The Columbia River Gorge is a unique area in Washington where forestry transitions from the western high moisture forests to the dry arid environment of eastern Washington.  This poses unique challenges to forest management and community preparedness.  Ole Helgerson, a retired Extension Forester with Washington State University, spent his career addressing these challenges in the Gorge and joins us on the podcast to discuss.

FOP 022:  Forestry in the Gorge with Ole Helgerson

Kelsey Ketcheson, Gary Bell, and Anne Favolise all work for the Washington Department of Natural Resources Service Forestry Program.  This program provides forest management resources to forest owners, including financial assistance and site visits.   The three foresters join us today to discuss how this program is rolling out in on the Olympic Peninsula and the forest health issues that region faces.

You can learn more about the Service Forestry Program and other resources to support landowners from the DNR using the DNR Landowner Portal:  https://www.dnr.wa.gov/LandownerAssistancePortal

FOP 023:  Service Forestry on the Peninsula with Kelsey Ketcheson, Gary Bell, and Anne Favolise

For more than a century in the Pacific Northwest bigleaf maple has had a reputation as a "weed tree".  Our guest and former conservation district forester, Al Craney, joins us to discuss why that's not a fair assessment.  In this episode we discuss the benefits maple provides and the critical role it plays in our forests and riparian areas.  

For more information on bigleaf maple syrup, try these sites:

https://forestry.wsu.edu/blmsyrup/
https://www.oregontreetappers.net/

FOP 024:  The Big Benefits of Bigleaf Maple with Al Craney

Community science is a powerful tool and one that our guest, Joey Hulbert, is utilizing it in his Forest Health Watch Program.  Over the last several years, Dr. Hulbert has empowered "citizen scientists" to help track a number of forest health concerns in Washington State, including western redcedar dieback.  In this episode, we dig into the roots of the program, it's progress, and what the future holds with our co-host, Dr. Molly Darr, joining as co-director.

To contribute to the western redcedar dieback program, go to: https://foresthealth.org/map

To recommend future forest health monitoring projects, go to: 
 https://foresthealth.org/projects/

FOP 025:  Protecting Forests through Community Science with Dr. Joey Hulbert

Forests provide immense benefits to society, but does everyone have equal access to those benefits?  The field of environmental justice and equity is gaining increasing traction, including at the Washington Department of Natural Resources.  Ashley Blazina is Environmental Justice Planner for the Department and joins the podcast to discuss some of the efforts the agency is making to ensure the benefits of their forestry work can reach underserved communities.

FOP 026:  Environmental Justice in Forestry with Ashley Blazina

In this episode of the Forest Overstory, we invite Skye Pelliccia of the King County Noxious Weed Control Program.  Dealing with noxious weeds is a big part of forest management in Washington and Skye gives us a rundown on some of the common offenders, diverse strategies for removing them, and common misconceptions about the use of herbicides in this effort.

FOP 027:  Tackling Noxious Weeds w/ Skye Pelliccia

Many of us are familiar with managing forests for birds and mammals, but what about forestry for the frogs? In this episode of the Forest Overstory Podcast, we invite Lauren Grand of Oregon State University's Extension Forestry Program to discuss how forest management can influence amphibian habitat and what small forest owners can do to encourage a multitude of amphibious species on their properties.

FOP 028:  Beyond the Slime - Forestry for Amphibians

Forest cultivated shiitake is a traditional practice that is centuries old.  These systems can be a great way for farmers and forest owners to utilize woodlots to grow mushrooms for personal use or commercial sale.  Justin O'Dea from WSU Extension has been studying how to adapt these systems to the Pacific Northwest climate and forests.  In this episode, we discuss the key findings of his research and how they can help forest owners grow shiitakes successfully.

Resources discussed in the episode:
PNW Forest-Cultivated Mushroom Growers Network (https://www.pnwforestmushroomgrowers.net/)
SW WA Extension Agriculture Program Instagram - @wsuextensionagswwa

Transcript link: https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/cahnrs/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/ep29_JustinODea_transcript.pdf

FOP 029:  Growing Shiitake in the Woods w/ Justin O'Dea

Swiss needle cast (SNC) is a native disease that affects Douglas-fir trees, particularly those growing in the coast region.  SNC can cause a headache for anyone trying to grow Doug-fir in this region and the Swiss Needle Cast Coalition aims to support landowners and managers understand, plan for, and mitigate the effects.  In this episode, we're joined by Brett Morrissette, Bernard Bormann, and Adam Carson from the coalition to discuss their work.

FOP 030:  The Swiss Needle Cast Cooperative

The role agriculture and other land uses play in pollinator lifecycles are fairly well understood, but what about forests?  Many species of pollinators utilize forestland for food or nesting habitat but some forests better serve that function than others.  We invite Rachel Zitomer to discuss her doctoral work at Oregon State University where she studied how pollinators interact with intensively managed conifer forests.  We also discuss what forest owners can do to enhance beneficial habitat on their land.

FOP 031:  Seeing the Forest for the Bees w/ Rachel Zitomer

The Forest Overstory is a forestry based podcast produced by Washington State University Extension Foresters  Patrick Shults and Kevin Zobrist. The mission of this show is to investigate topics related to forestry, forest management, natural resources, ecosystem services and the environment, wildlife, and many other topics related to the outdoors, to provide insight and education to small forest landowners and forest managers.

FOP 023: Service Forestry on the Peninsula with Kelsey Ketcheson, Gary Bell, and Anne Favolise

The Forest Overstory Podcast