July 17, 2000
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In return, our community?s growing commitment to watershed stewardship and to sustainable and certified forestry energizes and nourishes our dedication to this work.
The mission of ISF is to promote the ecological and economic well-being of forest-based communities in Northwestern California and beyond. Our three interconnected programs are Forest and Watershed Stewardship, Community Economic Development/Wild Iris, and SmartWood? Certification. How these programs integrate becomes clearer when we look at current work on the ground.
Forestry and Watershed Stewardship Program
Fully half our region?s forestland is in the hands of small non-industrial landowners. ISF?s forest and watershed stewardship activities are aimed at addressing the needs, concerns and goals of this important population. This program offers focused workshops and training, watershed planning and project implementation, information and consultation, and expertise on government-grant and cost-share funding for projects.
Our recent Spring series of workshops and walks in the woods acquainted participants with actual examples of forests under certified management as well as discussion of the funding available through cost-share programs. The walks provided a very detailed and grounded view of what sustainable forestry looks and feels like. Jim Able, Craig Blencowe, and Linwood Gill ? each a certified resource manager ? shared their selection criteria, ecological views, and long-term visions for the land under their care. Standing next to a recently cut stump or a marked tree and having the forester review the decision process that led to his choice gives a greater understanding of the actual practice of sustainable forestry. Additionally, the foresters? and landowners? perspective on the economics of these management techniques further enhances the value of these workshops.
In another facet of the Forest and Watershed Stewardship Program, Mike Vollmer, program manager, is playing an important role in the coordination of a CDFG-funded project to do an assessment and stabilization of Seely Creek watershed. Vollmer is also providing guidance and technical assistance to the Redwoods-to-the-Sea Project, which aims to create a ?wildway? ? a crucial wildlife corridor ? between Humboldt Redwoods State Park and the King Range National Conservation Area through a mosaic of private lands.
Community Economic Development
Wild Iris Mill and the Sustainable Hardwoods Industry Cluster
The Community Economic Development Program has become a more important part of our overall mission and regional focus in the year 2000. The program provides sustainable hardwood technical assistance, marketing outreach, hardwood research and development in addition to the facilities and operations of the Wild Iris hardwood mill.
Located at the historic Coombs mill site in Piercy, CA, Wild Iris Forest Products demonstration hardwoods mill became operational in 1999. Operations include primary processing, sawing for grade, kiln drying, and custom milling.
In its initial year of operations, much of Wild Iris? output was used as the basis for a yield study conducted by Dr. John Shelley of the University of California Forest Products Lab. The study tracked material from tree to kiln-dried planed lumber. Data from the study provides landowners and resource managers with an important tool for tanoak management and planning strategies.
The bulk of lumber produced by Wild Iris is sold locally to Whitethorn Construction for secondary manufacturing into beautiful and durable tanoak strip flooring. Examples of this type of flooring can be found at the Beginnings Octagon in Briceland and our local Mateel Community Center, which boasts the largest single room with a tanaok floor in the world.
Wild Iris sits at the center of a larger community economic development program, the Sustainable Hardwood Industry Cluster, that aims to incubate and stimulate the local hardwood industry. In doing so, our community creates and implements a model of local development based on tanoak, a resource previously devalued, under-utilized, yet in abundant supply. The Wild Iris Mill holds SmartWood? certification for chain-of-custody, allowing certified suppliers to reap the full benefits from watershed to end-user.
The Sustainable Hardwood Industry Cluster facilitates local marketing for tanoak and other native hardwoods by building and strengthening relationships among suppliers, processors, manufacturers, and retailers. The program?s five-year strategic plan provides guidance for business development at all levels from log supply source to consumer.
The key role of tanoak in our California north country forests and the importance of the small landowner in the larger forested landscape were highlighted in last fall?s ISF-hosted conference, ?Hardwood Management in Mixed Forests of Northern California.? Presenters were from academic forestry research, industry, government, landowner, and non-profit groups. The conference explored the role of hardwoods in the California landscape, the possibilities and challenges of creating a California hardwoods industry, and the role of certification and sustainable forestry.
SmartWood? Certification Program
SmartWood? Certification is the ISF way of recognizing and rewarding excellent land stewardship. Part of the international program of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Smartwood? certified products are enjoying increased recognition in the marketplace as concerned consumers look for ways to ?vote with their dollars.? Large retailers such as Home Depot, IKEA, and Lowe?s Furniture have indicated they will soon sell only certified material.
In recent months, the ISF/SmartWood? staff has been busy throughout the state performing assessments. They work with a range of clientele representing larger corporate-held forestlands and manufacturing facilities and smaller family-owned properties and sawmills. One of the program?s targets has been wood product distributors, because they apply both ?push? and ?pull? to the market. They encourage retailers in their networks to offer certified products, which provides an incentive for steady, reliable supply. This market demand then encourages landowners to become certified, which increases the overall acreage of forestlands managed sustainably.
Another focus has been increasing the number of local certifications. We now have two certified retailers in Humboldt County, Almquist Lumber in Blue Lake and Whitethorn Construction in Southern Humboldt. Statewide there are 40 primary and secondary manufacturers, distributors, and retailers that can handle certified logs, lumber, and finished products.
The ISF/SmartWood? team continues its energetic work of sowing the seed by promoting the model of certified and sustainable forestry, while watering the sprouts by providing expert technical assistance. Forest Ecologist Yana Valachovic (who grew up in Southern Humboldt), Registered Professional Forester Steve Smith, Marketing Coordinator Kirk Cohune, and Administrator Roxanna Layne have all worked hard to create wider visibility for the SmartWood? program of ISF.
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TOC for Forest & River News, Summer 2000