Tom WardHE FOREST IS THE SOURCE of unlimitedbenefits. Societies that understand the valueof the forest will be more sustainable. Social

Forestry therefor is the culture of forest people. Theculture that embraces social forestry lives in closeidentity with the local slopes, glens and drainages.

Social Forestry is a woven cultural fabric. Thewell-managed ecoforest delivers a surplus of multi-ple products to a culture that uses those benefits indaily life. The economic life is as diverse as the eco-logical mosaic of the forest. The community ofhumans organizes a flow of festivals, rituals andhousehold practices around seasonal work and mate-rials. The culture’s ethics and principles support asustainable interaction with the forest.

Developed social forestries exist within tradition-al villages. Such seasonal celebration and product-rich life grow over generations. The practices arelearned in context and taught by stories and appren-ticeship. Both the human culture and the forest con-text are stable, resilient and healthy. Modern ecolog-ical sciences have taught us how the forest works.Can we learn to apply the same principles to our eco-nomic and community lives? The possibilities areboth culturally enchanting and rationally intriguing. The vision

Imagine how it could be. As we learn to livewith a forested region we find the best life in cele-brating the multiple wonders of local knowledge.Our domestic life is rich with goods from the woods;our community life is full of festival and celebration.Most of our building materials, food, medicine,crafts and decoration are supplied by forest workers,local farmers, land stewards, materials brokers, craftsguilds and markets. This forest culture integratesforest, towns and farms. Travelers delight in passagethrough regions each different in style relative to thedrainage basin culture based on local technologiesand resources.

We live in small, well-designed and fire-resistantcottages built with poles, sticks, straw, rock and clay.

The Cultural Ecology of Multiproduct SilvicultureSocial Forestry in the Shasta Bioregion

T We use kitchen implements and furniture from theforest. We eat a diet high in seeds, nuts and fruit, fishand game. We drink tonics and brew beverages fromflowers, fruit, bark, twigs and roots. Our local cos-tume is colored with our favorite natural dyes. Thewell-tended forest co-evolves with our stewardship.The human-integrated forest reaches the highest lev-els of diversity, resilience and stability – clear cuts,plantations and wilderness have simplified floras andfaunas in comparison. The springs and creeks areyear round again and the water tables are refilling –we have drought proofed our watersheds. Wildlife isplentiful and managed for over population. Our chil-dren love the stories and pilgrimages of the specialseasons

Every mansion in the forest/farm interfaceemploys and houses a small seasonal village of itin-erant bodgers and herb and seed folks (bodgers arecraftspeople who make turned and carved furnitureparts from small wood and coppice sprouts.Resident rangers and to the covenants of perennialstewardship and repeatedly practice rememberingthrough ritual and celebration. Evolving social forestry in the Shasta bioregion

In the mid 1980s Guy Baldwin, Michael Crofootand myself talked extensively in Davis, California(near the mouth of the Sacramento River), aboutprospects for social forestry in Shasta. We imagineda “necklace” of mid elevation forest properties strungaround the headwaters of the Sacramento River.These could be occasional access areas without per-manent development. An itinerant crew would rotatethrough the properties with seasonal work called forby the specific circumstance. Ultimately these dis-cussions led Michael to publish a pamphlet aboutinoculation strategies for nursery and farm and Guy(then publisher of the PC Activist) to write a seminalarticle about seasonal and long-term opportunities forsocial forestry (Volume IV, No. 3, August 1988).Guy managed to settle in a foothills olive orchardand Michael went off to New Zealand. I went back

This article appeared in The Permaculture Activist, Issue #56, May 2005

to Ashland after leaving D-Q University (1986) andfinishing my book, Greenward, Ho! (1990).

In the early 90’s, I sat in on discussions with theAshland Watershed Stewardship Alliance aboutwatershed restoration and management possibilities.A unique 1929 memorandum of understanding thatgives say in US Forest Service management of thealmost 10,000 acres. However, the political processwas slow. process was slow. The unemployed scien-tists at AWSA looking for grants had more patiencefor endless meetings than I. Yet, watershed councilsin Oregon, with the support of the Governor’s office,have improved salmon habitat with srtreamsideshade plantings and riparian corridor assessment.

We had better luck with the SiskiyouPermaculture Resources Group (SPRG, “sprig,” ourlocal club), with the apprenticeship program at Tom’sGarden Cottage (TGC) and with the WildernessCharter School (WCS) at the Ashland High School.SPRG applied to the Ranger District and took stew-ardship arrangement for up to 8 miles of UpperTolman Creek Road near Ashland. Up to six TCGapprentices learned woodcrafts, built prototypes, didassembly at a local bird house and feeder factory and

worked the Tolman roadside with the WCS. TheWCS used permaculture as a core curriculum (stillgoing strong) and designed and developed the strawbale classroom grounds with a vernacular aestheticcreated by fencing and natural building usingDouglas fir poles and willow wands harvested toreduce fire hazards along Tolman Road. A SouthernOregon University intern also documentedPermaculture at the WCS during this period (ChrisRunge, 2002).

In the late ‘90s we installed a semiformal gardenat 117 High Street with woven Scouler willow gatesand fences and with madrone and Douglas fir arborsand other classic Permaculture elements. (See pho-tos below.) The Oregon State Univ. MasterGardeners Program toured the site twice. TCG (0.2acres near downtown) developed for seven years andis documented by a master apprentice’s thesis (TGC,Jacob Squirrel, 1999), a half hour made for TVvideo, and an instructional slide show. In addition,80 acres on Elk Creek above Trail, OR was docu-mented for government forestry subsidy with an eco-logical forestry plan containing social forestry ele-ments (Elk, Dancing!, 1999). Organic farms in

Scouler willow fence at 117 High Street

southwest Oregon have increased their use of wind-breaks, woodlots and hedgerows. The SouthernOregon Woodcrafters Guild has annual shows withmany native woods cut, turned, joined and polished. Wildcrafters and cattle

Wildcrafters have continuously harvested medici-nal herbs from the forest. The best aboriginal dig-ging grounds were quickly cultivated or grazed bycolonists, leaving only tattered stands of edible andmedicinal native plants. Back country ridges wherelarge mining camps sat are still empty of all wildfoods, medicinals and teas. In the mid ‘70s,Southwest Oregon Herb Association (SWOHA)organized many organic herb business pioneers andset a tone of discussion that invited ethical wild-crafters to the region.

Unfortunately, in the early 90’s, after twodecades of renewed harvesting, traditional and fami-ly patches were increasingly found stripped by unin-vited, unsustainable takings. A local herbalist inGrants Pass had trained folks to harvest big and sellwholesale on the global market. This most oftenmeant less than one dollar a pound to the harvesterand led to voracious harvesting. Many native plantsare endangered in this region so very careful stew-ardship of harvesting is necessary. Only sacred tradi-tional practices are appropriate in wilderness.Almost all medicinal herbs should be farmed. Wehave many successful herb farms in southernOregon.

Invasive annuals are most often Mediterraneanendemics and although potentially useful for coloniz-ing disturbed soils should eventually be replacedwith well-implicated native perennials (i.e., thosehaving multiple inter-species connections). On theother hand, not only are these European “weeds”readily available, but there is long knowledge oftheir use. Thus we are looking at harvesting yarrow,mullein and St. John’s Wort on the Tolman roadside.By principle (see below), we might stick to value-added herb processing (leaving most carbon andnutrients in the forest) and to transitional farming ondegraded lands with pioneer herb crops such as theseuseful “invasives”.

Of course, the cattle consume the most forage.Federal grazing leases are notoriously cheap and usu-ally destructive, but cattle can serve ecological pur-

poses. If we gave all cattle full-time human over-sight, constantly moving them to prevent overgrazingand water-source fouling, their grazing could be ben-eficial. The herbalists could precede the grazers andhigh-grade for seeds, flowers and herbs. Rangerscould monitor use and flag areas to be left alone. Nonprofits and – Profits?

Meanwhile, several local nonprofit entities haveemerged. Lomakatsi Restoration Forestry has donemajor tree and shrub plantings and has done industri-al forest work in slash-and-burn fuel reduction (nec-essary emergency procedures, government subsi-dized). They also have a natural-built housingdemonstration on a covenanted land trust. Theirtightly-knit crew does public fundraising, but theirpromised federal program funds were recently cut.Their ongoing training in indigenous fire manage-ment and proscribed burning is heroic and inspiring.They demonstrate big success by still being togetherand busy after at least a decade.

The wilderness preservationist nonprofits used todismiss utilitarian and indigenous interests andprotested all harvesting, but have come aroundrecently. The interesting but now defunct RougeInstitute for Ecology and Economy made a braveattempt to organize and publicize green certification,endangered species management, forest industry dis-placed worker retraining and alternative forest prod-ucts. The lack of a good sorting-yard system andefficient brokerage proved economically crippling,but mixed-species log-truck loads were sorted to sin-gle-species long-distance loads taken to special millsup north. Manzanita bird perches (twisty, smoothred branches) were sent nationwide to zoos and col-lectors. Portable computer-aided sawmills weredemonstrated. Locally-processed flooring from var-ious species is still brokered in region with greencertification.

Early in this decade there was a stir of interest inbusiness approaches to Social Forestry. First a teamassociated with the University of San Francisco triedto organize a group of local social foresters to man-age fuel reduction crews in Southern Oregon (werefused). There was federal money promised andwe might have found economic rewards through sub-sidy. This new business eventually ended up hiringdisplaced workers at low wages, undercutting

already-existing local crews. Then there were meet-ings with a lawyer and a CEO-in-waiting to form acompany (Willow Works) and finance multiple-prod-ucts forestry with venture capital. Willow coppicefor furniture, basketry, fencing and privacy screenswas our best shot, with other products to be devel-oped. However, much upfront research and businessplanning is necessary for such an enterprise, espe-cially if one does not have an immediate moneymak-er to fund business expansion. The CEO quicklypulled out.

The sociopolitical realm is now oriented towardconservative rights of primogeniture (e.g., first comefirst serve water rights) and private property to thedetriment of general community health. Ahelpful transition might be to declare ecologi-cal opportunity zones and enable them witheco-rational covenant development codes, tax-free barter, local currencies, catastrophichealth care coverage, social arrangement tol-erance and local oversight of forest planning.As so much of the Shasta region is in publicor absentee landlord ownership the initialarrangements might be by stewardship con-tracts with rights and restrictions enumerated.

A slow and piecemeal buildup of localentrepreneurial businesses is proceeding andthis would benefit from a more coordinatedeconomic development. The State of Oregonhas a buy-in-state website to connect com-merce. A Shasta region organization couldfacilitate trade and certification of ecological-ly-harvested multiple products. For socialforestry to be better established aroundShasta, a coordinated effort will be necessary.The inter-institutional meetings so far haveonly opened the discussion. The next stepwould be a conference with a call for papersand documented experience. An arena forsuch a conference could be prepared with thedisplay of maps, posters and story boards tosupport a design process. Good facilitation isincreasing available as folks learn whole-sys-tems approaches. The support of variousNGOs and activists is available if asked anddirected. Indigenous peoples can offertremendous knowledge and example.

The challenge is to positively envision a

social forestry in present and future times. We muststudy the traditional human forest cultures and useecological and whole systems sciences to map thepossibilities. Then we can inspire the various mod-ern institutions and interests to arrange a new/oldforestry that feeds the needs of the forest and thehuman culture. Spokes Chart for Willow Works Proposal

The social forestry bubble diagram below showspossible resource streams between forest, town, andassociated educational, commercial, cultural, andwoodscraft entities. It is a map of possibilities.

SummerSeasonalCamp inForest

Sorting Facility

Small Wood Mill

FORESTCamp ServicesHousekeeping

Education - Summer SeasonJob TrainingWorkshopsPresentations

Compost

CraftsForest Crew

Herb Proessing

FUEL REDUCTIONHardwoodsThinningHigh PruningWILDCRAFTING

HerbsMushrooms

ONGOING PRODUCTIONCopicingSeedingSelect LoggingWildcraftingTransport Bulk M

aterials

NONPROFIT GROUPBring these entities

together geographicallyRun educational programsMarket educational programsMarket added value of eco-products in general

Certification & StandardsResearch & DevelopmentSponsor CouncilsCultural Activities

Education-Winter SeasonWorkshopsApprenticeshipsClasses

SALES & MARKETINGEco-products

TOWN

Hardwood FurnitureFlooringPaneling

MoldingLog Furniture

CraftsCompost

Charcoal

SOCIAL FORESTRYNotes by Melanie Mindlin

The Field Workflow andProducts tableat rioht shows asequence of work in the forestover two years and illustratesthe products and timinginvolved in manifesting thesepossibilities on the forestry side.Workers in the woods mustdeliver harvested materials sea-sonally to craftspeople and smallmanufacturers. To work on thesocial side, business and educa-tion must inform and supportboth consumers and workers.To set something like this inmotion is logistically daunting.Parts may stand for a while asseparate businesses, but not sus-tainably. Mashalling such a sys-tem to task would take unani-mous consent through counseland dedication of all parties. Allentities meet in council to shareinformation and administer cer-tification of sustainable prac-tices. Local culture celebratesseasonal specialties and vernac-ular aesthetics (the beauty, color,pattern and tastes of the placewhere you live).Some Principles for Shasta Social Forestry

I recommend the following specific ecologicaland process principles for sustainable forestry aroundShasta. Include these guidelines as covenants instewardship contracts, as priorities in research andeducation and as requirements for certification ofproducts that claim sustainable origins and processes.Below each principle are examples of compatibleactions and ideas.v Export at most the net yearly solar income in car-

bon. We need all forests accumulating carbonbecause of global warming. We can improvealmost any soil by increasing the humus content.Forests are more stable with carbon sinks in theform of big logs that hold water and soil life dur-ing dry times. Some forests cycle carbon into thesoil with fungi and soil life (those with steady

seasons of moisture) and some forests are firedependent, where the excess carbon is periodical-ly burned off into the atmosphere. If the fire isnot catastrophic and stays on the ground, in theunderstory, many nutrients are cycled back intothe soil and only some are lost to the air. This isreferred to as a “cool burn”. ~ Export as little carbon as possible. Single tree

harvesting for high value and milling on-site withportable saw mills to helps us export less carbonthan the yearly solar income replaces. This sup-ports water sponging and mushroom cultivationwith the sawdust and off cuts. Export productssuch as extracts, seeds, mushrooms, flowers,resins, fruit and value-added fine woodworkingfrom the forest. Import clean carbon from marketvisits back to the woods for forest composting.

Willow Works Project Field Workflow And ProductsNotes by Tom Ward 29n September 2002, Ashland Oregon

PROJECT AREA–Private and public lands in the “INTERFACE”, especially along roadsand firebreaksPROJECT GOAL–Stable and productive “old grpwth” canopy or overstory, able to beunderburned and/or intensively managed

WORKFLOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PRODUCTSA. INITIAL ENTRY—after scoping and flagging (first early winter)

1. remove ladder fuels—high pruning2. lop and scatter fine dry fuels3. thin Douglas fir stakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SAILS, SHORES FOR HURDLES4. prep hardwood stools for coppice5. select small hardwood logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .FURNITURE, BUILDING MATERIALS6. shred greenwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .COMPOST7. select mushroom inoculation logs . . . . . . . . . .MUSHROOM INOCULATION LOGS8. select culls from 4,5 and 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CHARCOAL9. inventory threatened & endangered species . .SEEDS

B. SECOND ENTRY (first summer and fall)1. inventory pharmeceuticals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HERBS2.thin coppice sprouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .BASKETS, FENCES3. build trails, sort pads, camps, ponds . . . . . . . .INFRASTRUCTURE4. harvest from mushroom logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MUSHROOMS

C. THIRD ENTRY (second early winter)1. thin understory trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SMALL DIMENSIONAL LUMBER2. shred green slash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .COMPOST3. seed natives for future crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . .EROSION CONTROL4. wildcraft various species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HERBS, BARKS, SEEDS5. select culls from onsite milling . . . . . . . . . . . . .CHARCOAL, COMPOST

D. FOURTH ENTRY (second summer and fall)1. ongoing coppice sprout harvest . . . . . . . . . . . .BASKETS, FENCES, FURNITURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ESSENCES, COMPOST, BROWSERS

2. single tree select logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TIMBER, ONSITE MILLING LUMBER3. wildcraft various species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MULTIPLE PRODUCTS

~ Instead of firwood or charcoal, considermethane gas from Basidiomycetal shredded woodmoldering piles.~ After high-grading for specialty wood products,mushroom logs and millable logs, some knurlyshort pieces may be usefully kiln-burned for char-coal production, resin distillation and to capturethe heat and steam – in seasons with good air-cir-culation. Charcoal is easy to handle, is light-weight to transport (for fuel value), and burnscleanly for cooking and spot heating (helpful inthe smog-challenged winter valleys.~ Move towards “cool” broadscale burning torecycle nutrients and keep high species diversity.Small burn piles may be the first step whileexplosive fuel load is reduced.

v Close the phosphorus loop – The old soils of west-ern Shasta are severely leached of this criticalwater-born nutrient. The phosphorous returnedby spawning salmon is vital to forests. We mustcreate phosphorous-holding ecosystems to retainas much as possible. ~ Cool broadscale burning will help cycle someof the phosphorous held in organic matter.~ Take down hydroelectric dams that blockspawning and raise late-season water tempora-tures.~ Maintain wildlife corridors from ridge to riverfor nutrient dispersal.~ Capture town and farm effluent and keep the nettight.~ Keep plant ramial (twig and tip) and bark tis-sues on site (these are high in phosphorous).Composting nutrient rich forest materials forexport can only be an emergency plan while val-ley farms close their nutrient loops and replaceimported fertilizers.

v Close value and currency loops locally.~ Local currencies and barter recycle value in thecommunity. Dollars spent at global corporateoutlets leave the community without reuse.Reappraising true value reduces addictive con-sumerism and promotes real living. A life basedsecurely in family, place and social capital earnedthrough relationship is the universal and naturalhuman wish.~ Trade with other regions by barter also. Globalinfrastructure that supports knowledge-sharing

and communication as well as necessaryexchange of goods should be built with newtaxes on speculative currency exchanges andother non-productive gambling such as presentlydominates empires.~ Encourage travel for service and education, asit loops back to intercultural exchange and globalbiological cooperation.

v The secret to effective farming and forestry isperfect timing. Part-time remote stewardshipoften misses important windows of opportunityas the workers are not there at the right momentand ongoing observation is weak.~ Willow and other hardwood coppicing is bestdone December through February. Stumpssprout in the spring from nutrients stored overwinter in the root mass. The right tools and theproper thinning choices will make for better andbetter wand quality and longer lasting stools.~ Wildflower emergence and songbird nestinghappen in spring and we should minimally dis-turb the woods then – no chainsaw work. Leaveplenty of wildlife trees and no-go thickets in aclumped pattern in any woodlot.~ Burn timing is critical in Shasta. Broadscaleburning is best done in mid-winter after sufficientrain and before early flowering in February. Theart of proper burn timing is complex; it was oncethe province of aboriginal women’s societies.~ Compaction of delicate soils is also critical.The use of heavy machinery in the forest reducesreproduction success and recovery time. Pondand road building is best done in the fall after firehazard is lowered by early rains but before theground becomes soft. Woodlots and wholedrainage basins need road and skid trail systemslaid out on keyline principles with log landingsdoubling as detention ponds over winter. Snakesingle-tree selection logs out of the woods withlong cables and breakaway pulley blocks. Takebundled materials to roads with temporary chutesdownslope. Animal and human-drawn carts are agood use of biological intelligence. Bicyclesand carts as well as small walking tractors can beappropriate-scale technology on roadsides andalong fire break trails. All construction in theforest needs to be justified and stacked with mul-tiple functions.

v Use the right tool for the job.~ Broad knives in England vary considerably inshape from shire to shire. There are many tooldesigns that are specific to the species workedand the products to be created.~ Most wood chippers are hammer mills that cutacross the grain and leave chips that do not com-post easily. Drum shredders whose teeth dragsmall limbs across knives produce long fibershreds and are best for fungal moldering (as perJean Pain; www.motherearthnews.com/arc/2032/ or jour-neytoforever.org/biofuel_library/methane_pain.html).~Basidiomycetal (gilled fungi, especiallyPleurotus sps.) moldering piles are great for longterm water heating from coils embedded in thecompost, and for methane production with hood-ed piles. Bacterial composting is hot and needsturning and attention. The US Forest Servicedoes not allow “mulch piles” after having experi-enced spontaneous combustion. Forest compost-ing is best done by broadscale lop and scatterslash layout (the soil life gets it) or on fire safelandings near worker housing and craft shops.Finished compost is best used in restorationplantings and in forest nursery work or camp gar-dening.~ Japanese draw saws have proven very useful infalling and in uplimbing to remove fire ladders.Chainsaws are mostly useful for very large treefalling and log bucking and for fire wood buck-ing. Hatchets (short handled axes) are very dan-gerous and are replaceable with broad knives anddrawknives for small pole limbing and debark-ing. An industrial debarker leaves a rough sur-face on a pole that reduces the useable life, whilea drawknife leaves a smoother surface that shedswater better (especially necessary in tipi poles).

Meanwhile, Back at the Big PictureThis is a Taoist moment. The wise person pre-

serves knowledge while the empire falters. There ismuch work to do. The most promising economicopportunities are entrepreneurial and include intelli-gent use of waste or byproducts. Local naturalbuilding demonstrations that permanently houseworkers who are then stable enough to live culture-in-place are fantastic. Permaculture courses buildsome worknets and have supported some exciting

design experiments. On-going learning, librarybuilding, tool collecting, seed propagation, naturalart, Ecotopian cultural (and economic) fairs and fes-tivals, local clubs and other emerging knowledge ofplace already point toward a green future.

The social imperative is to cooperate in resourcestewardship. Many cultures have managed this forcenturies or millennium but many settlements havefailed for want of imagination or by reason of cultur-al taboo – the Norse in Greenland evidently died outfor want of eating fish! There is much hope forsome regions of Turtle Island if left largely alone orsupported by trade and knowledge sharing. Allregions that have been left destroyed or diminishedby civilization are eligible for restoration to somesort of green productivity or stability. Some brownlands will heal themselves and some will be poisonfor a very long time. Intact forest lands are espe-cially valuable and communities of the forest cantalk about sustainability and trade within the emerg-ing Precautionary Principle and the Natural Stepbusiness ethics.

Never before have so many trained and educatednon-violent social change activists been embedded sowidely. Never have so many international and localprogressive campaigns existed. Information accu-mulation and display along with skilled facilitation isincreasingly available to the conversation of biore-gional governance. Deep ecologists insist that thecounsel include all beings. Many parts of this bigconversation are in practice.

Modern ecological sciences teach us how the for-est works. Can we learn to apply the same principlesto our economic and community lives? The sciencefor assessment and interpretation is broad and thenecessity is upon us. The possibilities are both cul-turally enchanting and rationally intriguing as weconsider the challenges of global warming and thedecline of cheap petroleum. If we fail to engage thischallenge, the present business model (with lots ofcapital upfront and the vagaries of global trade) willgladly step in as resources continue to be squanderedfor a quick flush and then — goodby to the promiseof forever. However, many interests may soonmerge to push cultural development towards regionalself-reliance. With the support of existing local insti-tutions, we can nurture social forestry for thelongterm benefirt of forest and forest people.