Sustainable Forestry
Our Lane County zoning status as a Forestry Research Center has made our work with sustainable forestry techniques more visible and accessible both to foresters and to the general public. Interns take part in this research, which focuses on selective thinning as an alternative to clear cutting; low-impact methods of timber removal (such as horse logging); planting, cultivation, and use of non-timber forest products (i.e. vine maple, used in fences and gates); and ecological restoration of areas impacted by logging. Interns also spend time exploring our watershed, maintaining our bamboo groves, experimenting with mushroom cultivation, helping create lumber from raw logs, and taking part in seasonal activities such as native plant propagation, seed collection, and cider-making.
There are many different levels of getting to know a forest. Living in forestland and living from forestland encourages a deep relationship and understanding of natural ecosystems. Our thirty-five acres of forestland is divided between wilderness area and sustainable use acreage.
The wilderness area along the riparian zone provides refuge for animals and humans. It provides a 12-acre demonstration of a natural forest ecosystem that is not impacted by humans. Free of machinery and wildcrafting, native plant species have a zone to flourish with minimal human intervention. This plot can then be compared to the management in our sustainable use zone.
These remaining 23 acres serve as our source of firewood, building materials, mushroom cultivation, and bamboo groves. It is managed for species and age diversity and ecosystem health; Douglas fir predominates. Trees are felled with hand tools or by chainsaw, then yarded out with a wheeled arch known as the “blue ox” or by a visiting team of draft horses.
Throughout the year, we bring in a portable sawmill to mill the raw logs into dimensional lumber of varying sizes. Some of the wood will be dried in our solar wood drying kiln for use in flooring and finished products. A large majority of the lumber produced on-site is used to frame the buildings of our growing campus. Sawdust, dimensional lumber, off cuts, slabs, and rounds are all used here. None of the tree will go to waste.
Interns learn the lifecycle of the forest ecosystems, participate in our management of the forest, and learn about the conventional destructive logging that has encroached into our watershed.