Wistful Hello

Luke, Good to hear from you,

I just wanted to add some additional data collected by our Industry U. down here. In 1999 a research project revealed that 52% of the forest land in Virginia was in tracts of 40 acres of less owned by private individuals. This demographic was hard for some folks to believe but it is and was true at the time. I used this data to try to gain support for low cost, low impact, low production systems such as HHFF promotes and many on this site practice. I admitted that it was a “niche” that we could fulfill, because the primary concern or conclusion of this research was the worry that the industry would run out of wood to supply their sawmills since these smaller tracts were not available/accessible economically or culturally by industrial methods. Only a few accepted our place in the largest industry in our state, even as a “niche”.

I have tired of throwing pearls to the swine of industry. They* want to clearcut the planet, siting supposedly good sound science that a former high graded site can only regenerate shade intolerant species from even aged management, read clear cut. That is an industrial myth aimed at keeping resources cheap and skilled labor as slaves. Don’t get me wrong here, we have many allies in industry, the truly wise ones see our place as beneficial and worthy. They have no choice, the private landowners will not accept mechanized methods in most cases.

Now, less than a decade later I received an invitation to attend a workshop from the Va. Dept. of Forestry entitled: Business opportunities with Small Acreage and Suburban Woodlands. My response was that we should be presenting at this workshop since we have been saying this for more than a decade and practicing what we preach, but that request was not responded to at all – silence. That is not a surprise, they have not really helped us much yet and for the most part they probably won’t help us in the future. They all should buy more Exxon stock and then Exxon should buy out Maxwell House Coffee so they can use their slogan of “Good to the last Drop”. This 2008 brochure had the current data: “Landowners with less than 10 acres now own 73% of forest properties in Virginia.”

We agree with their approach in some ways. If we practice restorative forestry everywhere – through worst first single tree selection and the ultimate low impact overland extraction method of modern animal power – then the property line doesn’t matter. They are not going to convince landowners to let machines tear the their woods up no matter how they attempt to bundle the tracts. Sure we use machines in our logging operations, but from stump to landing – animal power is superior. The above system presents the only “carbon positive forestry” currently available.

Don’t forget your roots man, your anthropological culture will reward you in addition to your degree. There are lots of us with degrees, many Biological Woodsmen and others on this site have degrees too. It is what one does with their life, knowledge, skills and ethics that will make them successful and happy.

So – Carry on and finish what you started educationally and then get back in the woods – anywhere….we all need you. Don’t feel alone there in the halls of higher education, there are young people in most University Forestry programs that feel the same way as you do and are getting their degrees to have the “credentials” to support their common sense and personal vision. I meet a few of them regularly, to few, but I’m thankful nonetheless.

I hope this doesn’t sound to radical, but that is just what we have experienced and it is getting to late to turn our backs on what we know is best. Thanks for writing Luke.

*They = Industrially funded academic institutions, research and industry in general….not exclusively, but generally. Disclaimer – We (HHFF) are thankful for what positive relationships and support we garner from “They”, but it is not enough to equal the proven methods we promote and practice and should have earned by now.