Category: News

Active Management and Small Landowners: It’s in the Intention

By Jaal Mann and Rowan Braybrook. This article was originally published in the Winter 2023 issue of Western Forester, which focused on exploring what active management of forests means. You can read the full issue here. A prescribed burn to maintain open prairie. An individual western redcedar selected to make bentwood boxes or a dugout canoe. A clearing in the woods with the logs used on-site to build a cabin. Freshly planted seedlings sourced from more southern seed zones to increase the forest’s climate resilience. These are all examples of active forest management, a constantly evolving approach that has been practiced in

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TIME TO START THINKING ABOUT 2024 EQIP PROJECTS

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a technical and financial assistance program managed by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. EQIP helps forest owners access technical expertise to develop and complete conservation practices that improve the health and productivity of their land.

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NNRG Welcomes New Staff

Northwest Natural Resource Group is pleased to be heading into the dog days of summer with three new team members! GUSTAVO SEGURA FLORES | Forestry Technician Gustavo was raised in the central coast of California with a large focus on traditional agriculture. Seeking a more temperate climate, Gustavo relocated to Grays Harbor County in 2017 and began his forestry studies at Grays Harbor College. He completed his Associates Degree in Natural Resources in the summer of 2020 while also working part-time in a forest managed by the Grays Harbor College Forestry program. Gustavo is currently pursuing a Bachelors in Forest

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Seedling Check In: Stossel Creek, One Year Later

Even with the ongoing pandemic, 2020 was a busy year at Stossel Creek!  In early 2020, just before we realized that a bottle of hand sanitizer wasn’t going to be enough to save us from the news, NNRG and partners hosted a workshop and field tour at Stossel Creek. The Stossel Creek restoration project aimed to restore a site in the Tolt River watershed while also evaluating the viability of different species and provenances of seedlings.  In late February 2020, contracted crews installed 14,130 trees across 54 acres of Seattle City Light’s Stossel Creek property. This included the installation of

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Resources for Building Wildlife Nesting & Roosting Boxes

In Pacific Northwest forests, dead wood works wonders for wildlife. But when there isn’t enough naturally occurring dead wood around, you might need to do some woodworking yourself. Wood duck carefully inspecting a nesting box. Photo by Mark Biser. Snags—standing dead or dying trees—are important forest structures for cavity-dependent birds and small mammals, food sources for woodpeckers and other foragers, and slowly release nutrients into the ecosystem with the help of decomposers. But second and third-growth forests often lack sufficient snags because they were removed during previous intensive forest management, or the few remaining are in advanced stages of decay.

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Meet NNRG Forester Marcia Rosenquist!

This January NNRG was lucky enough to add Marcia Rosenquist to its forestry team. Marcia works with forest landowners to create ecological forest management plans based on their goals and objectives. She’s improving the health and resilience of Pacific Northwest forest land one small parcel at a time!

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Keeping an Eye on the Back 40

Regular, rigorous monitoring is an important part of good forest stewardship. No one knows this better than Chris Goodman. Chris and his family own and take care of Back40 Quinault Forest, an aptly named 40-acre forest near Lake Quinault in Grays Harbor County. Since acquiring the forest in 2008, monitoring has been a critical component of how Chris manages his forest. In conversation Chris mentions monitoring canopy closure, seedling growth, trees per acre, soil pH, and air temperature—not to mention elk browse, camera trap photos, bird box usage, elk herd movements, and bear damage. (Phew!) His strategy has its roots

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2019 Accomplishments By the Numbers

2019 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 2019: Accomplishments Hosted 7 workshops on ecologically-based forest management, fuels reduction, biochar creation, FSC certification,

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Skokomish Tribal Forest Certified

The Skokomish Indian Tribe has earned Forest Stewardship Council® certification for its 2,100-acre forest at the south end of Hood Canal, making it the first tribe in Washington state to gain that endorsement.The Skokomish Tribe join three other Indian tribes in the United States in maintaining FSC® certification: the Coquille Tribe in Oregon, the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council in California, and the Menominee in Wisconsin.

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2018 Accomplishments by the Numbers

2018 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. These are highlights from 2018.

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Where Certified Logs Come From … and Where They Are Sold

Across Oregon and Washington, more than 600,000 acres of forestland are certified as “well managed” by the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®). And yet, much of the wood harvested from these forests doesn’t make it to the consumer with its certification intact. In many cases, these logs are sold into the generic wood market and don’t receive any special recognition when turned into lumber, plywood, or furniture. For NNRG, with our 190,000-acre group certificate that now covers a larger area than any other in the Pacific Northwest, that is a grave disappointment, and it affects about 90 percent

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