Saturday marked the 25th anniversary of the Happy Valley Tree Farm’s annual Tree Day.
Keith Argow, president of the National Woodland Owners Association, presented a certificate recognizing their accomplishments to owners Bert and Betty Udell and their family.
The Udells started Tree Day in 1978 at their tree farm.
They purchased a regenerating goat and sheep pasture six miles from their home in 1964. The original 208 acres was financed by a Federal Farm Home Administration loan. Subsequent acquisitions brought the total to about 400 acres.
The Udells stocked 17 acres with Christmas trees for immediate income, built a three-quarter acre pond, rocked roads for Tree Day and self-guided tours, built picnic tables, cleared trails of poison oak and piped in spring water.
Experiments in deer control, hardwood management, best species suited for the site and afforestation were initiated. In 1981, Happy Valley was dedicated to long-term Oregon State research plots for comparing top versus bottom thinning, which continues.
In 1982, the Udells received the National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year award. In 1983, President Reagan entrusted them to plant “his tree,” which may be seen growing in the President’s Grove. In 1998, Happy Valley became the first tree farm to receive the National Woodland Owners Association’s Green Tag Certification.
In 1986, the Udells purchased another 40 acres and a 1988 trade added another 60 acres to complete the present Happy Valley Tree Farm, which is located on Bellinger Scale Road. A road system connects Bellinger Scale Road to Bellinger Road between Sweet Home and Lebanon.
In 1991, the Udells restructured Tree Day to include a 6.2-mile Volksmarch trail with a brochure describing 85 points of interest. In 1995, they added Family Adventure Day on the Friday before Tree Day, held the third Saturday in August. Scout programs have been using the tree farm for camp since 1996.
Selective logging continues annually on the property using the Udell’s “carrot method” of harvesting bigger trees and letting smaller ones have more room to get bigger.
Tree Day is aimed at acquainting visitors with some of the activities that are connected with modern tree farming. The modern tree farmer must combine the sciences of nature, common sense and hard work to keep their farms solvent.
At least 250 persons attended Adventure Day Friday and Tree Day Saturday, Fay Sallee, the Udells’ daughter, said. She estimated as many as 400 for Saturday.
Among the activities available were pickup tours of the tree farm, a demonstration by Oregon Department of Forestry firefighters and a Weyerhaeuser helicopter, workshops on various aspects of tree farming and activities to introduce children to forestry.
“This is public education, one of the Udell’s strongest beliefs,” Ray Hewitt, a Happy Valley employee, said. That’s why Foster School holds its outdoor school there and the Boy and Girl Scouts hold their camps there.
Mr. Udell, president of the Third Force for Forestry tries to present a third viewpoint on forestry, Hewitt said. That viewpoint is somewhere “between public agencies and large private” woodland owners, the small woodland owner’s viewpoint.
The OSU Extension organized the event this year, Hewitt said. The Udells and family members were the main organizers up until this year.