NNRG is working with Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust and Seattle City Light to return these 150 acres of previously logged land to healthy forest using climate-adapted practices.
Each season presents the best time to conduct different stewardship activities. Timing your forest management for the ideal season will help you achieve success and avoid setbacks. This page provides tips to help you make the most of autumn out in your woods.
Many public agencies offer funding to help forest owners pay for stewardship activities and realize their woodland goals. Whether you envision a habitat-rich stand bursting with forage shrubs and large snags; a business plan for timber harvest on your land; or an aesthetic retreat replete with meandering trails, there’s funding available to help you get there.
Great Peninsula Conservancy (GPC) just completed the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certification process for Grovers Creek Preserve! Acquired by the Conservancy in 2015, the 197-acre preserve near Poulsbo boasts 60 acres of rare older growth forest including stands of western hemlock, Sitka spruce, western redcedar, and Douglas-fir. There are even 11.5 acres of late successional forested peat bog. These diverse habitats support beaver, black bear, mink, otter, salamanders, frogs, and more than 60 bird species. The forest surrounds a stretch of Grovers Creek, which provides habitat for Endangered Species Act-listed winter steelhead as well as coho and cutthroat. “GPC purchased
The 46,000 acres of forestland spanning Snoqualmie Pass to Cle Elum known as the Central Cascades Forest (CCF) is now Forest Stewardship Council®-certified, through NNRG’s group certificate. It’s the Northwest’s largest jump in certified forestland since the City of Seattle’s Cedar River watershed earned FSC certification in 2011. The CCF is managed by The Nature Conservancy in Washington, which takes a comprehensive approach to stewarding lands. Management goals for the forest include improving wildlife habitat, producing a sustained yield of wood products, increasing climate resilience, providing clean water, bolstering local communities, and reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire. “We are excited to recognize this important
Three years, five targets, and seventeen measures of success: we invite you to read our Strategic Plan for 2018-2020, released this spring.
Our dedicated, knowledgeable staff. If you own a small- to medium-sized forest and want to manage your land for more than just the almighty dollar, it helps to have someone in your corner with the wisdom and experience to help achieve your ecological, economic, aesthetic, and even spiritual goals for the forest. That’s the staff of NNRG. We have room here to mention just three of them: Rick, our most seasoned forester, has a 30-year track record of getting landowners the best price for their timber so they can cut the minimum necessary to meet their financial objectives. Lindsay, our director
Bees need our help. Just five years ago Oregon saw a major bee die off, and pollinator populations continue to decline around the world. “We have more species of bees in the Pacific Northwest than all the states in east of the Mississippi,” says Andony Melathopoulos, a pollinator ecotoxicologist with OSU. “We really want to protect that endowment.” The Oregon Bee Project, a partnership bolstered by OSU Extension, Oregon Department of Agriculture, and Oregon Department of Forestry, is hard at work to prevent another die-off. The program engages communities about their local bees, provide diagnostic services for beekeepers to recognize emergent diseases,
Converting excess woody biomass to a valuable soil amendment Saturday, June 30, 2018 | San Juan Island Biochar, a soil amendment made from woody biomass like branches and small-diameter trees, presents an opportunity for landowners to convert forest thinnings to a high-value product. Removing excess biomass from dense, crowded San Juan forests is an important way to increase fire resilience and improve ecological health. This workshop will cover all the tips and tricks San Juan County landowners have discovered to successfully and safely manufacture optimal biochar. This workshop is the third in a three-part series on woody biomass in the
Remember the Super-Axe-Hacker from The Lorax? The machine that could whack off four truffula trees with one smacker? Advances in logging technology have made this fantasy contraption a reality, with equipment like feller-bunchers, forwarders, skidders, and processors changing how we harvest. These machines can make ecological forestry better, efficiently and safely removing some trees while leaving others to continue providing wildlife habitat, clean water, carbon storage, and even beauty. Our Executive Director Seth Zuckerman shares his take on logging advances to a sold-out crowd at Ignite Seattle’s March event.
by Kelly Smith, NNRG volunteer On a cool and misty morning last September, Kirk Hanson and I visited Jackrabbit Farm in Southwest Washington. Kirk, Northwest Natural Resource Group’s Director of Forestry, needed to make observations and gather data for a new forest management plan for the farm, which had recently been funded through the USDA’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). My presence on this visit was due to my interest in “job shadowing” him on a site with elements of agroforestry and permaculture. As we drove down the forested driveway, a wild rabbit hopped across our path, welcoming us to
Up in the San Juans Islands, our Forest Stewardship Council®-certified member Blakely Island Timber cares for more than 2,200 acres on namesake Blakely Island. Harvesting timber is a tool to achieve their goal of stewarding the forest with a healthy, productive long into the future. Douglas-fir grows much more slowly in the San Juans than on the mainland, creating stronger wood with tighter rings and greater contrast between light spring bands and dark summer ones. This beautiful wood is harvested according to FSC® standards. BIT does all of its own processing, milling, drying, and manufacturing on site using an energy-efficient
Building a constructed log after thinning out small suppressed trees increases the economic value of future harvest while invigorating wildlife habitat and cleaning up slash. Kirk Hanson, our Directory of Forestry, talks about why he built his. Photo: Matt Freeman-Gleason
Many new forest owners are not aware that heavily altered forests need active management to improve ecosystem functions and reduce vulnerability to pests, diseases, and wildfire. New owners indicate purchasing forestland for privacy, aesthetics, wildlife, and as an investment. Ecologically-based forest management involves practices that align with new forest owners’ objectives, such as uneven-aged, multi-species silviculture, that increases biodiversity, and optimizes timber production for niche markets. The long-term goal of Empowering New Forest Owners in the Northwest (a Beginning Farmer & Rancher Development Program funded by the USDA) is to promote forest stewardship and market strategies that improve the health of
NOTE: This workshop was originally scheduled for February 24th but has been rescheduled for March 10th due to icy road conditions. If you already registered for the 2/24/18 workshop, please let us know if you can make it on March 10th by sending Cailin an email at cailin@nnrg.org. See how your neighbors are thinning excess wood to improve forest health and reduce fire risk Saturday, March 10, 2018 | 9am-3pm | Orcas Island [button color=”accent-color” hover_text_color_override=”#fff” size=”medium” url=”https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forest-tour-thinning-overstocked-stands-for-health-and-productivity-tickets-43572015070″ text=”REGISTER TODAY!” color_override=””] Many forests in the San Juan islands are crowded with suppressed and unhealthy trees due to a lack of management. Excess
2017 was a productive year for NNRG and the forests our members steward! We are so inspired by the landowners and managers in our community who worked to enhance habitat for threatened and endangered species, removed invasive species, planted a diverse array of native seedlings and shrubs, and pursued new markets for local wood products. Many thanks to this dedicated community of ecologically-minded forest owners, land managers and NNRG’s partners who steward biodiverse forests and contribute to the regional economy. Here are some highlights of our year: Accomplishments Hosted 5 workshops on ecologically-based forest management, fuels reduction, biochar creation, and
Safety and Woods Working (SAWW) courses provide training and practice in precision tree felling and small-diameter thinning. Level 1 & 2 – April 12-13, 2018 | Level 3 – April 14, 2018 | Leavenworth, WA REGISTER TODAY! Our friends at Tierra Learning Center are bringing this outstanding precision tree felling class back to north central Washington taught by SAWW instructor Pavel McGlave. Pavel was mentored by Ken Lallemont who traveled the world and helped develop training programs that emphasize efficiency and technique that will improve productivity, help reduce chainsaw related accidents and increase overall safety awareness. This course will change
Paul Butler has had a life-long love of forests. Now that he and his wife steward their own forest they’ve taken steps to care for and enjoy their land. Paul tells us how his relationship with his woods has deepened over time and what actions he’s taking to make the forest healthy.
I’ll admit that I traveled to the worldwide General Assembly of the Forest Stewardship Council meeting last month in Vancouver, BC with a smidgen of skepticism. As I’ve re-immersed myself in ecological forestry since taking the helm at NNRG in June, I’ve been chagrined to learn that 15- and 20-year-old challenges are still dogging the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) in the Pacific Northwest: sparse interest from lumber mills and the difficulty connecting consumer demand with landowner supply — the so-called chicken-and-egg problem of certified wood markets. Of course, FSC certification has other kinds of value for our certified members. It
Engaging with woodland owners in San Juan County to address the unique challenges of managing island forests for both ecological health and economic viability. NNRG and our partners have worked in many island forests, conducting one-on-one site visits, developing management plans, hosting tours and classes. Increasingly, landowners have sought guidance on how to manage their overstocked stands for improved forest health. They are also looking for creative ways to use the excess woody material that is a byproduct of restoration. In 2017, we hosted a series of workshops for forest landowners interested in reducing the risks of wildfire, diseases and lost value to their
SEATTLE MAIN OFFICE
2701 1st Ave, Suite 240
Seattle, WA 98121
ph: 206-971-3709
OLYMPIA OFFICE
PO Box 6763
Olympia, WA 98507
ph: 360-316-9317
© 2015 - 2018. Northwest Natural Resource Group. All rights reserved.
