at Black Pond Farm
The final load of winter 2003
Black Pond Farm is a beautiful secluded 15-acre property with level pasture space, two large ponds (upper and lower) and a stream connecting the two.
The property is heavily wooded in many areas, in "clumps and patches". We opted to "selectively log" those areas. By pulling a few trees from the each clump of trees, giving the remaining trees more resources to grow to a healthy and mature height.
To date, we have logged approximately 60 large trees, mostly cedars, which had the highest value. On the average, each logging truck that left our property held 6 trees (at 3-5 logs per tree) and paid very roughly $2,000 per load, although the market flux is dramatic for timber.
Tim has planted over 450 native trees on the property since we purchased it in the spring of 1998.
Tim spends many days inspecting his "new" trees for their growth rate and transplanting seedlings to better locations.
Here's the political part...my two cents worth anyway.
As a little girl, I spent the first 16 years of my life in Longview Washington. It's a mill town -- paper, pulp, lumber and all that. I always enjoyed attending the yearly logging competitions at Lake Sacagawea. There were real Paul Bunyan type loggers, having log rollin' contests on the lake and throwing axes at painted target rings on huge stumps! It was so exciting!
Loggers are a rare breed that's fading out to history, while the tree huggers and radicals take over -- but those folks don't bother to plant a single tree in their yards -- while all-the-while, ranting about "saving the world". I feel that everyone should be responsible with their own personal decisions regarding their environment. If you think about the environment as a whole, it's just too daunting of a task. So, cut yourself some slack. I don't pretend to know enough about the rain forests to save them. If you get anything from me, I would hope you come away not being so quick to listen to the group making the most noise at the time. Always be guided by the educated, experienced professionals in their field of expertise.
Everyone learns from past mistakes. One of the best stories of this was told to me by a oil spill response consultant when I worked for the same company. He told me that back when the Valdez spill happened in Alaska, the crews used a very efficient way to clean the rocks and beaches -- they steam cleaned them. It worked great, except that they found out that they had effectively sanitized the cleaned areas. It wiped out all of nature's natural ways of combating the damage done. I recall on a separate occasion he explained to some school children that as recently as 10 years in time, the accepted method for soaking up oil spills was to use hay. As it turned out, it did work well at soaking up the oil, but then it would sink and the aquatic animals would ingest it. The industry learned from it and now that is not a recommended method.
Anyway, my point is that spotted owls don't LIKE to be hugged. They just need a place to live. People like Tim and I are planting better trees for the future. We realize that practicality states that most folks don't have the room in their back yards to plant 450 trees that are native to your area and region. So, just control the decisions within your personal environment.
-- Brenda Chovanak
Erin watching from the window...well, licking the window glass and making faces for the camera.
