover from the fire which damaged the thin layer of live cells in the cambium layer just below the bark. Cambian moves water and sugars (tree food) through the tree which means its cellular structure is full of moisture. When fire approaches and interacts with a tree it can boil the water in these cells and burst open the structures needed to sustain the tree. We will be monitoring these trees in the spring.
Note: The featured image at the top of this article is of the Cottonwood trees at Buena Vista Station. The historic barn lay flattened to the right with the Buena Vista Residence in the background.
Continuing our care of the historic cottonwoods at headquarters
On this trip we deployed sonic tomography technology to scan the interior of the oldest trees at Refuge Headquarters. The device sends sound waves through the trunk and records the speed to move through the tree. This is essentially an MRI for a tree.
Sound moves faster through dense solid wood and slower through damaged areas. We use this data to estimate load bearing capacity and curate a recommended pruning application.
In the top image you see the near entirety of the inside of this cottonwood is light blue indicating slower movement of the soundwaves.
Compare this to the image below where the internal wood of the tree is mostly solid and healthy with localized damage directly under a known branch failure.
There is much work left to be done in evaluating and understanding the condition of these trees before we can begin to appropriately prune, reduce, remove, and/or replace in order to maintain the appropriate level of site safety and high-quality wildlife habitat. We will return coming months to perform additional tomography tests and begin supporting the Refuge in developing appropriate management plans.
