Source: UNIVERSITY OF OREGON submitted to NRP
ECOLOGICAL INTENSIFICATION FOR A PRODUCTIVE OAK-HAZELNUT SAVANNAH LANDSCAPE
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1024840
Grant No.
2021-67019-33418
Cumulative Award Amt.
$499,991.00
Proposal No.
2020-04990
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
May 1, 2021
Project End Date
Apr 30, 2026
Grant Year
2021
Program Code
[A1451]- Renewable Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment: Agroecosystem Management
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
1585 E 13TH AVE
EUGENE,OR 97403
Performing Department
Institute Ecology & Evolution
Non Technical Summary
Agroecosystems are embedded in a larger landscape matrix, and inputs between agriculture and wildlands can affect the ecosystem services provided in each. For example, hazelnut production requires pest management and bare ground for harvest. Intensive pesticide use and ground scraping to achieve these aims can result in a loss of beneficial insects and high pesticide and herbicide runoff in wildlands. Reciprocally, pests from surrounding wildlands can spillover to exacerbate pest loads in hazelnut stands. For example, hazelnut orchards are embedded in a landscape previously dominated by oak-prairie savannah. The primary economic pest of hazelnuts is the filbertworm, which is hosted by oaks as well as hazelnuts. Consequently, remnant oak habitat in the agricultural matrix can support "source" populations of filbertworms that invade hazelnut stands, leading to a potential conflict between oak conservation and hazelnut production. Developing strategies to enhance ecosystem services and conservation across the hazelnut-oak interface is particularly pressing as the hazelnut industry is booming, with production doubling in the last 10 years, and forecasted to double again by 2025.We test two strategies to enhance ecosystem multi-functionality across the hazelnut-wildland interface. Working on farms that employ a range of practices (conventional to organic), we first test the use of pig grazing to reduce pest spillover from woodlands. Filbertworms burrow into acorns, and we hypothesize that grazing woodlands at peak acorn infestation will reduce pest spillover into orchards. We employ a before-after-control-impact design to assess the local and landscape effects of grazing on filbertworm populations. Second, we test whether native cover crops can reduce runoff and retain soil nutrients while also promoting natural predators and pollinators. We factorially cross ground management practices with cover crop type (native, conventional, bare) and assess plant population viability and associated services. We involve producers in question development and experimentation, which helps ensure our approach is relevant and our results are widely disseminated.
Animal Health Component
25%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
75%
Applied
25%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2161210107050%
1021210107050%
Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 216 - Integrated Pest Management Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
1210 - Filbert;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;
Goals / Objectives
The premise of our research is that agroecosystem sustainability requires practices that support multiple ecosystem services across the agricultural-wildlands matrix. We focus on Oregon's hazelnut industry, which is a booming industry, providing 99 percent of US hazelnuts. Production has doubled in the last 10 years, and is forecasted to double again by 2025. Key challenges for hazelnut production are pest management and the need for bare ground at harvest. Traditionally, farms have used intensive spraying, flailing, and scraping to eliminate pests and understory vegetation. These practices can lead to a loss of beneficial insects, and eroded orchard soils that do not hold moisture, and high herbicide and pesticide runoff rates. In addition, exchanges between hazelnut orchards and surrounding wildlands complicate agroecosystem management. Oregon hazelnut orchards are embedded in a landscape previously dominated by oak-prairie savannah. Pests from surrounding oak habitat can exacerbate pest loads in hazelnuts. The primary economic pest of hazelnuts is the filbertworm (Cydia latiferreana), a native moth that burrows into the nuts and renders them inedible. Remnant oak habitat in the agricultural matrix can support "source" populations of filbertworms that re-invade hazelnut stands, leading to a potential conflict between oak conservation and hazelnut production.Our overall goal is to test two forms of ecological intensification for hazelnut agroecosystems: grazing to reduce pest spillover from oak stands and cover crops to improve water resources and promote beneficial species. We will test whether and how these ecological intensifications achieve their targeted goals and their interactive implications for ecosystem services at the farm and landscape scale. Our three main objectives are to:1) Test whether grazing reduces pest spillover from oak to hazelnut stands. Pigs preferentially graze acorns, and acorn-fed pigs are a valuable commodity. We predict that grazing oak stands with pigs will physically remove infested acorns, reducing pest loads within oaks and spillover to adjacent hazelnut stands. Because adult moths have a large (~5 acre) flight radius, we expect the effectiveness of pig grazing will be highly scale-dependent, with the extent of grazing needed for pest control depending on the landscape context.2) Assess whether native cover crops effectively improve water and promote beneficial species. While cover crops are uncommon in hazelnuts due to a need for bare ground at harvest, there is growing pressure to use them to prevent runoff and retain soil moisture. We predict that native prairie plants will be ideal cover crops because they provide additional co-benefits, most notably by hosting natural predators and supporting native pollinators. We also predict that their characteristic summer senescence will allow populations to reseed without interfering with nut harvest. We will assess the viability and benefits of native compared to conventional cover crops.3) Determine whether there are synergies between livestock integration and orchard cover crops. In agricultural systems, pollinators typically live in surrounding wildlands and venture into farmland to collect pollen and/or nectar. We hypothesize the combination of cover crops and oak woodland conservation will enhance pollinators by increasing floral resources and nesting habitat. Wild bees often nest in the ground, and we predict that grazing will enhance nesting habitat by breaking up thick non-native ground vegetation.
Project Methods
Our experimental design takes an integrative factorial approach that addresses hypotheses associated with each project objective. We focus on four hazelnut farms that represent a range of management practices.H1: Pig grazing in oak woodlands will reduce filbertworm pest pressure in adjacent hazelnut orchards.Grazing treatment. In the fall of year 1 we will implement a grazing treatment in woodlands adjacent to hazelnut orchards. In the first year we replicate the pig grazing in four 2-acre plots within the oak woodlands. We will used movable electric fences to implement the treatments, grazing each plot for ~4 days. In the fall of year 2 we will expand the pig grazing to cover the woodlands, excluding four 2-acre permanent control (ungrazed) plots. This will allow a replicated M-BACI assessment of local effects of grazing within each farm and a replicated before-after assessment of the widescale effects of grazing across the four farms.Field measurements. In years 1 and 2 we will assess the number of infested acorns shortly before and just after pig grazing. In years 2 and 3 we will assess filbertworm emergence from the ground in spring and summer. In years 2 and 3 we will assess filbertworm abundance using aerial pheromone traps across the woodland-agricultural gradient. While our measures of infested acorns and emergence focused on the local effects of grazing, we will design aerial measurements to assess the effect of woodland grazing across the farms. In addition, we will the extend transects into the hazelnut orchard to capture the amount and spatial pattern of filbertworm spillover from woodlands.To determine the effects of pig grazing on the oak woodland understory, we will measure plant community composition by taking visual percent cover estimates.Specific results that would support H1: Filbertworms. Our hypothesis will be supported if there is a relative decline in infested acorns and filbertworm emergence in the grazed plots, and if aerial abundances decline with extensive grazing.Specific results that would support H1: Understory vegetation. Our hypothesis will be supported if there is an increase in bare ground, a decrease in invasive plant cover, and in increase in plant diversity in grazed plots.H2: Native cover crops will increase pollinator and predator abundances while having a comparable effect on soil water and nutrient retention to conventional cover crops.Ground treatments. Typical orchard floor management involves both summer flailing and fall scraping to facilitate harvest. Flailing consists of large-scale mowing and branch chipping and scraping consists of mechanical soil leveling. We will cross three common ground management treatments (flailing and scraping, flailing, and none) with three cover crop treatments (native, conventional, and bare). Within each ground management strip, we will randomly nest three cover crop treatments in 500 m x 2 m sub-strips: native, conventional, and bare.Field measurements. We will measure abundance of all plant species (seeded and otherwise) through ocular cover estimates. We will measure density by counting stems per species in subplots. We will measure fecundity by counting seed production within our density subplots. Fecundity measurements will focus on annual species, as seed production is necessary for continued population viability. We will conduct these surveys in year 1, the spring following seed addition, as well as year 2 and year 3 to assess the trajectories of focal species over time. In conjunction with our plant abundance measurements we will estimate percent bare ground as a proxy for erosion potential and soil stability.Soil samples will be taken before and after experimental treatments to determine baseline conditions as well as the overall effect of treatments on the net concentration of organic matter and nutrients. Organic carbon and nitrogen will be determined through combustion using a Costech elemental analyzer. We will measure soil moisture as volumetric water content (VWC) from the top 15 cm of soil. We will collect soil moisture every other week between March and June, as this is the period in which soils transition from field capacity to very dry and the period in which we expect cover crops will have an effect.We will sample natural predator and pollinator communities between May and July each year along the cover crop strips. Surveys will be conducted under sunny conditions within a range of standardized temperature and wind conditions. We will measure each strip in 100 m increments. Working within each 100 m, we will use a timed sampling approach in which flower visitors to plants will be netted for 10 minutes of active search time (the timer will be paused when handling specimens). Because data collection is time-intensive, for feasibility we focus insect sampling on cover crop strips that are not flailed or scraped.Specific results that would support H2: Plant populations. Our hypotheses will be supported if neither ground management nor successive year have a significant effect on native cover and diversity or on modeled population growth rates.Specific results that would support H2: Resource concentration. Our hypothesis will be supported if there is a significant increase in both organic matter and N concentrations with cover crops relative to bare ground but there is no significant difference between native and conventional crops, and if both forms of cover crops retain soil moisture longer into dry-down than bare ground.Specific results that would support H2: Natural predators and pollinators. We hypothesize that native cover crops will support a higher abundance and diversity of beneficial insects than either conventional crops or bare ground. Our hypotheses will be supported if there is significantly greater beneficial insect abundance along native cover strips compared to conventional or bare ground strips. We anticipate that conventional cover strips will have fewer beneficial species than native strips, but more than bare ground.H3: The combination of woodland grazing and native cover crops will have an interactive, positive effect on beneficial species by providing both habitat and floral resourcesField measurements. To assess grazing effect on beneficial species, we will extend our survey transects into the woodlands. We will follow the same protocol as for H2, arranging the transect so that each interval is either grazed or ungrazed.Specific results that would support H3: Natural predators and pollinators. Our hypothesis will be supported if abundance and diversity decline with distance from woodlands, although we expect this effect will be lessened in native cover strips. In addition, our hypothesis will be supported if abundance and diversity are greater in grazed than ungrazed areas.

Progress 05/01/23 to 04/30/24

Outputs
Target Audience:This project contributed to the training of two University of Oregon graduate students during the reporting period. Cal Penkauskas completed an MS in Biology (conferred June 2023) based on his research with bird diversity in and around our cover cropped hazelnut orchards. Marissa Lane-Massee continued an MS in Environmental Studies based on species selection and functional ecology of native cover crop species. Adam Clayton completed his undergraduate thesis on this project (June 2023), and undergraduates Daj Latta, Anna Hougardy and Grace Kowalski continued to assist with data collection and analysis. Dr. Steven Haring continued to receive postdoctoral training during the reporting period. Changes/Problems:We do not have any major changes. As we reported in earlier years, our partner farm that managed the hog operation had to scale back due to supply chain issues owing to Covid19. As a result, we have scaled-down the hog grazing component to a single site, while scaling up the native cover crop component extensively in dialogue with growers. We have been able to expand the cover crop work to include other elements of orchard floor management (such as basalt dust) without compromising the breadth and rigor of our cover crop trials. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project contributed to the training of two University of Oregon graduate students during the reporting period. Cal Penkauskas completed an MS in Biology (conferred June 2023) based on his research with bird diversity in and around our cover cropped hazelnut orchards. Marissa Lane-Massee continued an MS in Environmental Studies based on species selection and functional ecology of native cover crop species. Adam Clayton completed his undergraduate thesis on this project (June 2023), and undergraduates Daj Latta, Anna Hougardy and Grace Kowalski continued to assist with data collection and analysis. Dr. Steven Haring continued to receive postdoctoral training during the reporting period. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We hosted a field day for over 20 hazelnut and restoration professionals one June 1, 2023 at our site at Lane-Massee Farms. We had informal discussions about our research with growers and other hazelnut professionals at several grower meetings throughout the year, including the Nut Growers Society Summer Tour and Winter Meeting and the Oregon Organic Hazelnut Collective Summer tour. To reach scientific audiences, we presented 2023 Ecological Society of America Meeting (Penkauskas) and we presented to academic colleagues in invited seminars (Hallett). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue monitoring and maintaining our suite of field experiments at Dorris Ranch and Lane-Massee Farms and our new organic partner (Steenson Farm). We are analyzing data and drafting peer-reviewed manuscripts to report on our field experiments, in addition to the survey project. We are planning to host another field day in 2024 and present to grower audiences such as at the NGS Winter Meeting.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have completed the main experiment for goal 1 and continue to outreach around this topic with growers; note as described in previous project reports this component was scaled back in scope because our partnering farm had difficulty sourcing feed for the hogs owing to supply chain disruption from Covid 19. We have commensurately scaled-up the cover crop component of this study. Under goal 2, we implemented cooperative, commercial-scale experiments comparing native and conventional multi-species cover crop mixes at Dorris Ranch and Lane-Massee Farms. Both of these experiments were installed in October 2022. We reseeded the annual cover crop mixes at both sites and the native mix at Dorris Ranch (to improve establishment) and intensively sampled both sites for plant composition, phenology, weed suppression, soil moisture, and soil health. The experiment at Dorris Ranch includes extensive filbertworm monitoring in support of goal 1. The experiment at Lane-Massee includes a comparison of 10 individual native cover crop species to help optimize seed mixes for different age orchards and management goals in support of goal 2. In past years we expanded trials at this site to include an additional treatment that compares the combined effect of basalt soil amendments and cover crops on soil carbon as well as conservation and production goals, as amendments are gaining traction as a natural climate solution in this area. Data collection is ongoing, but our preliminary analyses indicate that diverse native mixes are most effective at weed suppression and that basalt application rapidly increases soil pH to desired levels, making it a reasonable substitution for liming. We continued to move our first core paper on cover crops through the review process. We also expanded to implement develop trials for an organic farm interested in cover crops. Under goals 2 and 3, we analyzed and completed a draft of a mail survey of hazelnut growers analyzing their perceptions and goals related to adoption of sustainability practices and orchard diversification techniques. Also under goal 3, we continued analyzed an observational study of wild bird diversity in hazelnut orchards of different ages and in different landscape contexts and shared findings with our cooperator-partner, Dorris Ranch. We also wrote a follow-up Conservation Innovation Grant and Sustainable Agricultural Systems grant to continue and expand this work.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Maintaining biodiversity in a variable and changing world. University of Wyoming Plant Ecology seminar series.


Progress 05/01/22 to 04/30/23

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, we have interfaced with restoration ecology professionals, other hazelnut scientists and plant ecologists, park managers, grower-cooperators at our research sites (Dorris Ranch in Springfield, OR and Lane-Massee Farm in Keizer, OR), hazelnut industry representatives, and other hazelnut growers. Changes/Problems:We do not have any major changes. As we reported last year, our partner farm that managed the hog operation had to scale back due to supply chain issues owing to Covid19. As a result, we have scaled-down the hog grazing component to a single site, while scaling up the native cover crop component extensively in dialogue with growers. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project contributed to the training of two University of Oregon graduate students during the reporting period. Cal Penkauskas completed an MS in Biology based on his research with bird diversity in and around our cover cropped hazelnut orchards. Marissa Lane-Massee continued an MS in Environmental Studies based on species selection and functional ecology of native cover crop species. Throughout the reporting period, University of Oregon undergraduates Adam Clayton and Daj Latta continued their roles as field investigators, with Adam completing a senior thesis on the project. Additionally, UO undergraduates Anna Hougardy and Grace Kowalski analyzed native plant communities during the spring of 2023. Dr. Steven Haring continued to receive postdoctoral training during the reporting period. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We hosted a field day for over 20 hazelnut and restoration professionals one June 1, 2023 at our site at Lane-Massee Farms. We had informal discussions about our research with growers and other hazelnut professionals at several grower meetings throughout late 2022 and 2023, including the Nut Growers Society Winter Meeting and Summer Tour and three NGS Coffee and Catkins events. To reach scientific audiences, we presented posters at the 2022 A Conference on Ecosystem Services (Haring), 2023 Ecological Society of America Meeting (Penkauskas), and 2022 Cascadia Prairie Oak Partnership Conference (Lane-Massee). We also gave talks at the 2023 Weed Science Society of America Meeting (Haring) and 2022 Cascadia Prairie Oak Partnership Conference (Penkauskas), as well as at a USDA webinar on agroforestry on December 2, 2022 (Haring), and we presented to academic colleagues in invited seminars (Hallett). We hosted a journalist from our College's Communications Office at one of our research sites to support a university publication about our ongoing field research that has been written and will be published soon. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue monitoring and maintaining our suite of field experiments at Dorris Ranch and Lane-Massee Farms. We have had several growers express interest in our trials following our field day and discussions at grower meetings; we are working with these growers to design a final multi-farm experiment that assess how cover crops perform across different types of farm operations (e.g., small organic through large-scale conventional). We are analyzing data and drafting peer-reviewed manuscripts to report on our field experiments, in addition to the survey project. We are planning to host another field day in 2024 and present to grower audiences such as at the NGS Winter Meeting. We are planning to present results at additional scientific meetings, such as the 2024 Ecological Society of America Meeting.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have completed the main experiment for goal 1 and continue to outreach around this topic with growers; note as described in last year's project report this component was scaled back in scope because our partnering farm had difficulty sourcing feed for the hogs owing to supply chain disruption from Covid 19. We have commensurately scaled-up the cover crop component of this study. Under goal 2, we implemented cooperative, commercial-scale experiments comparing native and conventional multi-species cover crop mixes at Dorris Ranch and Lane-Massee Farms. Both of these experiments were installed in October 2022, with repeated monitoring until the first season of cover crops was terminated in August 2023. The experiment at Dorris Ranch includes extensive filbertworm monitoring in support of goal 1. The experiment at Lane-Massee includes a comparison of 10 individual native cover crop species to help optimize seed mixes for different age orchards and management goals in support of goal 2. New as of this year, we have expanded trials at this site to include an additional treatment that compares the combined effect of basalt soil amendments and cover crops on soil carbon as well as conservation and production goals, as amendments are gaining traction as a natural climate solution in this area. Data collection is ongoing, but we have begun analyzing data from both experimental sites. Under goals 2 and 3, we initiated, completed, and started analysis on a mail survey of hazelnut growers analyzing their perceptions and goals related to adoption of sustainability practices and orchard diversification techniques. Also under goal 3, we continued to monitor and analyzed an observational study of wild bird diversity in hazelnut orchards of different ages and in different landscape contexts.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Hallett, Lauren. 2022. Enhancing the ecological value of hazelnut orchards in the Willamette Valley. Institute for Policy Research and Engagement and School of Planning, Public Policy & Management joint seminar series, University of Oregon.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Clayton, Adam. 2023. University of Oregon Undergraduate Thesis. Out on a limb: Do hazelnut orchards provide habitat for cavity nesting birds?
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Penkauskas Cal. 2023. University of Oregon Master's thesis in Biology. Birds of a feather: cross-scale relationships of farm birds in hazelnut orchards.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Haring Steven, Lane-Massee Marissa, Penkauskas Cal, Brambila Alejandro, Brown Ari, and Hallett Lauren. January 2023. Public parks, family farms, and cover crops: implementing ecological weed management with diverse stakeholders in Oregon Hazelnuts. Oral presentation at Weed Science Society of America Meeting, Arlington, VA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Haring Steven, Lane-Massee Marissa, Penkauskas Cal, Brambila Alejandro, Brown Ari, and Hallett Lauren. November 2022. Agroecological restoration with native cover crops in hazelnut orchards in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. Poster presentation at A Conference on Ecosystem Services, Arlington, VA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Lane-Massee Marissa, Brambila Alejandro, Brown Ari, Haring Steven, and Hallett Lauren. November 2022. Native cover crops in hazelnut orchards. Poster presentation at the Cascadia Prairie Oak Partnership meeting, Vancouver, WA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Penkauskas Cal. November 2022. Hogs, hazelnuts, and hawks: adaptively managing for wildlife in the agricultural-wildland matrix. Oral presentation at the Cascadia Prairie Oak Partnership meeting, Vancouver, WA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Penkauskas Cal, Policha Tobias, Ponisio Lauren, Hallett Lauren. July 2023. Birds of a feather: spatial relationships of avifauna in hazelnut orchards. Poster presentation at Ecological Society of America Meeting, Portland, OR.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Hallett, Lauren. February 2023. Managing biodiversity in a variable and changing world. University of British Columbia Biodiversity Seminar Series.


Progress 05/01/21 to 04/30/22

Outputs
Target Audience:Our audiences during this reporting period have included restoration ecology professionals, park managers, and grower-cooperators, and our efforts have included cooperative experimental design meetings and an extension outreach event, among others. Cooperative research was undertaken at My Brothers' Farm in Creswell OR, the Lane-Massee Farm in Keizer OR, and at Dorris Ranch in Springfield OR. Changes/Problems:The project has continued largely as outlined in the proposal. We did have more limited farm participant availability in the wake of the Covid19 pandemic, and so have shifted our focus slightly to more conduct in-depth experiments of the effects of either hog grazing or cover-crops at focal farms rather than across multiple farms. This has lead us to expand our research questions within each management strategy. For example, our initial cover crop experiments identified that in general native perennial species as particularly able to persist in orchards without disrupting harvest; we are now conducting in-depth follow up experiments on the effect of individual species on farm management and biodiversity. We are pairing these more in-depth, focal farm studies with other tools for cross-farm inference, such as a grower survey. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project contributed to the graduation of three University of Oregon students during the reporting period: Ari Brown with a BS in Biology, Marissa Lane-Massee with a BS in Environmental Studies and Alejandro Brambila with a PhD in Environmental Sciences, Studies, and Policy. Cal Penkauskas and Marissa Lane-Massee have begun MS programs at the University of Oregon. In the summer of 2022, Adam Clayton and Daj Adagia are University of Oregon undergraduate students working in the Hallett Lab in projects at our hazelnut field site at Dorris Ranch in Springfield, OR. Postdoctoral training to Dr. Steven Haring was initiated during this reporting period. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Much of the dissemination during this period has been through scientific publications as described above, including peer reviewed publications and theses. Cooperative research activities, including the extension workshop in Roseburg OR and on-farm research at three sites (My Brothers' Farm, Lane-Massee Farm, and Dorris Ranch), have also been used for results dissemination and cooperative review during this period. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are working on two separate experiments to support goal 2. First, we will continue our new experiment in Keizer OR. Second, we will begin research on our large experiment at Dorris Ranch. These experiments represent the largest-scale tests of native plants as orchard cover crops that we are aware of. We have submitted abstracts and are planning to present results at the Cascadia Prairie Oak Partnership conferences in November 2022 and the ACES: A Community on Ecosystem Services conferences in December 2022. We are planning to present results from our cover crop projects at several extension field days in the summer of 2023, such as the Nut Growers Society of OR, WA, & BC Summer Tour.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Under goals 1 and 3, we completed a cooperative experiment testing hog foraging as a management practice for filbertworm moths in oak woodlands adjacent to hazelnut orchards. These completed research projects led to a publication in the scientific journal Agroforestry Systems. Cal Penkauskas participated in the "Oaks in the Umpqua" workshop on June 23-24, 2022 in Roseburg OR, which also contributed to goal 3 by facilitating stakeholder engagement, helping us gain feedback directly from land managers who work with oak woodlands in working landscapes, and supporting our development and implementation of a research project analyzing the movement of birds and other wildlife through a complex landscape matrix including hazelnut orchards, oak woodlands, and suburban areas at Dorris Ranch in Springfield, OR. Under goal 2, we performed a cooperative experiment in commercial hazelnut orchards to test the feasibility of using Willamette Valley native plants as cover crops. This experiment is described in a scientific manuscript in preparation, as well as Marissa Lane-Massee's undergraduate thesis. We used insights from this cover crop experiment to develop a new, larger-scale experiment in commercial hazelnut orchards near Keizer, OR to develop new understanding of how native cover crops provide ecosystem services and contribute to agroecological functioning. We also have designed and are preparing to implement an experiment to understand establishment and other management factors of cover crops at spatial scales relevant for commercial hazelnut production (with commercial equipment, standard orchard management, orchard-length plots, etc.).

Publications

  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lane-Massee, Marissa. 2021. University of Oregon undergraduate thesis in Environmental Studies. Improving soil moisture retention in hazelnut orchards through the use of native cover crops and conventional mechanical treatments
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Brambila, Alejandro. 2022. University of Oregon doctoral dissertation in Environmental Sciences, Studies, and Policy. Pacific Northwest grassland restoration in a changing world
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Calvin Penkauskas, Alejandro Brambila, Drew Donahue, Taylor Larson, Betsey Miller & Lauren M. Hallett. 2022 Hogs and hazelnuts: adaptively managing pest spillover in the agricultural-wildland matrix. Agroforestry Systems 96:637-649
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Alejandro Brambila, Ari Brown, Marissa Lane-Massee, Lauren M. Hallett. 2022 Feasibility of native cover crops in hazelnut orchards of varying ages in the Willamette Valley, Oregon in submission to Restoration Ecology