Linn chapter standout Sherm Sallee remembered

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By Larry Mauter

LCSWA director


Long before the term “influencer” became common lexicon, Sherm Sallee was one.

Sallee, long-time Linn County Small Woodlands Association member and first editor of The Quarterly Bark, died March 4, 2021. He was 78.

Sallee was born Dec. 17, 1942 in Enterprise, Oregon. He was a 20-year veteran of the United States Air Force. He served in Vietnam.

Among his many woodlands-related passions — Sallee and wife of 54 years Fay — supported the Linn County Extension 4-H forestry program. He was a 4-H leader for more than 35 years.

Sallee and Fay also started and for two decades coordinated the annual Linn County Small Woodlands Association seedling sale.

“Among the many legacies that Sherm left behind, one was the seedling sale, now in its 26th year,” said Bonnie Marshall.  “When my husband and I took over the helm five years ago, we were fortunate to experience first-hand Sherm’s organizational skills, encouragement, and mentoring,” Marshall said. “He exuded a genuine caring and interest for the people he interacted with, while sharing his passion and commitment to serving others,” she added.

In the past decade alone $65,000 in forestry awards and university scholarships have been distributed from seedling sale profits.

Sallee was editor of The Quarterly Bark from its beginning until 2013. Sallee contributed articles as recently as this past fall. He was also active in the Linn Forest Protective Association. In a 2014 Bark article, Sallee described the association as “a group of private forest landowners dedicated to protect their valuable resource from destruction by fire.”


After retirement from the Air Force, Sallee returned to Oregon State University, earning a degree in education. He was a substitute teacher in the mid-Willamette Valley area for 12 years.  

During those years his knowledge of forestry expanded through Fay and father-in-law Bert Udell. The Udell’s Happy Valley Tree Farm was the national tree farm of the year in 1982. Sallee advised other land owners on forestry issues, worked  his own properties and assisted on projects with 4-H forestry students.

“Sherm was special,” said Mike Barsotti, recent OSWA president. “I remember when he entered our world after retiring from the Air Force, quietly learning and then taking over the management of the Udell properties,”  he said.

The Quarterly Bark originated after Sallee approached Rick Fletcher, the Linn/Benton Forestry Extension Service agent in the mid-1990s. Sallee proposed that if Extension would publish the newsletter, he would serve as its editor. That was around 1995. So The Quarterly Bark under Sallee’s leadership was born, said Barsotti. 

The Bark originally served Linn and Benton County chapters. When Fletcher served Lincoln County, that OSWA chapter joined Linn and Benton. Lane County Small Woodlands Association adopted The Bark as its newsletter in 2009.

Sallee was also among the LCSWA members who have moved forward the Bob Mealey Ponderosa pine project at Sunnyside Park. He died the day 50 pines were planted at the park.

A remembrance service at the family’s Happy Valley Tree Farm on Bellinger Scale Road is planned for Saturday, June 26. Details will follow.


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