Woodlands of The Windham Region: Our Working Landscape

WOODLANDS OF THE WINDHAM REGION

OUR WORKING LANDSCAPE Prepared for the Windham Regional Commission Rachel Edwards, Anna FialkoямА, Jessica Orkin

The Conway School

Winter 2013

Acknowledgements Many people have contributed to this project with remarkable interest generosity. We extend sincere thanks for the expertise and insight that has been freely given toward this effort, especially to the following people: Windham Regional Commission: Chris Campany, Susan McMahon, Jeff Nugent, Dinah Reed and John Bennett The Windham Regional Commission serves the 23 towns of Windham County along with three towns in Bennington County and one town in Windsor County. Their mission is to assist towns in Southeastern Vermont to provide effective local government and work cooperatively with them to address regional issues.

Thank you to Nancy Bell, the Vermont representative at the Conservation Fund for their generous donation to this project.

Special thanks to: Bill Guenther, Lynn Levine, Doug Morin, John O’Keefe, Joan Weir and John Whitman Personal interviews: Cliff Allard, Brian Donahue, Lincoln Fish, Ken Gagnon, Susan Hindinger, Mark Rivers, Keith Ross, Tom Wessels and David Kittridge Forestry focus group participants: John Adler, Steve Hardy, Robbo Holleran, Ian Martin, Pieter Van Loon and George Weir Faces of Forestry profiles: Patrick Cooperman, Mark Bowen, Chris Brooks, Robert Clark and Dennis Hamilton

Š 2013 The Conway School

332 S. Deerfield Road Conway, MA 01341

Contents

1. Working Families, Working Landscapes

2

2. Forests, Then and Now

6

3. Sustainable Forest Management

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4. Supporting the Working Landscape

22

5. A Renewable Future

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Works Cited

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Chapter 1

Working families, Working landscapes

Working Families, Working Landscapes

M

ark Bowen and his family work Meadowdale Farm, in Putney, Vermont, throughout the year. In the warmer months, they hay fields and do construction for others and on their own land. They raise chickens, pigs and cows and sell eggs. In the colder months, Mark logs and cuts firewood for his family’s use and for sale. He owns a small sawmill where he mills rough-cut lumber and flooring for construction projects. From oak and locust but mostly white pine, he mills siding and tongue-and-groove boards. His family often does maple sugaring in the spring.

Almost everything Mark uses in his sawmill comes from his own land, or nearby, and nothing goes to waste. Sawdust is used for animal bedding or his compost pile.

When he is planing wood, the shavings are sold to local buyers for animal bedding, and the slab mill from sawing goes right into the furnace to help heat his home.

city. The sawmill was set up in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and he spent days milling old trees into workable slabs for a tree-house exhibit there. Many people stopped by to watch and to learn. “A lot of people really don’t understand that wood comes from trees,” he said.

“It’s a fascinating process to see lumber come from a tree trunk.”

Mark’s family is a part of his work. His son, James knows where his food comes from because he helps grow it; he goes into the woods with his dad to see him work the land. Children like James are the next generation of Vermonters: taught by the people who love them to work the land in loving ways.

For Mark, the forest industry is based on a social network of people who are looking out for each other.

People rely on each other to get the job done. Mark and his wife used to sell at the farmers market, but have decided to use the time elsewhere; Knowing that the trees he logs they have loyal customers who know and saws are used by his neighwhen chickens are slaughtered, know bors is gratifying to Mark. He also they can get good wood from Mark, sells cordwood locally, believing know that eggs are sold on a regular that “Cutting and burning your basis, and can count on a few cords Photo courtesy of Mark Bowen own wood, locally, is a lot better of wood from Mark. And they know Take your child to work, Vermont style. for the environment than using he’ll be plowing their driveways when foreign oil or other energies that Mark Bowen and his son James in the woods. the snow falls hard. cost a lot to pull from the earth....

With wood, you log it, chop it and burn it, and it can all “Vermont’s working landscape come from your own land.” Mark leaves the tops of the defines us, but if existing trends continue, it will not trees that he has logged in the woods to return the exist for our children and children’s children.” nutrients to the soil that the forests need, and to help shelter saplings from browsing deer. He believes it is —From Imagining Vermont; Values and Vision for the important to think about the forest you leave behind.

Mark is also head sawyer for a sawmill in New York City.

He goes to the city often to saw wood by special order for artists, furniture makers, and other crafts people.

These artists value knowing the story of the wood; where it comes from and who logged and milled it.

Recently Mark sawed wood that had come down in Hurricane Sandy, which devastated many parts of the

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Future

The forests of the Windham Region of Vermont are extensive and productive. People, like Mark Bowen, who have learned to make their livelihoods from forests create this working forest landscape—the sawmill operators, small-time loggers, sugar-boilers, foresters—are independent, resourceful, and resilient. Their efforts

Woodlands of the Windham Region Working families, working landscapes

contribute to the local and regional economies, pass on centuries-old cultural practices, help create the potential for energy resilience, maintain forest health, increase wildlife habitat and biodiversity, and support ecosystem services that all communities, rural and urban, depend on.

Yet this working forest landscape is facing serious threats. High land values, high business costs, the overseas migration of many state furniture makers, and global market conditions have forced many small landbased forestry businesses to close their doors. Sawmills in Vermont declined 43 percent from 185 in 2002 down to 105 in 2008 (Vermont Working Landscape Partnership Action Plan, 2010) and an increasing amount of hardwood lumber is exported as raw materials, resulting in the loss of value-added manufacturing jobs for finishing wood products (Morin p.35).

At the same time, the region’s natural beauty continues to attract many admirers, and while recreation and tourism provide economic vitality to the state, they have brought higher real estate values. From 1990 to 2007 the average value of land in Vermont rose 351 percent–higher than the national average of 299 percent (Vermont Working Landscape Partnership Action Plan, 2010). Landowners are often faced with the realization that working the land is less lucrative and viable than selling the land for development. In Windham County, one-third of all homes are seasonal—likely second homes for recreation and woodland retreats (Morin p.24).

temperatures that will make some forest species unable to survive here; new damaging insects have reached or will soon reach the forests of Windham; and large deer populations over browse the forest understory, preventing its regeneration.

“The fate of both Windham County’s forests and forest industry are in the hands of its landowners— and the myriad forces acting on those owners.”

(Morin, p. 26)

This report, prepared for the Windham Regional Commission, envisions how the rural, working character of the Windham Region might be maintained in the face of social, economic, and environmental trends. It profiles individuals and firms who are finding new ways to thrive in the face of these challenges, and offers strategies to enhance the health and well-being of communities and woodlands across the region as they confront an uncertain future.

Such development in forested areas, bringing with it new roads, long drives, and the subdivision of properties, can fragment large woodland tracts, disrupting wildlife corridors and making it more difficult to manage parcels for forestry. Other threats to the forest and to the working wooded landscape abound. Urban populations not familiar with working landscapes may perpetuate misperceptions about the environmental effects of modern forestry, leading to indifference or antagonism toward cutting trees. Forested properties may be transferred to younger generations who are not as interested as their predecessors in conservation or the active use of the land. Past logging practices have left forests composed of similar-aged trees; climate change carries the threat of potential droughts and changes in rainfall and

Woodlands of the Windham Region Working families, working landscapes

3

Chapter 2

forests, then and now

Forests, Then and Now

T

he Windham Region is blessed with vast forested lands, fertile soils of the Connecticut River Valley, and the Green Mountain National Forest. These unique northern hardwood forests cover 500,000 acres in the region, blanketing hill terrain, glacial till, and loamy soils (WRC Plan, 2006). Cool temperatures with adequate moisture provide ideal conditions for rapid regeneration of forests. Indeed, after hundreds of years of intensive logging and clearing, forests now cover 86 percent of Windham County. These woodlands are highly productive, yielding one of the highest rates in the state— approximately 20,000,000 cubic feet of new growth each year (Morin p.15).

board feet of hardwood lumber (maple, birch, oak, ash) produced in Vermont per year, about three-quarters of it winds up in Vermont products (Vermont Division of Forestry).

It is easy to assume that these dense, productive forests are pristine and unchanging. However, a brief review of the history of the forests shows how dramatically the region’s landscape has changed in a relatively short period, and suggests that future changes could be as dramatic.

Forests of the Windham Region provide vital ecological services—protecting productive soils, providing plant and wildlife habitats, filtering and buffering waterways, providing recreational areas and adding scenic beauty to the landscape (WRC Plan 2006 pg.

64). In addition, forests are some of the region’s most important economic resources, providing jobs in the more rural settings where work is not as abundant. Currently employed in forest based occupations in Windham County are thirty three loggers and firewood producers and fourteen foresters, and all the employees of one log yard, thirty primary mills, forty-three secondary processors, four lumberyards, and five biomass-heating facilities (Morin p. 49).

While wood processing for paper pulp has left the region, there’s a growing market for wood for heat and electricity generation. With the current price of residential heating fuel climbing to record highs, more and more households are switching to wood or wood pellets as an alternate source of heat.

About half the homes in the Windham area have wood-burning fireplaces, stoves, or furnaces and five public schools in the region use wood-chip heating (2005-2006), compared with fuel oil (Vermont Division of Forestry).

The forest industry supports many secondary industries including construction and manufacturing of furniture, toys, cabinetry, boats and musical instruments. In 2008, the sale of trees for forest products brought at least $3.8M to Windham County landowners (Morin p.42). It is estimated that of the 100 million

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Why should we care about the woodlands of the Windham Region?

They provide multiple benefits to the local community: jobs, recreation, backdrop to a weekend getaway, and fuel to heat our homes.

Woodlands of the Windham Region Forests, then and now

Ecosystem Services: Flood Mitigation, Water Filtration, and Erosion Control

Forests absorb water in their canopies and roots, helping the soil absorb water and providing flood mitigation. They help the soil filter water before it goes into ground water, wetlands, streams, rivers and lakes.

In turn their network of roots keeps soil intact, especially on steep slopes that would otherwise be prone to erosion and flooding.

Ecosystem Services: Carbon Sequestration and Oxygenation Trees produce much of the oxygen we breath. As they release oxygen, they also absorb, or sequester, carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Absorption of this greenhouse gas is vital to climate change mitigation and gives us another reason to conserve our forests. A mature forest [left] sequesters a huge amount of carbon overall. As a tree ages it sequesters carbon in the soil in addition to its rings.

When trees die and decay, they emit carbon and methane, another greenhouse gas. A young forest [right] sequesters carbon very rapidly, and this is reflected in its trees’ thick carbon rings.

Logging and Extraction

When European settlers first arrived in Vermont, they found a forest unlike any they had seen before.

Settlement expanded and the first Vermont sawmill was built in 1734 (Johnson). By the 1800s Vermont’s population had grown to 218,000 and cutting the forests had not slowed. New industries emerged. Potash, made from the ash of burnt trees, made an excellent fertilizer and was also used to make soap; one acre of forest could produce two tons of potash. Charcoal was in demand by growing manufacturing and shipping industries in Vermont and throughout the rest of New England (Johnson).

An early sawmill

Woodlands of the Windham Region Forests, Then and Now

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New rail lines made their way deeper into Vermont, allowing once inaccessible areas to be logged heavily.

Most logging in the early 1800s was done in the most accessible places. Large logs were hard to maneuver so areas around rivers were logged heavily, and the logs were floated down watercourses to sawmills. Softwoods were preferred because they floated better than hardwoods (Johnson). The advent of a portable sawmill, invented and manufactured in Vermont, and new rail lines making their way deeper into Vermont allowed once inaccessible areas to be logged heavily (Albers).

Opening the Champlain Canal in 1803 and the Erie Canal in 1825 helped the logging industry flourish. Now logs could move faster and at greater volume to where industry and development was booming (Johnson). sheep Madness

Another major change came to the Vermont landscape in 1810 when William Jarvis imported 4,000 Merino sheep to his farm in Weathersfield, Vermont. By 1824, the sheep population had skyrocketed to 475,000, and

reached its peak of 1.7 million in 1840 (Wessels). To support all of these pastoral animals, the rate of forest clearing was accelerated. Trees needed to be cut and uprooted, pasture grasses planted, and stone walls built for containment. Few areas in Vermont were spared this clearing for sheep (Wessels). By 1840, much of Vermont became “a photographic negative of itself before settlement–a shorn landscape punctuated by a few trees here and there” (Beattie, Thompson, Levine).

About 16 million acres of forests was cleared in New England to support growing populations and growing industries and by the late 1800s most of the Northeast was an open landscape with just the tops of mountains and the most difficult places to reach still covered in trees (Beattie, Thompson, Levine). Hard times arrived for Vermonters when they realized their sustenance was coming from a land now stripped of its forests and no longer able to provide for the needs of the people (Albers). There was little left to do but move onward.

“The exportation of nature’s bounty does not make for an endlessly productive economy.”

(Jan Albers, pg. 171) Great Vermont Exodus

During the Civil War, people began to leave Vermont in great numbers, beginning the time known as the Great Vermont Exodus (Johnson). The land left Few areas in Vermont were spared the dramatic clearing of forest to provide pasture for sheep in the early nineteenth century.

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Woodlands of the windham region Forests, Then and Now

behind began to revert slowly to forest once again (Marchand). At this time, Vermont native George Perkins Marsh’s Man and Nature explained that landscape resources are not infinite and called for people to thoughtfully manage the land, based on scientific knowledge of natural systems. According to Vermont’s State Naturalist Charles W. Johnson, Marsh’s book was the first expression of a “land ethic” or “conservation consciousness.”

Fast-growing white pines grew on the abandoned farms, out-competing other tree species in the race towards the sunshine. By the end of the nineteenth century, the white pines were being cut in Vermont at an unprecedented rate; from 1895 to 1925, an estimated 15 billion board feet of white pine lumber was logged in New England (Marchand).

Flood that Turned the Tide

Clearcutting along the rivers and streams left soils exposed and vulnerable to erosion. In November 1927, hard rains fell continuously for 39 hours, washing many tons of soil into the streams and rivers and dramatically flooding the landscape. Following this devastation, President Hoover signed a bill to conserve the Green Mountain National Forest as a site for forest experimentation (Long ). By the 1940s, the burgeoning interest in forest resource management became a hard science (Johnson).

The logging of white pine in the early 1900s opened up space and light for a new dominant forest to appear in the Windham Region, the northern hardwood forests that we know today, dominated by sugar and red maple, American beech, red oak, yellow birch, Eastern hemlock and ash (Beattie, Thompson, Levine).

Clearcutting along the rivers and streams left the soils exposed and vulnerable to erosion, allowing the rains of 1927 to devastate southern Vermont, especially along the Connecticut River.

Woodlands of the Windham Region Forests, Then and Now

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An American Tradition Cooperman Fife and Drum Company The Cooperman Fife and Drum Company is a family-owned company that makes beautifully handcrafted musical instruments. They are one of the few remaining companies to produce value-added products (manufactured from tree to market) in Windham County. In 1987, Hand-crafted tambourines the Cooperman Company purchased and revitalized an old sawmill on the Saxtons River that used to be the Maplecraft Manufacturing Company in Bellows Falls, VT. The Cooperman craftsmen learned about unique tone qualities and bending characteristics of different woods and developed the skills of selecting trees, sawing logs and steam-bending the lumber. This historic sawmill is now owned and operated by second generation Cooperman’s, Patrick and his sister, Patsy Ellis, and supplies heritage instruments to bands and symphonies around the country including, the U.S. Army Band and Colonial Williamsburg.

Inside the Cooperman Company building, machines hum and the aromatic smell of wood fills the air.

Veneer Grade Logs The sawyer of Cooperman Company has formed relationships with other local sawmills and loggers, spending time visiting and purchasing veneer wood directly from the mill or even the logger. Very specific veneer grade logs are used for their products so they tend to buy directly from small properties with specially grown logs— ash, maple, oak, poplar and cherry. Each wood has different sound, bending and aesthetic qualities.

“Ash and oak bend the best,” explains Patrick, “but it doesn’t sound the best. Hickory is a preferred drumstick wood.”

The mill uses the same steam bending technologies as the nineteenth century basket makers—resulting in a single ply, steam bent Vermont hardwood product. Sawdust is used by local farmers for animal bedding and slab cuts are used by maple sugaring operations. The second generation family business has diversified into making traditional toys, games, and musical instruments for the museum gift shop trade, supplying other manufacturers in the music trade and making a custom line of wooden boxes for the gourmet food industry.

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Threats to the Forest

This brief history of the forests of southern Vermont suggests how the woodland landscape, though it appears timeless and unchanging, is a dynamic system that has undergone dramatic disturbances and growth cycles over the past few centuries. Furthermore, it cannot be assumed that the forests of today will remain as they are. Some of the threats to the northern hardwood forests, and the forest economies that depend on them, include invasive pests, development, climate change, and cultural perceptions about forest health.

Invasive Pests

Human actions unknowingly threaten the balance of forests. Increased mobility of people and products has introduced exotic pests like Emerald ash borer and Asian long-horned beetle from other regions that have no predators in this climate. (Learn more about the identification and management of these and other invasive pests at Vermont Invasives website.)

Emerald ash borer (E.A.B) was recently found in neighboring Massachusetts and New York and expected to arrive shortly in Vermont. E.A.B. kills all species of ash when their larvae eat the inner bark and girdle the trees. Moving firewood spreads this pest, so it’s important not to transport firewood. Studies have shown that ash have a 99.8 percent mortality rate from E.A.B., but the .02 percent that live could have the genetic resistance to pass to stronger generations.

Development

Poorly planned logging, invasive species and other negative practices can change forests dramatically, but forests may recover over the long-term. Deforestation for development, however, converts land permanently. Not only is the developed site changed, it also disturbs large patches of interior core habitat for species like black bear and the scarlet tanager and limits wildlife migration. Breaking up lots into small privately owned parcels creates many different owners with many different management objectives, making forest management

Developmental Threats Fragmentation

Development of long, narrow parcels fragments core habitat for certain kinds of wildlife like bear and moose. People tend to want to live deep in the woods, away from the road and create long driveways to their houses, increasing fragmentation.

more difficult for foresters and loggers. In Vermont, developed land grew 42 percent over a short period (1982-2003). From 1980 until 2008, the number of housing units in Vermont grew by 39 percent—an increase in development twice as fast as the state’s 21 percent population growth (Vermont Working Landscape Partnership Action Plan, December 2010).

Changing Climate

Increasingly, new pests and pathogens are gaining a foothold in Vermont forests, in some cases aided by erratic seasonal weather patterns and warming temperatures. Erratic, warming weather patterns contribute to weakened ecological integrity; populations of dominant tree species may die out and the future composition of species will rearrange to fill empty niches (Wessels). In the near future, species loss paired with climate change may present enormous challenges to the regional forest economy that depends on the northern hardwoods.

Hemlock woolly adelgid (H.W.A.) has devastated forests from Virginia to Connecticut. Warmer winters have caused a population explosion. The aphid-like pest has been present in Vermont since 2007 and is now found in Windham and Bennington Counties. Hemlocks provide shelter to wildlife and add value to the forest economy as lumber for frame housing.

Tourism may be greatly impacted by less dramatic fall foliage and a shorter, less predictable ski season. The sugar maple, one of Windham’s most prized hardwoods, may recede northward in range. The increasing tendency for winter to transition to spring very quickly, without a fluctuating period of freezing and thawing, will affect the timing and duration of maple syrup season, one of Vermont’s signature woodland exports.

Woodlands of the Windham Region Forests, Then and now

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Common Misconceptions About Logging

Another challenge to the working forest landscape may be widespread cultural perceptions about forestry.

Some people, assuming that forests have existed unchanged for millennia, may believe that the woods should be left as they are; or they may associate past destructive land clearing and current rainforest deforestation with other, more sustainable forms of forestry and logging. In The Forest Products Industry of Windham County, Vermont: Status, Challenges, and Opportunities, Doug Morin suggests that “Without strong connections in people’s lives, forestry is largely ignored by the public…Worse than being ignored, there is also a perception that the public thinks the industry is destructive.” The outsourcing of timber harvesting, processing and selling makes us forget where we get our products, and that environmental harm is being done elsewhere. It is “out of sight, out of mind”(Morin p. 60).

whether affluent citizens might alter their patterns of resource consumption if the environmental consequences of this behavior was apparent in their own backyards” (Berlik, Kittredge, and Foster p. 158).

Rather than relying on foreign imports of wood products, local production of wood and products enable the harvesting process to be visible and accountable and to provide many local benefits. As County Forester Bill Guenther says, “We can monitor ourselves here.”

Sustainable forestry practices exist, and could be used in more places throughout the Windham Region, contributing to environmental health, enhancing wildlife habitat, providing carbon sequestration, boosting local economies, and increasing community resilience.

Our distance from the working landscape may make it less likely that we understand how lumber, paper, and other wood products are produced, less tolerant of the unattractive byproducts of the working landscape, and more likely to prefer our forests to appear untouched.

Asian long-horned beetle (A.L.B.) is a threat to most northern hardwoods, but fortunately not yet in Vermont. It is currently isolated in Worcester, MA. It bores and kills hardwoods including sugar maple, birch, elm, poplar ash and willow. The pest is easily transported so transporting firewood is prohibited.

At the same time, people continue to buy wood products from far-away forests, produced under unknown conditions, sold through global markets, and transported great distances using petroleum fuels. As Berlik, Kittredge, and Foster argue in The Illusion of Preservation, “There is an environmental question of whether the burden of natural resource production should be placed on remote and oftentimes fragile landscapes, and the intriguing sociological question of

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Woodlands of the windham region Forest, then and now

A Man about Town Bill Guenther, Windham County Forester Bill Guenther has been the Windham County forester for twenty-six years, explaining, “I work for the people of the state of Vermont and the forests of Windham County.” In that role, Bill provides information, technical assistance, and outreach to the people of the county about managing and stewarding forestland. Bill has four key roles: sharing general information and education through landowner outreach; certifying management plans; submitting forest management activity reports after each timber cut; and doing conformance inspections to make sure management plans are living up to county and state expectations. Much of his time is spent overseeing the Use Value Appraisal program, designed to maintain Vermont’s productive agricultural land and woodlands, to help conserve farms and forests for future production (see p. 22). In addition, Bill is constantly on the watch for signs of invasive insects, to manage and reduce their spread—especially “the big three,” hemlock woolly adelgid, emerald ash borer, and Asian long-horned beetle.

In his spare time, Bill practices what he preaches. He bought 10 acres that was in bad shape from a developer who had high graded the property, taking the best trees out and leaving low grade trees behind. Bill’s goals were to renew the health of his woods and to produce his own heat reducing his reliance on foreign oil.

Today, Bill’s forest has grown not only in quality, but also in quanity —from 10 to 23 acres. Producing his own heat from his woods, Bill calculates has saved him at least $50,000 over the years. Currently, he has 16.3 cords of wood drying on his property.

Bill wants people to understand that forests are renewable and can grow back again and again. He is very passionate about people harvesting wood responsibly and harvesting and using wood locally rather than relying on foreign supplies from volatile areas around the world, adding, “We don’t know the environmental policies of these places, but we can monitor ourselves here.” Bill strongly believes that untouched wilderness areas are also important. As Bill has gotten older he believes that sometimes it is good for humans to leave some things alone. “We just don’t need to tinker with everything.”

Photo courtesy of Bill Guenther

Bill has 16.3 cords of wood waiting to heat his home for the winter.

Many common misperceptions about the forest industry and logging are based on past practices and historical images that show a deforested and barren Vermont, very different from the Vermont we see today.

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Chapter 3

sustainable forest management

Sustainable Forest Management

F

oresters are always thinking about the future, often beyond their own lifetimes. Forestry is a lot like gardening, but in slow motion. Much of the work foresters and loggers do is just thinning and weeding their stand while anticipating the true harvest and the next harvest after that. Forestry selects against damaged and diseased trees, weeds out competition and poor quality trees, thins trees for light, and shortens the time it would take to produce marketable timber. As in gardening, the preparation for the harvest is most of the work, while the harvest itself is the reward (Holleran Forest Update).

Woodlot

Garden One year in woodlot time = One hundred years in garden time

Downed tree tops to feed the soil and protect regenerating understory from deer browse.

To an untrained eye, this image can look like a disaster struck the forest. It looks messy and not cared for, but there is a lot more going on than first meets the eye. Here’s what the trained eye of a forester, ecologist or logger might see.

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Woodlands of the windham region Sustainable forest Management

Considering the long term

Logging Aesthetics

The greatest difference between forestry and gardening is their vastly different time scales. One year in garden time is like one hundred years in woodlot time (Holleran Forest Update). People, often impatient by nature, have difficulty planning for events beyond their lifetimes about trees that may take two lifetimes to mature (McEvoy p.51). Sustainable forestry practices plan for the long-term health of a forest, including increasing the diversity of plants, encouraging wildlife, and protecting soil and water quality. With proper management for the long term, forests, like vegetables gardens, can be renewable resources.

Some landowners have negative attitudes toward cutting any trees. Misconceptions about management arise from historic practices that may have degraded the environment as well as from the misguided idea that beauty equals ecological soundness. While there is a wide range of foresters, some better educated than others, most are generally trained to regard the whole forest as a system and to base harvest decisions not just on profits, but also on the future health of the forest.

There are many forest management techniques, each having its right place, right time, and right scale of application (Guenther). For example, although doing no management harvesting may be right for some woodlots, certain types of cutting can increase the growth of high value timber yields, increase speed and quality of understory regeneration and improve habitat for many species. Reducing crowding and competition allows other select trees to thrive, dominate the canopy, and to increase in value. This also shortens their time to maturity, growing stronger and straighter.

Openings in canopy and regenerating understory.

Dead snags for bird and other wildlife habitat

Many landowners moved to rural Vermont to escape urban and suburban lives in Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York and elsewhere. There, they may have been used to an urban aesthetic of wellgroomed parks, botanical gardens and lawns. In fact, Lynn Levine, a consulting forester in the Windham Region, says she spends most of her time educating landowners by preparing them for the aftermath of a logging job. Landowners and the general public need to know what constitutes a healthy forest, about the value of leaving behind woody debris, about rural aesthetics within a working landscape context, and how their actions can actually improve a forest over time.

Nurse logs for new seedlings

Woodlands of the Windham Region sustainable forest management

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Silviculture 101

Forestry began to develop into the science of silviculture in the early 1900s, as methods were devised ranging from heavy clearcutting to thinning a few trees from a stand. Different methods favor certain stages of succession (early to late), wildlife habitats, and timber products. Two basic categories of management result in either even-aged or uneven-aged forests.

Even-aged methods are almost all heavy cuts intended to regenerate new forest. This approach favors species that require high levels of sunlight for growth (McEvoy p.37). Clearcutting is an often misunderstood technique, associated with the dramatic deforestation of the rainforest by large-scale commercial loggers.

However, clearcutting is a preferred method for foresters used to regenerate early successional forests starting over with a clean slate. Young trees and shrubs that grow in recently disturbed areas and abandoned farm

Different forestry methods favor certain stages of succession (early to late), wildlife habitats, and timber products. Two basic categories of management result in either even-aged or uneven-aged forests.

fields, called early successional growth, support a type of habitat that attracts snowshoe hare, grouse, and other small game that are currently in decline throughout New England. Some trees will grow straighter and faster with more light opened up, allowing the seed

Silviculture Methods Even-Aged Methods

CUTTING METHODS:

Clear-cut

Seed Tree

Shelterwood

METHOD OUTCOME: Type of forest succession the method aims to produce Young trees and shrubs that grow in recently disturbed or clearcut areas, called early successional growth, support a type of habitat that attracts deer, snowshoe hare, grouse, and other small game that is currently in decline in New England.

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trees of marketable species, like hardwoods, to flourish.

Clearcutting favors sun-loving trees like ash, oak, tulip poplar, and pine.

Clearcutting can provide more valuable hardwood regeneration than thinning an older forest. Care should be exercised with water resources and steep slopes to avoid soil erosion. Often confused with clearcutting is liquidation cutting (harvesting all marketable wood before selling land) (McEvoy p.38). High grading is “taking the best and leaving the rest� (Guenther). Both liquidation and high grading are unethical practices based on short-term financial gain at the expense of the forest’s health, regeneration, biodiversity, and long-term forest productivity.

The shelterwood method is the most common harvesting technique in Vermont. (See panorama p 16-17.) A partial overstory is left to provide shelter for seedling establishment. This results in a slightly varied-age forest.

Uneven-aged methods are used to stimulate the natural replacement of trees in older forests. Group selection removes small to large groups of trees so that other shade-tolerant species fill in the gaps. These include white ash, yellow birch, and red oak. Single tree selection is thought to create the least disturbance to the forest ecosystem of all the methods. In this scenario, single trees are harvested to allow the establishment of shade-tolerant trees. However, the process requires repeated entries with heavy machinery, increasing the likelihood of damage to neighboring trees and soil compaction (McEvoy p.41).

Thinning is done between harvests. It opens up light for the emerging understory and is primarily used to improve conditions for the remaining trees to grow larger and faster. If a stand is not thinned, the dense forest will grow much more slowly. Thinning can mean taking out low-grade wood, felling trees and leaving them in place, or girdling trees and leaving them in place to provide important dead snags for nesting birds.

Uneven-aged Methods

group selection

Single tree selection

Beech trees are shade-tolerant 19

A Good Reputation John Adler, Application Forester John loves trees and working on the land, saying, “It was always in my blood, and working in the woods with trees was where I belonged.” He calls himself an application forester, explaining he “uses different tools than a forester,” like chainsaws, skidders and forwarders, and thinks the word “logger” carries a less then a professional connotation for many people.

John used to run chainsaws but now he runs a harvester. His harvester is a feller-buncher that “cuts the trees down, measures them and then bucks them at the right size for the mills.” The equipment costs a lot of money. But John feels that it’s worth it in the long run—making logging easier and creating less disturbance on the land and on the workers’ bodies. John has two employees.

John’s good reputation as a logger is gold. The landowner needs to trust a logging job is being done right by a professional who knows what they are doing, especially when some of their clients are not around during the logging job. John estimates 75 to 90 percent of the logging jobs that he gets are under the supervision of a forester, as part of the Use Value Appraisal program. When a landowner enrolls in the program, a forester will walk the land and write up a management plan which then must be approved by the county forester. The consulting forester will mark trees that need to be cut, and keep a tally of species and board feet or cord feet that will be produced.

A feller-buncher fells the trees, measures them and bucks them to the right size for the sawmills.

A forester may show the woodlot to several loggers who each bid a price to do the job. Or, sometimes a forester will recommend a logger for a job based on reputation or past work relations. The logger and the landowner then work out a contract that gives permission for the logger to move equipment onto the landowner’s land. When a job is done, a percentage of what the sawmill pays the logger goes back to the landowner, dependent upon the contract between the logger and the landowner.

“A lot of landowners don’t realize that a logging job, even if it is done extremely well is still a messy business,” explains John. “There’s a huge difference between a bad logging job and a good logging job, but to a landowner it just looks like a mess. It would be great for landowners to understand that brush left behind is a good thing, and that the logging roads are smooth and the trees left behind are in good shape, crowns aren’t broken, etc. Meaning this is a good logging job.” Some months are great for logging and other months are terrible. Frozen ground with snow cover is best to minimize disturbance of the land. “Forestry is like farming,” says John. “Very weather dependent.”

A day’s work.

Photos courtesy of John Adler

A forwarder picks up the cut logs and transports them from the woods.

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Chapter 4

supporting the Working landscape

Supporting the Working Landscape

S

ustainable forestry considers the long-term vitality of the forest. Are there ways to support the long-term viability of the working landscape? Many of the economic challenges that confront forest workers are basic: higher costs of doing business and lower returns on investment.

New landowners have been drawn to the area’s natural beauty, deep woods, ski slopes, trails, and lack of suburban sprawl. As a result, this influx of new seasonal residents creates more demand on the land and higher real estate value—creating both an economic and cultural tension. Residential development in rural areas disrupts forest communities and increases costs to local government who must extend roads, maintenance, and services to remote places. Many of the seasonal residents are less interested in actively managing their woodlots, wanting to maintain the natural beauty of their woodland retreat.

Addressing the impacts of this pattern of development, the State of Vermont has committed substantial support for the working landscape through programs and public information campaigns, with the objective of helping people continue working the land. However, in active real estate markets with high land values, the economics don’t always work to keep the land undeveloped.

Two state programs designed to address the economic challenges are Use Value Appraisal and Working Lands Initiative Grants.

Use Value Appraisal

In 1980, Vermont responded to increased land development by establishing the Use Value Appraisal program to help conserve farms and forests for future production. The “current use” program allows land to be assessed at its agriculture or forest value, rather than its higher developed value (fair market price). This helps people working the land afford their property taxes and resist the lure of selling to developers (Evans). As the Windham County Forester, Bill Guenther oversees 1,500 properties enrolled in the UVA (about 140,000 forested acres out of a total of 508,000 acres within Windham County).

Enrollment in the program entitles landowners to a substantial reduction in their property taxes. A landowner must have a minimum of 25 acres, agree to establish a woodlot management plan, and conduct timber harvests periodically according to the plan. Since much of the Windham region woodlands are privately owned, this program plays a large role in keeping the forests better managed, truckers and loggers employed, and sawmills productive. A landowner may withdraw their land at any time by paying a land use change penalty (10 to 20 percent fair market value of the land being withdrawn). The UVA program may only delay people from selling their land to developers until they’re ready to retire, but it has enabled many forest owners and farmers to continue working the land.

Taxes may be reduced on working forest or farmland from $100 an acre to as little as $2 an acre, for example.

Though this results in reduced tax revenue for municipalities, the state reimburses towns for revenue lost through the current use appraisal. Costs of the program are distributed evenly throughout the state because all residents benefit by maintaining the rural landscape.

The Windham region should encourage landowner enrollment in the UVA program for a number of reasons: the public value of conservation, the economic benefit to the forest economy and the cost reductions of rural, undeveloped land resulting in less town spending for services, roads, utilities and schools.

In Windham County, 140,000 forested acres of landowner properties are enrolled in the Use Value Appraisal program.

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Encouraging new businesses within agriculture and forestry continues to be a priority for Vermont. A Working Lands Enterprise Bill was passed in 2012 to spur

Woodlands of the Windham Region Supporting the working landscape

Promoting a love of nature Lynn Levine, Forester and Educator Lynn has been working in the consulting forestry business for thirty-five years. After receiving her degree in education from Brooklyn College, Lynn quickly realized she didn’t like classroom teaching as much as being outside, interacting with the natural environment. People seemed to learn better that way, too. She earned her masters degree in forestry from the University of Massachusetts but maintained her passion for education by weaving her love of nature and the woods into the forestry world. Now, her mission is to help protect the forested lands by teaching people to love the woods.

Forester, Teacher, Author When Lynn first started in her forestry career, she began teaching and holding workshops that were forest focused. This was the impetus for writing her first book, co-authored with Mollie Beattie and Charles Thompson, called Working with Your Woodland: A Landowner’s Guide. One of the goals of the book was to “personalize the forests for landowners, by inspiring a larger vision of the forested landscape.”

She has designed six different interpretive trails, creating booklets or signs that educate people along the way. One of these is a self-guided path called “Treasured Trees: A Walk Through Brattleboro,” created under the leadership of the Brattleboro Tree Advisory Committee using trees nominated by local citizens. Lynn’s most recent trail project has interpretive signs and an MP3 that can be listened to while walking the trail.

Woodlot Aesthetics Currently, Lynn is working on a project with the Vermont Woodlands Association to produce a video on the aesthetic effects of harvesting. She wants landowners and the public to know what to expect in the immediate aftermath of a logging job, helping people understand that a logging job is initially aesthetically unattractive, but within five to eight years, negative visual impacts should no longer be apparent. Lynn believes that humans find healing in nature. Lynn says she is constantly “surprised at where my creativity and love of the natural world have taken me.”

Lynn studied tracking and scat identification with nationally recognized trackers Sue Morse and Paul Rezendes. Since then, she has taken thousands of people into the woods to experience, first-hand, tracking and other woods experiences, including the years when she worked at Mount Snow--during the day she taught tracking, and at night she led full moon owl walks.

Lynn’s next book came from all these teaching experiences, when she was hired to teach a group of elementary school teachers about nature and observation skills. Lynn and her education partner, Martha Mitchell, looked everywhere for tracking materials that were easily understandable for young children.

Not finding any, they decided to create their own. The teachers enjoyed the prototype materials so much, that Lynn and Martha decided to turn them into a book, eventually becoming Mammal Tracks and Scat: Life-Size Tracking Guide. Currently, Lynn is creating a new companion pocket guide.

Teaching People to Love the Woods Through the Vermont Institute for Natural Science, Lynn created an environmental citizenship curriculum to encourage activism in fifth and sixth graders. She also created curriculum for high school students that focused on issues of fragmentation of the woods (funded by the New England Society of American Foresters and Project Learning Tree).

Photo courtesy of Lynn Levine

Lynn has lead thousands of people through walks in the woods looking at mammal tracks in the day and searching for owls at night.

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start-ups, support growing businesses, and build infrastructure to support jobs, communities, and the landscape of Vermont.

The Working Lands Enterprise Fund invests in the working lands economy by: • Giving enterprise grants to small and start-up businesses • Supporting working lands service providers that are starting up or are in a growth phase • Investing in infrastructure to support the working lands enterprise economy.

Educate the Community about Local Forestry

A common concern emerges when talking to forestry professionals—more education is needed for the general public. People need to understand that wood is renewable, forests regenerate, and that appropriate forest conservation practices can sometimes enhance the ecological health of woodlands. Adults and children alike need to understand the origins of wood products that surround them in their everyday lives. Many people, as Alston Chase wrote, have lost that direct connection with the natural world.

“Environmentalism increasingly reflects urban perspectives. As people move to cities, they become infatuated with fantasies of land untouched by humans. This demographic shift is revealed through ongoing debates over endangered species, grazing, water rights, private property, mining and logging.

And it is partly a healthy trend. But this urbanization of environmental values also signals the loss of a rural way of life and the disappearance of hands-on experience with nature. So the irony: as popular concern for preservation increases, public understanding about how to achieve it declines”(Chase).

“People need to understand where things come from,” says Windham County forester, Bill Guenther. Whether it’s farm to plate or forest to table--people need reminding where everyday wood and paper products originate.

That’s the first step to managing them wisely.

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Demonstrate Sustainable Wood Harvesting Observing good forest practices is something few people get to experience first hand. Efforts should be made to demonstrate, explain, and educate the general public about sustainable forestry. Brian Donahue, in Reclaiming the Commons, argues that, “The point of studying the history of the forest is not to rediscover the state of nature we have lost—it is to come to a better understanding of the world that has been created by nature and people before us. It is to develop a deeper affinity and aptitude for the land we inhabit” (p. 231).

Demonstration logging trails located in town forests present a perfect forum for education. Interpretive signs could explain techniques, showing the benefits of woody debris, and observing early signs of regeneration. Communities should also encourage nature-based youth programs such as UVM Extension 4H and supplementation of school curriculum for K-12 forest ecology programs.

Putney Central School in Putney, VT has its own school forest where youth learn about trees and participate in woodlot activities.

Using community land in the suburban town of Weston, Massachusetts, Brian Donahue has demonstrated maple sugaring, apple cider making, firewood harvesting and timber harvesting —literally in people’s backyards. In Reclaiming the Commons, Donahue says, “Before we start cutting, we invite everyone interested to come for a Sunday afternoon walk, followed by coffee at a home in the neighborhood…. Our neighbors air their concerns, and we learn things that we should know and so modify

Woodlands of the windham region supporting the working landscape

The next generation Dennis Hamilton, High School Forestry Instructor Two classes taught in the Agriculture and Sustainable Food Systems Program at the Windham Regional Career Center are Forestry and Natural Resources and Machine Operation and Mechanics. Teens who go through a year of the forestry program receive a year of science equivalent credit. Some of the teens come from logging or forestry families, but most come into the program because they like to work outside with their hands and enjoy the work.

The curriculum includes tree identification (leaves, buds, bark), insect and pest identification, invasive plants, soils, maple sugaring string lines, and how to boil and work with sugar bushes. Students do real life projects such as manage a Christmas tree farm in Dummerston, install drainage systems, climb and prune trees, thin and improve a plantation of red pine, and safely operate chainsaws, bulldozers, skidders and forwarders. The teens not only learn

how to drive these machines, they also have their own chainsaw for the year that they have to maintain and sharpen. Students get a certificate in the “Game of Logging” safety training program.

After graduation some students pursue forestry or natural sciences at Paul Smiths, University of New Hampshire, University of Massachusetts, or Vermont Technical College.

Dennis sits at his desk in the forestry classroom.

our plans.” Getting the next generation out in the woods is the key. Although Donahue concedes that most forestry work is not suitable for young people, he says wood splitting is. Not only do the neighbors get their wood split, but also they’re raising future foresters (Donahue p. 264).

Inefficient sprawl development costs municipalities much more to maintain roads, utilities and schools than does development in concentrated growth centers.

Planning and zoning on the town level are valuable tools for addressing these issues and for protecting the working landscape.

Community colleges could offer more conservation forest management and technical education courses. Many families looking for ways to be more self-sufficient and food secure would enjoy learning about wild crafting, permaculture, and mycology—encouraging people to be aware of the forest not only as an abundant resource but as a source of edibles, recreation and renewal. In addition to educational workshops, special events and woodsmen competitions could be organized celebrating wood, forest products and local forestry, similar to what already happens at Strolling of the Heifers in Brattleboro. A community-wide arts competition sponsored by area merchants and businesses of life-sized wood sculptures could benefit a scholarship award to a forestry program. The sculptures could be placed in prominent gathering places throughout towns to increase visibility of the current and historic forest culture of the region.

A significant portion of Vermont remains in parcels larger than 50 acres. Stronger policies can be enacted to promote the viability of forestland, especially on intact parcels between 50 and 100 acres (Vermont Natural Resources Council). Here are some natural resource protection tools that towns should consider:

Encourage Smart Growth

Many agencies, foresters, and communities are concerned about forest fragmentation and the permanent conversion of woods into development. Increasingly smaller parcels threaten the ecological integrity of the forests. Subdivision and land conversion negatively affect plant and animal species, wildlife habitat, water quality, recreational access, and the ability of forests to sequester carbon and contribute to the region’s rural economy.

• A forest zoning district is a simple, powerful tool that a town can use to protect forest resources.

• Requiring large lots in agricultural and forest districts is a way to limit development density in natural areas.

(Minimum 27-acre parcels allow 2 acres for a home and 25 acres farm or forest land for UVA eligibility.)

• Requiring new developments to have smaller road setbacks and lot sizes and to be clustered minimizes forest fragmentation.

• Encouraging development in existing growth centers, not near intact forests and undeveloped open spaces, prevents further fragmentation of natural resources.

• Overlay districts provide a way to keep development outside of a buffer area near lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, or steep slopes.

• Subdivision bylaws can require development be kept away from sensitive areas prior to obtaining subdivision approval (Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department).

Woodlands of the Windham Region Supporting the working landscape

25

Developmental Threats to Forest Integrity

Fragmentation Development of long, narrow parcels fragments core habitat for certain kinds of wildlife like bear and moose.

People tend to want to live deep in the woods, away from the road and create long driveways to their houses, increasing fragmentation.

Conventional Without a forest district, this property can be further subdivided and would not be suitable for forest management or UVA enrollment.

Parcelization A large lot subdivided into 10-acre “spaghetti” lots makes forest management more difficult.

The land won’t qualify for UVA, access for loggers would be difficult and three property owners may have differing goals for their woodlots.

Zoning for forest integrity

Smart growth

Forest district- large lot with maximum setback

Clustering development and requiring maximum setbacks are a few techniques of “smart growth.”

These may offer towns the best tools for natural resource protection.

A minimum lot size of 27 acres (25 acre UVA minimum plus 2 acres for home) allows a homeowner to actively manage their woodlot. A maximum setback requirement limits long driveways that penetrate interior forest habitat.

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Conserve the Forests

and town forests and trails that invite outdoor

While statewide efforts such as UVA and the Working Landscape Enterprise grants are a significant boost to the people and businesses of the working landscape, they don’t protect the land itself. In many areas, real estate values make it difficult for anyone interested only in forest management to pay the purchase price of land.

Demographics show that most of Vermont’s forest owners are older—65 percent are age 45 to 64, 30 percent are over age 65. Intergenerational transfer of ownership is inevitable with no guarantee that heirs will have continued interest in forest stewardship (Morin p.29).

adventures and further our connection to nature and neighbors.” (Vermont Land Trust) The Windham region should promote and coordinate collaborations between municipalities, sportsmen, trail organizations, land trusts and interested citizens to evaluate and protect priority natural areas for permanent protection.

To permanently protect large forest parcels, efforts to acquire the parcels—or easements on these parcels— should be actively pursued. Forest protection requires long-term strategies and collaborative efforts by towns, state, federal agencies, non-profit land trusts and grass roots conservation groups. Regional forest protection in Massachusetts have used “aggregation,” a process of bundling together working woodlands and wildlands that may be owned or managed by individuals or organizations in the public, private and nonprofit sectors (Report of the Massachusetts Commission on Financing Forest Conservation, 2011).

Land can be permanently protected through purchase or conservation easements that allow private ownership but restrict the development rights. A conservation easement is a legal agreement that can ensure a property will never be subdivided or developed, and that can protect its ecological, scenic, and recreational values.

Landowners who enter into this agreement continue to own the conserved property and pay property taxes yet are free to sell the land. Owners may continue to use the land for farming, forestry, and recreation. A conservation easement will be tied to the land, whether the land is sold or remains in the family, ensuring that the land will be protected, even if sold (Vermont Land Trust).

“One way we can protect Vermont’s working landscape is to conserve land. This land includes farms that provide us with locally produced food; forests rich with timber, firewood, wildlife habitat;

One way to protect Vermont’s working landscape, like this active sugar bush, is to conserve land.

Woodlands of the Windham Region Supporting the working landscape

27

A Woodlot of their own John Whitman, Landowner John and his wife Ginny Whitman purchased 175 acres in Readsboro. As a new forest owner, John wanted to learn about woodlot management. His county forester recommended taking a Coverts class, where he began to learn about his woods.

“Vermont Coverts is dedicated to educating landowners in sound forest management practices and the principles of stewardship for the enhancement of wildlife. The goal is to help woodland owners become aware that sound forest management includes much more than timber, pulp and firewood production…demonstrating that well-planned forest management and the enhancement of wildlife habitat can go hand in hand” (vtcoverts.org).

Logging and conservation hand-in-hand John and Ginny now own 340 acres that they have enrolled in the UVA program, with the exception of 18 acres for their home, barns and grazing of ponies and goats. John says that “Being enrolled in the UVA has been really helpful as tax relief” for his property. Although the state now reimburses towns for their UVA landowners, it wasn’t always the case and many locals still harbor misconceptions.

Clear a space for nature A carefully maintained gravel road built to protect the ground from large machinery and trucks leads to the log landing, a flat collection area located near the road and close to the logging site. John’s logger is a one-man operation, typical of many other loggers due to the high cost of workman’s compensation.

Judging where to cut the wood and to what length is an art and a science; it can determine the monetary value and the market for the log.

John is proud of a two-acre area he cut himself. In contrast to the rest of the woods, sun floods the open area. What was once an even-aged forest is now a “patch cut” of emerging tree species, blackberries, and scrubby brush to support a population of wildlife that the mature forest cannot support. Here, they’ve seen grouse, snowshoe hare, and many birds. Standing dead trees also provide vital wildlife habitat for insects and cavitynesting birds. “It’s pretty amazing to see what sunlight adds to a forest, and this patch is providing habitat that is missing in a mature forest. New England forests are really 300 trees per acre all trying to kill each other to get up to the light!”

John feels that even though the UVA does not permanently conserve land, he thinks it does keep land from being developed in the short term. John and Ginny decided to permanently protect their woods from further development with a conservation easement held by the Vermont Land Trust. The property remains in private ownership but the development rights are restricted both now and with future landowners.

John points at the map of UVA management plans for his property.

The log landing at John Whitman’s property

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Chapter 5

A Renewable future

A Renewable Future

W

hat does the future look like for the forest economy? The Windham Region offers significant natural resources in productive forests, human resources in skilled professionals, and an impressive industry infrastructure of sawmills and transportation.

as a given. With a clear understanding of the full

Where are the growth markets that can keep the working landscape relevant to today’s needs? Certainly a part of the future will be in renewable energy.

Vermont’s Comprehensive Energy Plan sets out a pathway for Vermont to obtain 90 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050. With approximately 1.4 billion cubic feet of standing live trees, Windham County has the greatest volume, of hardwoods and softwoods, of any county in Vermont. For this reason, the region must engage in long-term thinking about the impact of renewable energy on local forests.

within the carrying capacity of our landscape”. (Ann

costs of new energy development, New Englanders are more likely to tackle the fundamental task of reducing our energy demands and learning to live Ingerson, Renewable Energy in the Northern Forest, 2012) Evaluating Biomass

Biomass is the general name for organic materials, such as wood or crops, used as renewable energy sources.

Burning biomass releases about the same amount of carbon dioxide as burning fossil fuels. However, fossil fuels release carbon dioxide captured by photosynthesis millions of years ago—an essentially “new” greenhouse gas. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Currently, about 16 percent of “The amount of carbon dioxide global energy consumption absorbed by growing plants is comes from renewable roughly equal to the amount of resources, including sunlight, carbon dioxide emitted during wind, rain, tides, waves, and burning, making wood fuels geothermal heat. Communities essentially carbon-neutral, parare seeking ways to shift natural ticularly when the trees and resource use from unsustainable The biomass facility used at Allard Lumber in plants are fast-growing, harextraction to resources that can Brattleboro, VT uses woodchips from their production line to feed the kiln for drying lumber. vested at the appropriate age, be replenished over time. and are used to replace fossil Recent US Census figures show fuels.” In developing guidelines the number of households heatfor renewable energies such as biomass, the Windham ing with wood grew 34 percent between 2000 and Region should assess potential impacts and effects that 2010, faster than any heating fuel, and 10 to 12 percent increased harvests would have upon forest resources, of American households use wood when secondary habitat loss and carbon emissions. heating is counted (US Census Bureau Energy Information Agency).

“As we make a historic exit from the fossil fuel age, difficult choices await. Despite the need for urgent action, those choices must be thoughtful and well informed—‘Not in my back yard’ and ‘out of sight out of mind,’ cannot be the guiding principles for designing a new energy system. Nor can we accept current consumption patterns and low energy costs

30

Woodshed Analysis

Without careful management, however, large scale use of biomass energy could reverse the regrowth of New England forests. Conducting a thorough woodshed analysis— determining the potential sustainable supply of source wood within the Windham Region—is essential in the process of evaluating the use, scale, and impact of potential biomass facilities. Such an analysis measures not only how much wood is available through sustainable harvest, but also defines sensitive areas in

Woodlands of the Windham Region A Renewable Future

which harvest is not ecologically suitable. Involving citizens, industry representatives, landowners and conservation groups would build confidence and consensus that sustainable harvest of biomass is possible without damaging the quality of the woods, water and people they support.

A thorough woodshed analysis was conducted for towns in Addison County, evaluating possible sources of wood using geographic information systems to exclude areas unsuitable for tree harvest based on site characteristics such as soils, slopes, elevations, surface waters, wetlands and conservation (Vermont Family Forests). The Windham Region should conduct a similar analysis to determine the carrying capacity of local forests.

There may also be potential in perennial energy crops grown on marginal land that could be close to climate neutral. Willow and poplar have been grown as short rotation, coppiced crops that could be viable in New England as a source of biomass. Current research is concentrating on willow, mainly because of disease issues associated with poplar in the Northeast. Larry Abrahamson at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry has found willow yields large amounts of biomass, has high BTUs, is easily established, and can be coppiced (cut repeatedly) successfully.

Biomass vs. Fossil Fuels: Carbon Flow

Carbon released by biomass is already in the carbon cycle since trees are natural producers and absorbers of carbon through their life and death cycles.

Fossil fuels bring stored geologic carbon up from deep underground, where it has been stored for millennia, and releases it into the atmosphere. Trees can only absorb a fraction of this excess atmospheric carbon.

Is more carbon released into the atmosphere through the burning of biomass than would occur as forests age and trees die and decay naturally? To answer this question, many factors must be considered, including the type and efficiency of the technology used, the scale of the processing facility, and the distance the wood is harvested from the processing facility.

Woodlands of the Windham Region A Renewable Future

31

On the Cutting Edge Allard Lumber

A

llard Lumber is one of two major sawmills in Brattleboro. An expansive log yard surrounds the mill, piled with hardwood logs waiting to be processed. Mark Rivers, a longtime employee, takes pride in showing the business. Cliff Allard started it with a portable sawmill and $600 in the 1970s.

Sharpening of the huge circular blades is hand-done each day in a fastidious workshop but the process from log to finished lumber is now all fully mechanized. From an enclosed viewing room upstairs, most of the process is observable. Red oak is being processed on this day— a beautiful, aromatic, rosy wood. First, The de-barked logs go through an x-ray machine to detect embedded metal pieces that could potentially damage the saw blades.

Computers now analyze each log, quickly determining the maximum cuts for each log. Employees manage each station, overseeing and preventing any logjams; computers and people work together to ensure precision, safety, and overall product quality.

It takes experience to see the potential in each log. As Mark describes the process: “It’s not necessarily the easiest job but the people who do it, love it. Sawdust is in our blood.”

From his desk, Cliff Allard keeps track of the yward and sawmill activities at all time.

He is humble when asked about the impressive growth of his business from a simple beginning. The mill used to handle only softwood, but now focuses exclusively on the hardwood market. The bundles of finished lumber, tagged with computer codes, are purchased by brokers and shipped around the world.

Cliff Allard attributes the success of his business to attention to detail and his long-term relationships with customers and suppliers.

Mark Rivers calls himself a public relations man. He is happy to take people for a scheduled tour of Allard, and likes to talk shop about sawmill production.

Every log that comes into the yard is used to its fullest potential.

Bark is used for mulch, the log itself is cut into lumber, remaining product is chipped and used in the on-site biomass facility to heat the wood-kiln drying process, and the sawdust is sold to biomass facilities, wood pellet producers, secondary manufacturers or as bedding for animals. Allard’s biomass facility and its kiln ovens are warehouse-sized facilities that are packed solid with drying wood.

Allards’ log yard holds an impressive amount of logs to feed the sawmill and keeps production humming. Keeping this yard costantly stocked with hardwood logs creates demand, which in turn supports the many jobs for loggers and foresters in the region.

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Vermont Wood Pellets Chris Brooks and Katie Adams

C

hris Brooks and his business partner, Katie Adams, started All sustainability is local

neighborhoods, businesses, or schools can be most effi-

tainable forest management is in the Vermont Wood Pellet Company’s own “self-interest,” explains Chris Brooks allowing it, “to continue to have wood resources into the future.” He would like to see more small-scale mills again, estimating “a small mill every hundred-mile radius in Vermont would pose little threat of competition between companies, or for forest resources between communities.”

put to use at the location, building, or campus.

Brooks comes from five generations of loggers in Wisconsin. His father was a chapter president of the Sierra Club, so he understands the tensions between the logging industry and environmentalists. “The unintended consequence,” he says, “of devaluing forest cropland is the fragmentation of important natural habitats. Keeping large pieces of contiguous forest land intact is actually a common goal for environmentalists and loggers.”

Vermont Wood Pellets in 2009 in Rutland County as a smallSmall-scale power plants located near available supplies scale wood pellet manufacturer.

Now, they produce sixteen to of biomass and near of pellets dense produce settlement are twenty thousand tons percenters year. Their low ash efficient because fossil for and supply high heat. they They do usenot raw rely pine on that’s left fuels after loggers transportation. that reason, district heating for have harvested the For higher quality timber.

The people of Vermont are forward thinkers—concient when located Wood withinPellets fifty miles of biomass stantly striving to reduce the company’s reliance on fossil fuels. sources. When biomass or resulting fuels require transThe company uses wood chip and hydroelectric power process portation, their carbon footprint increases withtodistance pellets and helps switch bulk pellet handling to due to gas, oilcustomers and diesel fuelstoconsumed.

Today, even reduce the need for bagging the product.

A next step for them greater efficiency may be obtained through cogeneraalso mayCombined include making co-generation at their tion. heatuse andofpower (CHP) istechnology the simultaneplant for even greater efficiency.

Their goal is to use wood from a ous generation of both heat and electricity. In separate thirty mile radius provide pellets for customers production of and electricity, some energy must within be lostfifty as miles. waste heat, but in cogeneration this thermal energy is “You know when the product comes from within thirty miles, it sort of breaks ourCollege bond with fossil fuels,” Chris.

“When • Middlebury opened a newsays CHP facility to be we’re not paying these freight fees, as fossil fuels go up our used for heating and cooling campus buildings.

Theprice doesn’t necessarily to follow and goable up quite as Addison Countyhave College has been to reduce net dramatically.” emissions of carbon by 40 percent, eliminate 1 million

gallons of Number 6 fuel oil, and stimulate local and

Chris takes prides in working with loggers he knows on a perstate economies through use of locally-sourced wood sonal basis who practice good forest stewardship. Practicing sus-

chips.

Chris would like to see a focus on small community-scale biomass operations because they “help people feel tied to the land around them, making a link to using a resource in their own backyards and thus the need to take care of it.”

Photo courtesy of Vermont Wood Pellets

Bags of wood pellets ready to ship to local retailers

All sustainability is local

Small-scale power plants located near available supplies of biomass and near centers of dense settlement are efficient because they do not use as much fossil fuels for transportation of the biomass. For that reason, district heating for neighborhoods, businesses, or schools can be most efficient when located within fifty miles of biomass sources. When biomass or resulting fuels require transportation, their carbon footprint increases with distance due to gas, oil and diesel fuels consumed. Today, even greater efficiency may be obtained through cogeneration. Combined heat and power (CHP) is the simultaneous generation of both heat and electricity. In separate production of electricity, some energy must be lost as waste heat, but in cogeneration this thermal energy is put to use at the location, building, or campus.

• Middlebury College opened a new CHP facility to be used for heating and cooling campus buildings. The Addison County College has been able to reduce net emissions of carbon by 40 percent, eliminate 1 million gallons of Number 6 fuel oil, and stimulate local and state economies through use of locally-sourced wood chips.

• Green Mountain College, in Rutland County, opened a new $5.8 million CHP biomass plant in 2011. The biomass heating plant allows the college to heat its 155 acres of campus buildings by using locally-sourced green woodchips and meet about 20 percent of campus electricity needs—reducing carbon emissions by more than 50 percent.

Woodlands of the Windham Region A renewable future

33

Think Cooperatively

Some of the greatest challenges to the working landscape are long-term economic viability—making the numbers work for independent operators and small businesses. Many of the forest workers interviewed for this report listed the high cost of equipment, diesel fuel, and workman’s compensation insurance for employees as burdensome costs of doing business. Working with private landowners, loggers, and community consumers, a recent Addison County plan acknowledges “conventional economic models don’t work,” often because of the high costs of financing and capitalizing equipment.

Just as Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) offer a local, community-based source of food, a heating cooperative can offer a source of local community-based wood heat to an area. Vermont Family Forests is currently developing a model for a heating cooperative based in Addison County.

Sharing the cost of equipment and using member-supported labor are being looked at as options. A careful woodshed analysis of how many cords of low-quality timber are available on land in the five-town area is

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being conducted. Calculating the wood-per-person ratio shows the amount of wood available as a local source of sustainable energy. One possible opportunity identified is to connect with sugar makers who want their sugar bushes thinned. Vermont Family Forests’ commitment is to tap into that supply without compromising forest health.

Although biomass heat and electricity generation may ultimately provide a small percentage of renewable energy for Vermonters, it can provide a significant growth market for the local forest economy. Additional regional biomass facilities would increase local markets for low grade wood not suitable for finished product uses.

Determining the amount of wood available through sustainable harvest and the appropriate scale of facilities will require an important community dialogue. This dialogue has the potential to increase public awareness of valuable forest resources that, if wisely managed, can contribute to a renewable energy supply for generations to come.

Working landscapes are everywhere we look; they are an integral part of our lives. In Hands on The Land: A History of Vermont, Jan Albers says, “We may not all have dirt under our fingernails, but every one of us have our hands on the land.”

Conclusion

What are the qualities that forests, people and businesses need to be resilient in the face of change? Like forests, people who are resilient continue to evolve.

Some trees, are generalists and can adapt to differing conditions, such as white pine, hemlock and gray birch.

Generalist businesses like Mark Bowen’s supply a diversity of essentials like firewood, lumber, chickens and eggs.

Some trees require very specific conditions to thrive, such as tamarack and black gum. People and businesses that specialize depend upon specific conditions that a niche market can provide. Cooperman Fife and Drum, for example, serve a traditional, museum- trade niche that appreciates the old world craftsmanship and remarkable veneer-grade Vermont wood.

Ideally, a working landscape of trees and people contains generalists and specialists, woven together in a community network that is strengthened by interdependence, benefitting all. Opportunities for collaboration and the exchange of information and resources increase a community’s chances of surviving disturbances, as so many Vermonters realized in the wake of Hurricane Irene.

Both the forests and the working people who make their livelihood in forest industries are facing threats.

However, in the face of economic, ecological and cultural challenges, there are also great opportunities.

Those communities who are willing to think collaboratively and plan for the future will adapt; those who do nothing to respond to change are allowing market and other forces to decide their fate.

If you care about forests, you should care about the working landscape. The forest economy keeps land forested rather than developed, and it preserves the rural and community character that has defined the Windham Region for centuries. Local forestry has local benefits, both for forests and for people. Knowing where our everyday wood and paper products originate is the first step to managing the working landscape wisely.

Local forestry has local benefits, both for forests and for people.

Woodlands of the Windham Region A renewable future

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Works Cited Abrahamson, Larry. SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Growing and Harvesting Willow for Biomass Energy: Field Research into Methods, Benefits and Costs for Farmers. www.uvm.edu/~cmorriso/AltEnergy/willow.pdf. 1998.

Adams, Katie, and Chris Brooks. Vermont Wood Pellet Company.

2010 www.vermontwoodpellet.com/ Albers, Jan. Hands on the Land: A History of the Vermont Landscape. Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press, 2000 Berlik, Mary M., David B. Kittredge, and David R. Foster. The Illusion of Preservation: A Global Environmental Argument for the Local Production of Natural Resources. Journal of Biogeography Vol. 29. Blackwell Science Ltd. Harvard University, Petersham, MA, 2002.

Donahue, Brian. Reclaiming the Commons, Community Farms and Forests in a New England Town. Yale University Press, 1999.

Evans, Trevor. Debunking Misinformation About Vermont’s Current Use Program. northernwoodlands.org/ 2010.

Foster, David R., Brian M. Donahue, and David B. Kittredge, et al. Wildlands and Woodlands: A Vision for the New England Landscape. Petersham, MA: Harvard University, 2010.

Holleran, Robbo. Forest Update. Chester, VT, 2012.

Johnson, Charles W. The Nature of Vermont: Introduction and Guide to a New England Environment. Hanover, NH, University Press of New England, 1998 Lapin, Marc and Rodgers, Chris. Assessment of the Sustainable Landbase for Forest Biomass Harvest and the Wood Biomass Resource Supply, Addison County Five Towns and Mad River Valley Towns. April 2009.

Long, Stephen, Barlow, Virginia, Post, Irwin, Snyder, Michael, Thompson, Charles, Wooster, Chuck. More than a Woodlot: Getting the Most from your Family Forest. Corinth, VT, Northern Woodlands, 2012 Marchand, Peter J. North Woods: An Inside Look at the Nature of Forests in the Northeast. Boston, MA, Appalachian Mountain Club, 1987 McEvoy, Thomas J. Introduction to Forest Ecology and Silviculture. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, 1995.

Mollie, Beattie, Thompson, Charles, Levine, Lynn. Working with your Woodland: A Landowner’s Guide. Hanover, NH, University Press of New England, 1993 Morin, Doug. The Forest Products Industry of Windham County, Vermont: Status, Challenges, and Opportunities. Grafton, VT: University of Vermont Masters Thesis, 2012.

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Woodlands of the Windham Region Works Cited

National Renewable Energy Laboratory. http://www.nrel.gov/ learning/re_biomass.html/ Northern Woodlands Magazine. The Place You Call Home. northernwoodlands.org/pdf/ University of Vermont Landscape Change Program. Date Created: Unknown. Date Accessed: March 19, 2013. www.UVM. edu/landscape/1927_flood/ Vermont Family Forests. 2000- 2011. 6 Mar. 2013 <http://www. familyforests.org> Wessels, Tom. Reading the Forested Landscape, A Natural History of New England. The Countryman Press, Woodstock, Vermont. 1997.

Personal Interviews: Adler, John. 12 Feb. 2013 Allard, Cliff. 26 Feb. 2013 Bowen, Mark. 6 March. 2013 Brooks, Chris. March. 2013 Clark, Robert. 21 March. 2013 Cooperman, Patrick. 19 March. 2013 Donahue, Brian. 19 Feb. 2013 Fish, Lincoln. 19 Feb. 2013 Forestry Focus Group. 13 Feb. 2013 Gagnon, Ken. 19 Feb. 2013 Guenther, Bill. 24 Jan. 2013 Hamilton, Dennis. 21 March. 2013 Hindinger, Susan. 22 Jan. 2013 Kittridge, David. 12 Feb. 2013 Levine, Lynn. 7 Feb. 2013 and 3 March. 2013 Morin, Doug. 7 Feb. 2013.

O’Keefe, John. Multiple dates, 2013.

Rivers, Mark. 26 Feb. 2013 Ross, Keith. 14 Feb. 2013 Wessels, Tom. 17 Jan. 2013.

Whitman, John. 7 Feb. 2013

The working landscape, with its evolving forest, has defined the Windham Region for centuries. Together these productive woodlands and the people whose livelihoods depend upon them have been important elements of the regional and even global economy. From these woods have come hardwoods sought after around the world. Yet Windham’s working landscape faces major threats from development, climate change, rising production costs, and global imports.

This report, prepared for the Windham Regional Commission, examines how the rural, working character of the Windham region might be maintained in the face of social, economic, and environmental trends. It presents individuals and firms who are finding new ways to thrive in the face of these challenges, and offers strategies to prepare now for future developments and to enhance the health and well-being of communities and woodlands across the region.

The Conway School is the only institution of its kind in North America. Its focus is sustainable landscape planning and design. Each year, through its accredited, ten-month graduate program students from diverse backgrounds are immersed in a range of real-world design projects, ranging in scale from residences to regions. Graduates go on to play significant professional roles in various aspects of landscape planning and design. Conway: Real World. Real Results.