Quartzville-Middle Santiam (QMS) Project
Sweet Home Ranger District, September 2021
Please scroll down or click on the tabs above to learn more about the project. Be patient for web maps to load. If you’re having problems viewing this website and you are using Internet Explorer, please try Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge or Apple Safari.
Story Map Contents
- Location of the QMS Project
- History of the Project Area
- Land Use Allocations within the Project Area
- Wilderness within the Project Area
- QMS Project Purpose and Needs
- Types of Vegetation Treatments
- Project Alternatives
- Road Treatments
- Examples of Specific Unit Treatments
Location of the QMS Project Area
The project area totals 89,900 acres and is located in the Quartzville Creek-Green Peter Lake and Headwaters Middle Santiam River watersheds roughly 20 miles northeast of Sweet Home, Oregon in Linn County.
Click on the button in the lower left corner of the interactive map to view the legend.
History of the QMS Project Area
The landscape inside the project area has a rich and diverse history. Ethnographic research indicates that highly mobile prehistoric and early historic Indian groups used the area for a variety of purposes including seasonal hunting, fishing, and plant gathering. Throughout the project area, several well-traveled routes and trails connected the western Cascades to Central Oregon.
This photo shows a gravel bar along Quartzville Creek.
At the turn of the 20th century, the Quartzville area attracted many settlers, especially miners. The early period of management saw the development of the recreation system including the building of Ranger Stations, lookouts, trails and campgrounds. In the 1920’s, intensive timber harvest and fire suppression were taking place across the entire project area. At the turn of the 20th century, a large fire burned on the current Sweet Home Ranger District east of the Middle Santiam Wilderness creating several of the fire regenerated stands in the project area.
These photos show early logging practices in the 1920’s on the Willamette National Forest.
Over the next several decades, large swaths of land were clear-cut and rapidly replanted with a dense crop of mostly Douglas-fir trees which grew efficiently in the western Cascades.
The Quartzville area, in particular, was intensively logged resulting in a large network of forest roads. It was also one of the last places on the Willamette National Forest to be harvested with hot air balloons. Much of the Quartzville area was balloon logged in the 1970s and 1980s.
These photos were taken on the Sweet Home Ranger District and show a patchwork of intensive management from the 1970s and 1980s. The balloon logging photo was taken in the mid-1980’s in the Quartzville area.
Forest Plan Allocations
In 1990, the Willamette National Forest Plan was finalized. Four years later, the signing of the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) modified the Forest Plan and provides current land management allocations. The overarching goal of the 1994 NWFP was to provide for the protection of threatened and endangered species and forest health all while promoting a sustainable timber harvest. Two of these NWFP land allocations dominate the QMS project area.
The objective of Late-Successional Reserves (LSR) is to protect and enhance late successional forests and old-growth forest ecosystems, which serve as habitat for late-successional and old-growth related species including the northern spotted owl. Treatments in the LSR aim to enhance late successional characteristics in timber stands. The LSR land allocation covers approximately 49,900 acres in the project area.
Matrix lands are designated as areas where sustainable timber harvest could occur. The matrix land allocation covers approximately 12,600 acres in the project area.
To view the map legend, click on the button in the lower left corner of the interactive map.
Middle Santiam Wilderness
The Middle Santiam Wilderness covers approximately 8,757 acres in the QMS project area. While the wilderness lies within the project area, it is managed in accordance with the 1964 Wilderness Act . Impacts to the wilderness area are analyzed in the QMS project but there are no treatments or activities proposed inside the wilderness boundary.
To view the map legend, click on the button in the lower left corner of the interactive map.
QMS Project Purpose and Need #1:
Contribute to a predictable, sustainable supply of forest products to help maintain the stability of local and regional economies and markets.
The 1990 Forest Plan includes direction to produce a sustainable timber yield that helps maintain the stability of local and regional economies on a predictable and long-term basis. The Matrix is where this Purpose and Need is most applicable, but timber production is also proposed in the LSR to accomplish restoration objectives.
The photo to the right shows Unit 243 within the Matrix land use allocation.
QMS Project Purpose and Need #2:
Manage stands in the Late Successional Reserves (LSR) to accelerate the development of old growth characteristics.
Prior to designation as LSR under the NWFP, the primary objective for stands in the QMS project area was to produce high timber yields. As a result, stands were heavily planted and are now over stocked plantations. The NWFP encourages the use of silvicultural practices to accelerate the development of overstocked young plantations into stands with late-successional characteristics and old-growth forest.
The photo on the left shows proposed Unit 73, an over stocked unit in the LSR. The photo on the right shows a previously thinned LSR unit treated approximately 8 years ago in another project.
QMS Project Purpose and Need #3:
Create diversity in structure and age class across the project area.
Management in the past 30 years, including fire suppression and reduced vegetation harvest, has resulted in a landscape with less variety in forest structure and lower ecological diversity than in the past.
The presence of all age classes, from the very young forests (0-15 years) to the very old forests (250+ years) is important for ecosystem health and resiliency. The QMS project would help restore age class and diversity with thinning, gap creation and limited early seral creation using shelterwood with reserve treatments.
The shelterwood with reserve treatments will only occur in the Matrix land allocation, not in the LSR.
The photo to the right shows Unit 73 in the LSR, a stand with homogenous Douglas Fir trees.
QMS Project Purpose and Need #4:
Sustainably manage the network of roads in the QMS project area by identifying a minimum roads system.
Many roads throughout the project area are no longer drivable and pose a threat to water quality due to erosion caused by lack of maintenance.
A minimum roads system would meet regional guidance by providing an increasingly stable road infrastructure on the landscape that reflects current utilization, needs for protection of NFS lands, budget constraints and provide for water quality in the project area.
The photo to the right shows erosion along the roadway on road 1100-720.
QMS Project Purpose and Need #4, continued:
A minimum roads system also allows road work to be focused in areas of need while roads that are not currently drivable or in disrepair can be decommissioned or closed. The QMS team analyzed each road segment for current and future needs.
The photo to the right shows the 1132-105 road which is proposed for decommissioning upon completion of the project.
Types of Treatments within the QMS Project:
The following harvest treatments are proposed in the QMS project:
Commercial Thinning:
This treatment would focus on removing intermediate and suppressed trees to improve the health of the larger, more dominant leave trees. “Leave trees” would be selected using a variety criteria to create stands with variable densities. In accordance with the Northwest Forest Plan, stands in the LSR land allocation cannot be thinned below 40% canopy cover.
Shelterwood with Reserves:
Shelterwood with reserves is a type of regeneration harvest designed to leave part of the original overstory in place after harvest. At least 15% of green trees would be retained at minimum in patches or scattered throughout the harvest unit. This treatment is proposed only in the Matrix land allocation and no treatments would take place in the Riparian Reserves.
Gaps:
Gaps are created by cutting most trees in a small area ranging from 1 - 3 acres in size. Up to three large trees may be retained in a single gap. Species such as pine, cedar, and hardwoods would be retained to maintain species diversity. Gaps are only proposed for stands in the Matrix.
Skips:
Skips are areas within a stand where no harvest activities take place and serve to create diversity in homogenous stands by leaving areas where tree density remains high, interspersed with areas receiving active management. Skips are areas where high levels of tree competition would result in snag and down wood creation.
Dominant Tree Release (DTR):
DTRs are similar to gaps but would create openings no larger than ¼ acre in size. These openings would retain one dominate tree in the center of the DTR. These treatments are particularly useful in the LSR land allocation and have many of the same benefits as gap creation, only with a smaller opening in the canopy.
QMS Project Alternatives:
Alternative 1
Under Alternative 1, no treatments would be implemented. The No Action Alternative should not be confused with a baseline. Whereas a baseline is essentially a description of the affected environment at a fixed point in time, the No Action Alternative considers what effects would occur to forest ecosystems and resources in the project area if no action is taken.
The purpose and need of the proposed actions would not be met under Alternative 1, as none of the proposed actions would be implemented.
The photo to the right shows an untreated area in Unit 168 in the QMS project area. The dense plantation of trees would remain over-crowded if no treatments occur.
QMS Project Alternatives:
Alternative 2 - Proposed Action and Preferred Alternative
Commercial thinning treatments are proposed on 5,300 acres, across the project area.
Alternative 2 also proposes shelterwood with reserve treatment for 140 acres in units 100-150 years old, only in the Matrix land allocation.
To learn more about a specific unit, click on that unit in the interactive map. To view the map legend, click on the button in the lower left corner of the map.
QMS Project Alternatives:
Alternative 3
Alternative 3, would treat approximately the same quantity of acres with commercial thinning as Alternative 2, but eliminates shelterwood with reserve harvest treatments in stands over 80 years of age.
Shelterwood with reserves treatments would only occur in stands 35 to 50 years of age over approximately 200 acres in only the Matrix land allocation.
No Riparian Reserves would be treated in stands over 80 years of age or in the stands proposed for shelterwood with reserve treatments.
To learn more about a specific unit, click on that unit in the interactive map. To view the map legend, click on the button in the lower left corner of the map.
QMS Project Alternatives:
Alternative 4
In Alternative 4, there are no stands proposed for treatment over 80 years of age and no shelterwood with reserve treatments proposed in the project. This alternative focuses solely on thinning treatments in younger stands.
To learn more about a specific unit, click on that unit in the interactive map. To view the map legend, click on the button in the lower left corner of the map.
QMS Proposed Road Treatments:
In addition to timber harvests, road work is an important component of the QMS project.
Road maintenance and reconstruction:
Approximately 293 miles of forest roads would be repaired and maintained to improve structural strength and road surfaces to a level that would support commercial timber haul and meet desired road conditions. Road maintenance activities may include felling danger trees, clearing and grubbing, replacing drainage structures, asphalt pavement patching, repairing holes in the roadbed, reconstructing ditches and placement of aggregate surfacing.
Closure:
About 19 miles roads would be stored. Storing a road involves physically closing a route to all motor vehicle traffic using barriers such as boulders and gates, water bars or berms. These roads are expected to be used intermittently when needed for project or fire access but kept closed for periods of years between uses.
Decommissioning:
About 14 miles of currently inaccessible forest roads would be decommissioned, closed to all vehicle traffic, and taken off the Forest’s road inventory. Through the road analysis process, it was determined these roads are not needed for management activities, access to private land or mining claims. Decommissioned roads are not expected to be reopened in the future and actions may be taken to further reduce hydrological impacts, such as subsoiling, outsloping, recontouring and mulching.
This photo shows Forest Road 1100-720 in the QMS project area.
QMS Proposed Road Treatments:
Road maintenance and reconstruction needs vary by road, but include brushing, reconditioning of roadways and ditches, replacing culverts, and cut/fill slope repair.
This project would decommission (rehabilitate and remove from system) and store (close) certain roads, leaving them in a hydrologically stable condition. On many of these roads, ATV or walking access would be maintained.
Road treatments are consistent across all alternatives.
To learn more about a specific road, click on that road in the interactive map. To view the map legend, click on the button in the lower left corner of the map.
Overview of Tree Canopy Height
This map shows the tree canopy height for the QMS project area. The lighter green areas indicate shrubs and shorter canopy heights (young forested areas), while the darker green areas indicate intermediate canopy height (intermediate age forested areas). The purple areas indicate taller canopy heights (mature forested areas). The QMS project was designed to preserve connectivity between older forest stands.
To learn more about a specific unit, click on that unit in the interactive map. To view the map legend, click on the button in the lower left corner of the map.
Examples of Specific Unit Treatments
These units were selected to provide a visual example of the types of treatments proposed in the QMS project and how they vary between units.
For each of the highlighted units, areas shown in orange are upland thinning areas. Blue areas are riparian reserves that will receive thinning treatments, and red shows areas that will receive no harvest. Clicking on a highlighted unit will show a table with more information about the proposed treatment.
Each of the buttons below will take you to a particular unit within the QMS project. Click the button again or use the "-" button on the map to zoom back out. Click on any of the tables or photos below to enlarge.
For information about the QMS Project, please contact Joanie Schmidgall, project lead, at (541) 259-9804.
The photo to the right shows a small waterfall along Quartzville Creek.