Dave Bateman's Down on the Tree Farm

Down on the Tree Farm - in Memory of Dave Bateman

Down on The Tree Farm, written by Dave Bateman, were a series of timeless articles on the topic of "What to Do Around the Tree Farm" during the various seasons.

Summer 2007
Winter 2007
Summer 2008
Fall 2014

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• A tribute to Dave Bateman

  by Sherm Sallee

  Dave’s occupation as a surveyor and timber cruiser made him feel right at home in the woods. He and his wife Karen owned a little piece of tree farm heaven where they entertained several small woodland board meetings and tours. Dave was very enthusiastic about small woodland events and enjoyed helping with the planning and execution. He provided essential leadership to the Linn County Small Woodlands chapter for several years. He was a member of the Oregon Woodland Cooperative and participated in purchasing a small system to produce essential oils from fir and pine for sale through the cooperative.

  Dave headed up an informal group of Linn County small woodland owners who met four times a year to develop a list of ideas for improving small woodland forestland. Since there are some times that are better than others for certain tree farming tasks, this group would identify by month when it was most productive to accomplish tasks such as pruning, spraying, road and culvert work. This information was then written in an entertaining format and provided to the editor of the Northwest Woodland publication. The title of the section was “Down on the Tree Farm” It was Dave’s enthusiasm and passion that kept this Linn County group active for several years leaving behind a road map for current and future small woodland owners to follow.

  As an example of how enthused Dave was about tree farm activities, there was many a morning he would call me around 6:00 am. He sometimes arrived at one of his work places early and was waiting for daylight. It was during these times that he would bounce ideas off me for educational classes, tree farm tours, workshop topics or just visit about tree farming in general. Having an early morning conversation with David Bateman was much more effective than several cups of coffee in getting the day off to a wonderful start.