Forest Stewardship Program

The California Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee is an advisory body for the California Stewardship Program, which is administered by the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection through the Forest Legacy Program. The committee meets quarterly to learn about forestry issues throughout the state and to make recommendations.

The Forestry and Fuel Management Committee of the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD) has taken on the responsibility of the State Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee. This committee has been active in forest stewardship issues, such as pre-fire fuels management and forest healthy, and represents such diverse interests as the Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and UC Cooperative Extension; consulting foresters; forest products industry; forest landowners, land trusts, conservation and environmental organizations; and local government.

The CARCD website serves as the clearinghouse for all information associated with this committee.

New Opportunities in Forestry

Community forests are common throughout the U.S. and world, but rare in California. This is in the process of changing, however, as a number of rural communities develop new and creative models to participate in their local forests. 

But what exactly is a community forest? That’s a good question and not easily answered. Scores of definitions exist. One of the best and most comprehensive states: “Community-based forestry is a participatory approach to forest management that strengthens communities’ capacity to build vibrant local economies, while protecting and enhancing their local forest ecosystems. By integrating ecological, social, and economic components into cohesive approaches to forestry issues, community-based approaches give local residents both the opportunity and the responsibility to manage their natural resources effectively and to enjoy the benefits of that responsibility (Aspen Institute).”

Although community forestry is difficult to define, the Forest Guild has identified some important characteristics:

• Community forestry begins with protecting and restoring the forest.
• Residents have access to the land and its resources, and participate in land management decisions.
• Resource managers engage the knowledge of those living closest to the land in developing relationships with the forest.
• Forestry is used as a tool to benefit and strengthen communities.
• Cultural values, historic use, resource health, and community economic development needs are considered in management decisions.
• Decisionmaking is open, transparent, and inclusive.

These characteristics speak to the underlying goals and values inherent in community forests, which work to provide a sustainable resource base for those living nearby. The focus is on economic stability for the community, as well as aesthetic, cultural, and environmental values. Since local issues and participants vary, each community forest will, by necessity, be unique. 

Communities in forested areas are intimately connected with—and dependent on—the local natural resources for their economic and social well-being. Most are suffering from the current recession and poor timber market. In addition, fire safety issues affect everyone. No matter the ownership, communities have a stake in how their local forests are managed. The idea of a community forest, however it is defined or designed, is one way for the community to have a voice in this management. 

There are a number of tools that can support community forests. Stewardship contracting, which allows community groups to enter into contracts with the Forest Service and BLM to accomplish projects on public lands, has been used effectively by a number of community forest groups. There are publications and websites that offer guidance for starting a community forest, and document successes all over the world.

Preserving the Forest in Perpetuity

What is a conservation easement?

A conservation easement is a voluntary agreement with a nonprofit land trust or government agency that allows a landowner to limit the type or amount of development on their property while retaining private ownership of the land. When completed, the conservation easement becomes part of the property deed. A way to visualize this is to think of owning land as holding a bundle of sticks. Each stick represents the landowner's right to do something with their property—the right to build a house, to extract minerals, to harvest timber, allow hunting, etc. A landowner may give up certain rights, or sticks from the bundle, associated with their property through a document: the conservation easement.

How does it work?

Conservation easements are tailored to the needs of the landowner and the recipient organization (which must be a qualified nonprofit organization or government agency). The recipient agrees to hold, but not use, the transferred rights. A landowner may either donate the conservation easement or sell it for partial or full appraised value. The terms of each conservation easement are negotiated by the landowner and the recipient organization.

Who owns and manages easement protected land?

The landowner retains full rights to control and manage their property within the limits of the easement. The landowner continues to bear all costs and liabilities related to ownership and maintenance of the property. The organization that owns the easement will monitor the property to ensure compliance with the easement's terms, but has no other management responsibilities and exercises no direct control over other activities on the land.

Why do people grant conservation easements?

People grant conservation easements because they want to protect their property from future unwanted development and damaging land uses, while retaining ownership of their land. By granting a conservation easement, a landowner can assure that the property will be protected forever, regardless of who owns it in the future. An additional benefit is that the donation of an easement may provide significant financial advantages.

What kind of financial advantages result from donating an easement?

Many landowners receive a federal income tax deduction for the gift of a conservation easement. The Internal Revenue Service allows a deduction if the easement is perpetual, is donated “exclusively for conservation purposes” and meets certain criteria for those conservation purposes. The amount of the tax deduction is determined by the value of the conservation easement. In addition, the landowner may have estate and property tax relief because the value of the property is reduced.

What activities are allowed on land protected by an easement?

The activities allowed depend on the landowner's wishes and the terms of the easement. In some cases, no further development is allowed on the land. In others, some additional development is allowed, but the amount and type is restricted. Conservation easements may be designed to cover all or only a portion of a property, and specific restrictions can vary for different parts of the property. Every easement is unique, tailored to each landowner's goals and land characteristics.

Can the landowner still sell or give the property away?

The landowner continues to own the property after executing an easement. Therefore, the owner can sell, give, or lease the property as before. However, all future owners assume ownership of the property subject to the conditions of the easement.

Does the public have a right of access to easement-protected property?

Not unless the landowner who grants the easement specifically allows it. Most easement donors do not want, and therefore do not allow, public access to their property.

How long does an easement last and who upholds it in the future?

To be eligible for a federal income tax deduction the easement must be "perpetual," that is, it must last forever. The property is monitored by the land trust or government agency selected by the landowner as the easement grantee to assure that the easement is not being violated. If the easement has been breached, steps must be taken to uphold the terms of the easement. Land trusts typically require the landowner to make a financial contribution (also tax deductible) to cover long-term management costs.

Does the easement have to cover all of the landowner's property?

No, some easements only cover a portion of the property. Again, it depends on the landowner's wishes. For example, if someone owns 80 acres, of which 35 acres are wetlands, the landowner may decide to restrict development only on these 35 acres. The remaining 45 acres would not be affected by the easement.

What kind of land can be protected by conservation easements?

IRS regulations require that the property have "significant" conservation values. This includes forests, wetlands, endangered species habitat, scenic areas and more.

Know Your Pests

Forest pests are an eclectic group. Tree “diseases” can be caused by fungi, bacteria, parasitic plants, insects, mammals, smog, chemicals, extreme temperatures, and other harmful agents.

Not all pests are villains

Most biologically caused diseases are a natural and essential part of a healthy forest. Insects, fungi, and bacteria all break down and decompose organic matter, releasing nutrients and creating soil humus. Insects are an important food source for wildlife, they pollinate forest plants and trees, and predator insects are critical to keep harmful insects under control.

What we consider disease is a disturbance in the normal functions of a tree. When this disturbance occurs sporadically it goes undetected. When it occurs over large continuous areas it may indicate a problem that should be addressed.

Boom and bust

Insect populations can quickly build into a devastating force. There is a natural boom-and-bust cycle for many populations. Population outbreaks are followed by a crash when the insects consume all available food, are weakened by disease, or devastated by natural enemies.

Insects actually destroy more timber annually than wildfire. However, they usually take their toll on individual or small groups of trees here and there, unlike the spectacular destruction of forest fires. 

While insects may be the identifiable cause of tree injury and death, the ultimate cause is often poor tree condition due to drought or excessive competition for water, light, and nutrients; excessive water; or physical damage to the tree. Trees are constantly challenged by insects but generally only stressed or unhealthy trees succumb.

Fighting trees

Trees are not as helpless against insect attack as one would expect. A healthy tree is able to defend itself from insect attack by producing pitch that drowns, or pitches out, the attackers. If you see pitch streamers, tubes, or granules, that is evidence that the tree is still alive and fighting.

Trees under stress, and those that are older or unhealthy, are more apt to succumb to insect attack. If there are numerous insect attacks with no evidence of pitch or resin, the tree is most likely dying. To be sure, look for beetle larvae under the bark at the site of an attack with no resin flow.

Bark Beetles and Engravers

Bark beetles and engravers are the most serious insect pests in California. They bore through the bark of most pine and fir species. These insects generally attack stressed or weakened trees.

They often work together: engravers may attack first, weakening a tree, followed by bark beetles which can kill the tree. 

General reddening of the foliage in the tops of pine and fir trees is the most noticeable sign of successful bark beetle and engraver attack.

Foliage insects

Insects that attack foliage can cause stress or even death by hindering photosynthesis. Most trees can tolerate partial defoliation, though this may make them more susceptible to bark beetle attack. Repeated or total defoliation can kill the tree outright.

Foliage insects can be found while they are feeding. Look for damaged leaves and needles. Egg masses, usually small pouches of webs attached to protected spots on the bark or under branches and leaves, are easily detected. Insects also affect twigs, buds, cones, and roots. Look for a decline in tree vigor or damage to the specific part.

Fungi: rots, rust, and root disease

Heart rots are the leading cause of wood decay. Look for large, shelf-like mushrooms (conks), on tree trunk or for mushrooms in the soil around the trunk. These are the fruiting bodies of fungi. When you tap on the tree a hollow sound indicates heart rot.

The fungi that cause the rot enter the tree through logging wounds, animal damage, or any injury that opens the inner part of the tree. Preventing injury is the most effective form of control. 

The presence of conks indicates significant deterioration inside a tree which could cause it to be structurally unsound. Remove any trees that could fall on people or structures. In the forest, trees with conks should be left to become snags.

Rusts enter the tree through the needles. Rusts require an alternate host plant for the disease to complete its life cycle. Spores can travel hundreds of miles on the wind so the alternate host could be far away. 

The most destructive rust in California is the white pine blister rust that infects sugar pine and others in the 5-needle pine group. Symptoms are random flagging (dead, brown-needled branches) in tree crowns. Close examination of these branches show a spindlelike swelling of the branch filled with orange spores. The alternate host for white pine blister rust is currant or gooseberry. Control was attempted by eradicating the alternate host, however, this proved ineffective. 

Root diseases usually affect the whole tree uniformly. If tree leaves or needles are yellowing, dying, or falling for no apparent reason, root problems are usually the cause (but other causes such as mechanical damage to the roots, saturated soils, and foliage insects or rusts should also be considered). 

Root diseases, which spread from tree to tree by root contact, are difficult to detect and even more difficult to control. Look for fruiting bodies (mushrooms) on and around the base of the tree. Bark beetles often successfully attack trees weakened by root disease. 

Disease centers, in which a group of trees die, are another good indicator of root disease. Trees adjacent to dead trees are often infected though they do not show symptoms until the next year, when moisture stress finally browns the leaves. 

Control root diseases by keeping the stand healthy. Salvage all the affected and surrounding trees because the disease may have spread through root contact.

Some root diseases become established when fungus spores land on and colonize a freshly cut stump. One particularly serious root disease, Heterobasidion annosum, can be prevented by powdering freshly cut stumps with borax, sodium borate. Another control method is to replant diseased stands with a different tree species. Root diseases are typically species specific, affecting only one tree species. Harvesting the affected trees and planting another species could eliminate the disease problem. 

Sudden Oak Death is caused by the fungus Phytophthora ramorum. Bleeding or oozing of a dark reddish-brown thick sap is the first symptom to appear on true oaks and tanoak.

Eek—a pest!

Be familiar with your forest and notice any changes. If you see some suspicious activity—dead or dying trees, insect outbreak, mushrooms, etc.—you’ll want to figure out what is going on.

Collect specimens or take pictures of any potential problems. Diseases may be difficult to identify until they have damaged a tree to an obvious extent. Determine the part of the plant that is affected, any patterns to the damage, etc. If the cause of the disease is not readily apparent, start with the simplest possibilities: animal damage, frost, mechanical injuries, fire.

Generally, the best defense against insects and diseases is to maintain healthy trees. 
Chemical or other insect control measures are expensive and often ineffective. While individual trees might be protected with insecticide treatments, only landscape trees are probably worth the cost and effort.

Consider IPM

One approach to controlling forest pests is known as Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a strategy that considers the whole ecosystem. It focuses on long-term reduction of pest damage through a combination of techniques including biological control, habitat modification, changes in cultural practices, and resistant varieties. 

With IPM, pesticides are used only after monitoring indicates they are needed according to established guidelines. Pest control materials are selected and applied to minimize risks to human health, beneficial and non-target organisms, and the environment. Treatments are chosen and timed to be most effective and least disruptive to natural pest controls. 

IPM requires constant monitoring to determine whether a pest problem exists, and if the problem is intolerable enough to require treatment. In many cases the “no treatment” option is found to be the preferred, most cost-effective approach.

Develop strategies

Learn about insects and other potential pests found in your area. Talk to your forester or a specialist at UC Cooperative Extension or CAL FIRE (see list on page 10). Developing strategies to prevent the occurrence or limit the effects of forest pests can be an exciting management challenge.