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| Project could boost low-impact forestry |
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2006/6/5
A survey mailed to people who own small forests earlier this month could help provide the foundation for development of a low-impact forestry industry on the Olympic Peninsula.
Such an industry could provide jobs for loggers and others who have had trouble finding work in recent years.
The survey, which was sent to 700 landowners in Jefferson and Clallam counties, will help identify the information and services landowners need to maintain their forests, whether they plan to harvest and sell the timber, preserve it for wildlife habitat or just enjoy it for its natural beauty.
Project coordinator Bill Wheeler said the goal is to help landowners who might be new to the concept of forest management to take care of their land.
揂 lot of people, including myself, weren抰 raised in a rural environment but find themselves at retirement with enough money to buy a piece of property with forest on it,?he said.
揑f you don抰 come from an area where you know what healthy forests are supposed to look like, then your vision is deep green old growth,?he said. 揃ut the property you抳e bought is probably just the beginnings of that.?BR>
A retired organizational psychologist, Wheeler is president of the Olympic Shadow Forest Owners, a nonprofit association of small-forest landowners in South Jefferson County that he founded as a way to network with other people who own small forest parcels.
According to Wheeler, about 150,000 acres of forestland is privately owned in parcels as small as five acres. He bought his own 20-acre forested property, Fairlea Tree Farm near Quilcene, in 2003.
Working with the Washington State University Jefferson County Extension office, he landed grant funding for the project from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The results of the survey are to be used to develop a preliminary training and business plan to develop a viable low-impact forestry industry.
Low-impact forestry involves the use of selective harvest techniques and equipment designed to maintain forest health and productivity while at the same time minimizing disturbance in the forest.
Local partners in the project include WSU, the Port of Port Townsend, Clallam County and the Clallam Conservation District.
Since the early 1990s, the number of people owning ?and often living on ?Olympic Peninsula land with small forests has grown significantly. Keeping those forests healthy is key to ensuring they can provide benefit both to the environment as well as their owners.
Many small forests were once commercial timber tracts that were harvested just before being broken into smaller parcels. While those forests were probably replanted by the timber companies that once owned them, they have not had the kinds of intense management that commercial timber usually receives.
Even what seems to be benign neglect can allow native trees such as Douglas fir and western red cedar to be overtaken by brush and invasive species. As a result, the health of those forests is at risk, Wheeler said.
揥hen companies replant commercial forests, they take pretty good care of them,?he said. 揃ut if you leave them go for 10 or 15 years and you don抰 take care of them, you end up with scrub. You don抰 get old-growth forests.?BR>
Left unmanaged, the forest loses its value not only for timber but also for habitat and aesthetic beauty, Wheeler said.
Forest owners should think of maintaining their land and trees as an investment, just as they would their homes, he said.
揑f you put $300,000 into a building and property and don抰 maintain it, you抮e risking that investment,?he said. 揑t抯 like a leak in a house. You don抰 see it for a while, but once you discover it, it costs a lot to fix.?BR>
Economic studies in the eastern United States and Canada have suggested that low-impact forestry, when compared with traditional forestry, can provide positive economic return to communities by boosting employment opportunities and increasing the value of both timber and land.
Because low-impact forestry involves minimal disturbance to the forest, it is often more attractive to small landowners who would otherwise have to choose between watching the health and value of their forest degrade or investing exorbitant amounts of money in 搇andscaping?projects.
The project could help communities like Brinnon and Quilcene, which both have a large number of private small-forest owners and long histories as logging towns.
The downturn in the forest industry and logging in the late 1980s and 1990s put many timber workers out of work and hurt communities, as people were forced to either move away or commute to out-of-town jobs.
The project helps gauge whether such communities can support a low-impact forestry industry both from the standpoint of landowners and forestry workers. It also provides a blueprint for training forest workers in low-impact forestry techniques.
The survey that was sent out last week is only one of several aspects of the study. Others include interviews with landowners and forest workers, a preliminary economic analysis of the costs and benefits associated with managing small forests, and an evaluation of techniques and equipment for maintaining small private forests.
The one-year project is schedule to end in December.
The project office is based at WSU Jefferson County Extension抯 new office Quilcene. Wheeler turned to Big Quil Enterprises, the Quilcene High School student-run company, to do much of the administrative work in distributing the survey.
揟he kids did a great job with the mailing,?Wheeler said.
The students will also help analyze the data, he said.
揑n addition to learning a bit about how to run their business, I抦 hoping that they抣l get some real-life experience with how surveys are done and perhaps even get an introduction to applied statistics.?BR>
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