Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Trees and lumber and sustainable forestry

[Rob Sandelin (robsan]

* much good words about forests and lumber and housing, although 
somewhat intensely applied  snipped*

God forbid I should be the one to do this, but I would point out, that 
trees are grown for lumber, in much the same way cows are grown for 
meat, corn is grown for fuel, etc.  The private lands along the Olympic 
Peninsula have been harvested  for a fairly long time, and many of the 
lessons of what to do wrong in forestry, have been learned here.  A 
clear cut is ugly but so is a harvested corn field.  Each represents a 
farming activity. Growing corn takes a year, growing trees takes 50 
years.  Both activities are run by large corporations, all of which 
depend upon a resource called the soil.  I would also point out that 
currently, about 70% of the forest products harvested on the Olympic 
Peninsula in the last 4 years are used for the manufacture of paper.

One ray of sunshine in the gloom of the NW forest wars is that  
sustainable forestry is  beginning to happen.  Sustainable forestry, 
Ala Jerry Franklin, means cutting douglas fir forests in a special way, 
leaving buffers and organic materials, then replanting with a diversity 
of  genetically specialized trees.  Clear cutting is done in these 
forests now because the replanted seedling trees have a low tolerance 
for being shaded.  The douglas fir forests in the NW and Canada exist 
because fire cleared out the competition.  It is becoming apparent, 
even to the largest of timber companies, that soils are what grow 
trees, and that current practices are limiting future tree growth 
because the nutrients are being lost from the soil and the complexity 
of the system is compromised, which has been very amply proven by the 
poor yields and growth of third and fourth generation forest lands.

Now, I have been involved in the forest wars in the NW for about 10 
years now, and I see very little sustainable forestry going on except 
on a few private, that's right private, parcels.  The US forest 
service, which manages most of the federally owned forests, which has 
had the pants sued off it, is struggling to do the right thing, and of 
course as upper management changes - due to politics, the lower 
managers all duck and cover and so it goes.  Forest harvests in WA and 
OR on federal lands have been very meagre in the last 3 years due to 
lawsuits.  Private forest owners, which make up about 40% of the forest 
lands in the N.W., have made some movements towards sustainability, not 
because it is the right environmental thing to do, but because people 
like Jerry Franklin and Chris Maser have proven that it is the right 
economic thing to do. If forestry is to continue at all, new methods 
which protect and enhance the soils have to be, and are being adopted.

If you want to reuse materials that is great. Too much prime material 
ends up in land fills. There are a couple local business's in Seattle 
who recycle buildings and sell the materials, often choice old growth 
timber, flooring, etc. at a premium.   Another eco-action is to get 
educated about where your wood comes from, and see if you can support 
the companies which are moving into sustainable forestry.  Supporting 
sustainable forestry practices means not only cheerleading those 
companies doing good things, it also means buying their products in 
preference to those who do not, and being vocal about it.  This is 
another step in the cohousing development process, and might cost you a 
percent or two more money, but can prove to the companies leading the 
way, that people are paying attention.

For more info about sustainable forestry, contact the NW regional 
office of the Sierra Club.