Thursday, December 20, 2007

Woodland Solution to FIRE!

Woodland Stewardship Institute
presents:
The Woodland Solution to
F I R E !
There is only one real solution the fire problem in the forest. Trees and Mulch. Or in other words leave a forest behind. Yes trees are the answer, but mulch is the solution. This needs to be done through selective logging without burning. Often controlled burning is a valuable, beneficial tool. However, many woodlands need careful management and the last thing they need is more burning. Logging slash chopped and scattered [Mulched] on the ground, can be burned safely and beneficially if ladder fuels are minimized and it's done in the right weather. Mulch retains moisture, and only the surface burns. This of course has many benefits. Seed germination, nutrient changes, certain weed eradication, fire prevention etc. Remember though, weeds and trees germinate and thrive in bare mineral soil. When trees start to mature though, they need mulch. Naturally they produce their own mulch, but it takes roughly 100 yrs. to produce 4 inches of duff! Generally 4 inches of duff will absorb all the water of a 100 year storm! Forests that have been overcut or clearcut often seem to grow back very well [Along with the weeds and the brush.] but if you get out of your car and look close you will usually find little or no duff. Extracting 2nd and 3rd growth timber and not leaving the mulch [fiber] behind creates deficiencies and long term problems. You can actually build up a forest and restore nutrients with good mulching practices.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Woodland Supply Inc.

Woodland Supply Inc.
assoc. of
Woodland Stewardship Institute
Wood & Steel Inventory
Supplying the Basic Pioneer Trades
Woodworking, Carpentry, Arboriculture, Silviculture, Blacksmithing & Leather craft.

Custom Lumber and Hardwood. Your original source for WSI Qualified Wood. We have the largest capacity mill (to our knowledge) in the world (along with it's predecessor in Portland Oregon). We can cut logs up to 8 foot in diameter and 32 feet long! Also, we can cut forks and curves into slabs bigger than a pickup and trailer! Then of course we can also cut beams of any size up to 32 feet long.
More about this later.


Tuesday, December 4, 2007

World Wide Community Tree Fund

Woodland Stewardship Institute
presents
The World Wide Community Tree Fund

The reasoning behind our tree fund:

This is one part of another WSI program, "Woodland Social Intervention". The other parts are the WSI Deacon's fund, which co-ordinates with the Woodland Scouts International, and the WSI vocational, rehabilitation training program.

Countless large beautiful trees, that would take 50 to 100 or more years to replace, are being ruined by improper trimming or neglect, or terminated because of failures - due to improper trimming or neglect. Many of these trees have, fortunately, never been trimmed. Some of the best specimens have survived naturally with little or no care. However, this is a very small minority. Many more trees would survive with fewer and less damaging failures with proper, periodic maintenance. The best thing about neglected trees a lot of times is they have all their lower limbs. This gives them a low profile. Humans tend to hack the lower limbs off so they can waste money on shrubs and turf. Then they wonder why tree climbers are so rare![Can you imagine kids growing up never climbing a tree?] Nature will often knock the top center out, with wind or lightning, and then the tree begins to spread. A lot of these grand survivors belong to people who have no budget for such things. Consequently, they succumb to the low bid butcher, or they're talked into removing the tree under false pretenses. Often because no one there can climb it or trim it. Anyone can cut a tree down. How many things they wreck or how many people they kill might be another story. The people that own these trees need to be informed, and their trees need to be nominated to the WSI World Wide Community Tree Fund. Hopefully before it's too late!
This is a revolving fund. The customer pays 25% or 1/3 down if they can. Then they pay whatever payments they can manage. Some people have only been able to pay $100 down and $50 a month. Yes, you guessed it. Some can't pay anything. Regardless, the trees are preserved. The owners never get a bill and are never turned over to a collection agency! [These should be illegal! You should collect your own bills.] No one likes the former or the latter. Instead. They receive a note from WSI with our site address. Here they can see [by their cross reference number, for privacy] how much they have contributed and how much has been absorbed by the Tree Fund. Then hopefully someday their name will appear in the "funds donated column".
Excess funds are used for worthy projects in conjunction with the Woodland Scouts or the WSI Deacon's Fund, and possibly the WSI Vocational Rehabilitation Training Program.
This could include pruning in the parks or cemetarys that are often neglected because of budget shortages.
Trees belong to everyone. This is an opportunity for anyone to contribute to a real practical tree fund that works.

Monday, December 3, 2007

World Wide Wood Registry

Woodland Stewardship Institute presents WSI Quiet Wood
The Most Wonderful Wood in the World
The WSI World Wide Wood Registry

This is a simple, sensible, qualified wood program that anyone can use. You can be a part of our World Wide Wood Supply of Integrity! There are two major objectives to our qualified wood program.

Objective #1. Protect, preserve and promote people.
Quiet means; small, careful, qualified, independent arborists and horse loggers trained the old fashioned proven apprenticeship way. Quiet is about people and jobs. Not more labor saving dangerous noisy machinery. [Almost all accidents are equipment related] Safety programs, conservation programs, etc. are incomplete, inadequate, ineffective etc. unless they begin to minimize equipment. A true safety program like anything else in life, has to be based on the first and greatest commandment.
Safety Rule # 1
It's not about money. If making money is your first priority, you have your head on backwards and your just making noise.
Safety Rule # 2
It's not about production. Volume should not be your first consideration. "Work without faith is vanity". "A good name is worth more than gold". Accidents happen when your going too fast, things get out of control, your too tired, and there's too much noise. You can get more work done when you have your head on straight and your thinking. Consider what your doing, consider Nature, consider others, consider what time it is. "There's nothing wrong with being a workaholic as long as you know how to tell time!" M.St.G.
Safety Rule # 3
It's not about equipment. I know machinery and technology have been a great American tradition that has put us ahead of the world. However, "Knowledge without faith is dangerous."
"When America ceases to be good she will cease to be great."? Albert Schweitzer said, "Man has lost the capacity to foresee and forestall, he will end by destroying the earth." God says "He is going to come and destroy them that destroy the Earth."How do you compete without the latest greatest equipment? We can be very competitive climbing trees with ropes. There is a good share of the tree work that is too small, too tall, or too inaccessible for expensive lift equipment. The only way a bucket truck can compete with good climbers is to hack and chop and run. It's not practical to do quality work with a bucket. They're always cutting too many lower limbs, cutting things out of their way, wrecking the lawn, compacting the soil, breaking the roots, etc. etc.
It's the same with horse logging. If you want to promote the best quality logging, just write the specs. There's no machine that comes close to the efficiency, versatility, economy, and reliability of horses. Even if you had a machine that could skid 2000 lbs.- or more with the right arch, and negotiate a 3 foot wide trail. What would be the point. You can be sure it would be expensive, smelly, ugly, greasy, dirty, unaffectionate, always breaking down, and NOISY!

Objective #2. Protect, preserve and promote the resource.
What are the rules? Same as above. Plus, we want to remember tree safety and health, forest health and diversity, and of course, fire prevention. Quiet means working with Nature. Quiet means knowing that Nature is the best teacher. Quiet means leaving a healthy, natural, diverse forest behind. Quiet means knowing how to climb a big tree and taking the time and effort to trim the whole tree for safety, health and strength. Cutting trees for no good reason is the loud sound of bad science. Cutting trees just for money is profanity! If we are going to create a demand for Qualified Wood, we have to understand and abide by the simple, basic, best criteria. Otherwise it would not be "The most wonderful wood in the world."