Meet the Stewards Balancing the Needs of People and the Forest

Learn how markets for low-grade wood are integral to sustaining the wide range of forest benefits.

Forest are complex; so is their stewardship. In the “From Woods to Warmth” series, four people share their knowledge and what they have learned on the connection between healthy forests, wood markets, recreation, and wildlife, and keeping forests sustained for generations.

Explore the series

Wood Heat is Integral to Forest Management

A resilient and intact Northern Forest is essential for mitigating climate change, and the forests of northern New England and New York grow at twice the rate that they are harvested. Using local, renewable wood products are better for consumers’ carbon footprint than plastic or imported materials. Strong wood markets also provide incentives to landowners to keep their forests out of development, which can capture and store carbon for decades to come.

But what’s essential to keep the full spectrum of forest products flowing? Low-grade wood markets.

Wood heat helps landowners make the most of their natural resource, ensuring every part of a tree is put to good use. Around 40-60% of a timber harvest is made up of low-grade wood – branches and tree tops, diseased or crooked trees, and other wood – that is not destined for furniture, lumber, or other higher-value wood products.

Chuck Loring, the Director of the Department of Natural Resources for the Penobscot Nation, shares how forest stewardship and access to low-grade markets such as those for wood heat help protect the land for his daughter and others to come. “We manage the forest on a 100-year rotation. Wood heat is an important tool for us to access lower-value trees that we don’t have great markets for normally.” Watch Chuck’s video.

What happened to low-grade markets? In the 1980s, the pressures of the global economy and rising land values prompted large corporate landowners with local mills to sell their land holdings. In the following decades, many pulp and paper mills closed across the region, leaving a large gap in the low-grade wood market and uncertainty on how to use this wood.

Now, using low-grade wood for modern wood heat closes some of this market gap and has the added benefit of providing consumers with an efficient and renewable way to heat.

Honoring the Many Complexities of the Forest

“Our forests provide for healthy people, for recreation, healthy economies,” Matt Langlais, the County Forester for Caledonia and Essex Counties in Vermont, said. When he creates a forest management plan, Matt takes into account the complexity and science of the local forest ecosystem. He balances that with the values and needs of the landowner such as Walter Norman of the Northeast Kingdom. Watch Matt’s video.

Walter allows his land to be used as part of the Kingdom Trails mountain biking network in East Burke, Vermont. Public access to forested land is a tradition in the Northeast, yet many of the people who take advantage of enjoying public and private forests do not understand that harvesting is a tool that helps generate the wide range of benefits that forests provide.

“My principal objective is to try and keep a vibrant forest and it’s been a learning process for me because when I first bought, I thought logging equals bad. I’ve learned so much from guys like Matt and seen the results.” Watch Walter’s video.

Cutting openings of different sizes in the forest actually creates new habitats that wildlife such as birds and deer enjoy and thrive in.

“We are seeing amazing rebounds in the numbers of birds that have had declining populations as we begin to manage the forests more actively,” said David Mears, Executive Director of Audubon Vermont and Vice President of the National Audubon Society. “Taking trees out doesn’t mean you are hurting the forest. In fact, it means you are creating the conditions that wildlife need.” Watch’s David’s video.

Explore the rest of the series and more at feelgoodheat.org.