News and Updates for LCSWA Members

Signups are now being taken for volunteers to work at the Linn County Small Woodland Assoc. annual seedling sale. The 25th annual sale is set for Saturday Feb. 1 at the Linn County fairgrounds. The sale provides scholarship funds for Oregon State University forestry students as well as 4-H forestry scholarships. Volunteers are needed Friday, Jan 31.to package seedlings that have been pre-ordered. Order forms for the 2020 sale will appear in the January issue of The Quarterly Bark and online at  linncountyswa.com. Bonnie Marshall, seedling sale chairman, informed the LCSWA board at its September meeting that orders will be similar to last year, a record year for pre-orders and sales. The young plants will be coming primarily from Brooks Nursery and other local nurseries. Supplies sold out quickly on Saturday last year. About 1,500 Douglas firs have been ordered along with about 450 grand fir.  Also, Marshall will be adding Oregon white oak to the order form. The hardwood is

Get to know Robert H. Mealey as an 80-year-old with a passion for the Willamette Valley Ponderosa Pine. The following story appeared in American Forests magazine in 1992. Planting for tomorrow American Forests At his 580-acre tree farm in Linn County, Oregon, 80-year-old Robert Mealey is talking with a friend. "I've only planted 150 trees today," says Mealey. Indeed, compared with this tree farmer's standards, 150 trees is a meager day's work. That's because when Mealey spots a piece of land without trees, it's his natural predilection to plant some. When he got to thinking about Linn County's 100,000 or so acres of unused land, he initiated a planting effort called the Willamette Valley Ponderosa Pine Program. This year, approximately 64,000 seedlings have been distributed to 35 landowners. "This program is growing like topsy," he says. Mealey believes that the 1,500 small tree farms of his county aren't as productive as

Sunnyside Park lived up to its name Saturday Sept. 14 for the annual Linn County Small Woodlands Assoc. picnic. Temperatures were in the mid-70s on a day sandwiched between two rainy days. Much of the conversation for the day centered on the Robert H. Mealey pine fund and a proposal to build a demonstration pine grove at the park. The chapter and Linn County parks are in the early stages of discussion about the proposal. Approvals would have to come from the Linn County commissioners. Retired Cascade Timber Consulting Inc. chief Howard Dew provided a number of published photos and newspaper clippings highlighting Mealey’s career as a forester and ardent advocation of the Willamette Valley Ponderosa pine. Mealey has been called the “Johnny Appleseed of the Willamette Valley” because of his efforts to restore the race of pines that were a prominent tree going back thousands of years. He grew up the son of a mill owner on property now submerged by Foster Lake. He became a

We are set up at Sunnyside Park near Sweet Home for the Linn County Small Woodlands Association summer picnic. Follow the tree tour signs past the main entrance. We are at the covered kiosk. It is sunny at 10:30a.m. Picnic hours are 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.  Potluck. Lunch about noon.  We will be talking about the Bob Mealey project during the day. See you there.