The Northwest wine industry has grown tremendously over the last few decades. That鈥檚 had a big economic impact but has also changed the region鈥檚 landscape.
In Oregon鈥檚 Willamette Valley, you don鈥檛 see a lot of oak trees anymore. Spacious oak savannas have been replaced by farms and vineyards. Economists are predicting a global wine shortage, and that means demand for Northwest grapes will only grow.
Oaks vs. wine
In the Willamette Valley, over 90 percent of native oak habitat has been leveled. A lot of it has been replaced by long, lucrative rows of grapevines.
But the Deumling family stakes its claim not on wine but on oak trees. The family owns 1,300 acres northwest of Salem. They manufacture wood flooring from sustainably harvested oaks. By thinning the trees, they hope to maintain forest health.
鈥淚 feel like I have a responsibility as an Oregonian to be up here and be taking care of this place,鈥� says Ben Deumling. He says there鈥檚 an expanding market for local hardwoods, but oaks grow slowly. They take decades to mature and the oldest trees -- legacy oaks -- live for hundreds of years.
The fact is: oaks may never provide the same income as wine. But Deumling says it鈥檚 not about the money.
鈥淚 think a lot about legacy," he says. "And I think about the legacy that my dad and my mom have instilled in me, to have an appreciation of this place.鈥�
Continuing a legacy
Ben Deumling鈥檚 father, Dieter, worked as a forester for German landowners. In 1996, his father died of cancer. Ben鈥檚 mother, Sarah, had been a stay-at-home mom. But, without hesitation, she asked to be trained in forestry. Like her husband, Sarah learned a technique called 鈥淣aturgemaese Waldwirtschaft."
Sarah explains, "Roughly translated as nature-based forestry, which tries to manage a forest as closely as possible as the way nature would.鈥�
When the Germans eventually decided to sell their land in Oregon, the Deumling family secured as many acres as they did by promising to maintain the oak habitat.
Sarah says she鈥檚 glad they did. A timber company bought three other parcels and soon gave the land a permanent makeover.
鈥淭he timber company clear-cut all three the next summer," she says. "Every blinking tree, and two of those three parcels are now vineyards.鈥�
Sarah Deumling says she feels like she too is continuing her husband鈥檚 legacy. And even her six-year-old grandson is now showing interest. He recently asked if he was old enough to use a pruning saw.
But the trend lines are clear. Ben Deumling just hopes vineyard expansions don鈥檛 mean further loss of oak habitat.
鈥淲e鈥檙e down to the point where we have so little of our oak left that we shouldn鈥檛 be converting more of that last five percent into other uses,鈥� he says.
Butterfly habitat
Some of the best grape-growing lands are also home to federally protected species -- like butterflies.
Fender鈥檚 Blue Butterflies are endangered. They are no longer found on the Deumling鈥檚 property. But they thrive on a nearby wildlife refuge. Sarah envisions butterfly habitat someday stretching from the refuge to their home.
鈥淟ong term, it鈥檚 interesting to think of creating a corridor of patches of oak between here and there," she says. "They need to be reintroduced.鈥�
Entomologists say butterflies are a good gauge of an ecosystem鈥檚 health -- like a 21st Century canary in the coal mine.
In eastern Washington鈥檚 wine-growing regions, native butterflies are already being reintroduced. And some Oregon winemakers are doing the same. Emily Gladhart recently certified her family鈥檚 winery with the National Butterfly Association.
鈥淏utterflies are beautiful, and many of us have childhood memories of chasing butterflies,鈥� she says.
In fact, a nature trail crosses Gladhart鈥檚 vineyard -- Winter鈥檚 Hill. She says visitors can walk through a legacy of oak trees, grapevines, and butterflies.
Copyright 2013