So many thoughts on this, having been the office manager for a logging company for several years in my 20’s. Now, as a landowner with three heavily-wooded acres, I am on the other side of the line. There are pros and cons to each. We need forests, but we also need loggers. And, as you note, nature is relentless in coming back — and surprising us.
Our big invader here is bamboo. The power company came and cut an easement for line repair access and within 6 months of a beautifully clear easement, it is impassable with bamboo. I’m honestly angry about it, since they clearly saw the bamboo encroachment before they cut. They took the trees out that were holding back the tide and now the bamboo is on a runaway track to overtake everything else. And we have the responsibility now to manage that. It takes years to eradicate bamboo. Years of relentless cutting back, again and again and again.
But, like your rare trees and shrubs, and your salamander, one of the problems we face here is the near-eradication of the Bobwhite — a local bird, related to the grouse. It thrives in underbrush, usually underbrush that has grown back after forest fires or clear cuts. I used to hear them every day as a child. I haven’t heard one in years. What’s happening to all the underbrush? It’s either being managed out of existence, or it’s being clear cut and developed.
Again, I could write a book. We have a creek that runs through our woods and we have to be conscious of how we cut and maintain the trees so that we keep an adequate “swim buffer”.
Add to that, our property is in high demand here. We live in a rural, very poor county that is being gentrified little by little. Our county needs the commerce, the jobs, the tax revenue. 2/3 of our residents live below the poverty line, but watching all the trees come down on the main roadway is heartbreaking.
Thanks for the post. Sorry about the novel. 😄 Best of luck on the Bald.
How did you know I like novels best? Thanks for the comments and especially for your reflections on your own place. I'm so interested in the layers you've got going on; they resonate. I was just chatting yesterday with a creekside property owner who is dealing with invasive knotweed that is clearly coming from state-owned land just upstream, and the state is telling her she has to pay to have hers removed even though they haven't managed theirs... Bamboo is so gnarly, we're lucky here that it hasn't become widespread. I can only imagine the relentless cutting back you're doing.
"Swim buffer" -- I like that. Forest practices here require a creek / wetland buffer for salmon habitat. Those buffers end up being the heart of most forests.
And agreed about the economics of rural areas, there has to be a better way. Property values keep going up here (we're semi-rural and many commuters buy places here and work elsewhere, and our county as a whole has plenty of people and tax revenue) and the cost of property taxes alone forces some longtime families and land stewards to sell and move, as well as folks who aren't trying to work in top-wage jobs. (And then who do they sell to? Land flippers?) Development in and of itself doesn't have to be terrible; it's all about how it's done — just like logging. Are things scraped clean and sold into the commodity market, or woven into the fabric of our place?
Slapdash thoughts at the moment... Thanks for your stories!
This is so beautifully written that I became smitten with this piece of ruined land . It’s easy to see that it has fallen into the right stewardship. It will repay you with the beauty that blossoms from the tended earth.
Thank you for sharing your intimate relationship with it, Chris.
So many thoughts on this, having been the office manager for a logging company for several years in my 20’s. Now, as a landowner with three heavily-wooded acres, I am on the other side of the line. There are pros and cons to each. We need forests, but we also need loggers. And, as you note, nature is relentless in coming back — and surprising us.
Our big invader here is bamboo. The power company came and cut an easement for line repair access and within 6 months of a beautifully clear easement, it is impassable with bamboo. I’m honestly angry about it, since they clearly saw the bamboo encroachment before they cut. They took the trees out that were holding back the tide and now the bamboo is on a runaway track to overtake everything else. And we have the responsibility now to manage that. It takes years to eradicate bamboo. Years of relentless cutting back, again and again and again.
But, like your rare trees and shrubs, and your salamander, one of the problems we face here is the near-eradication of the Bobwhite — a local bird, related to the grouse. It thrives in underbrush, usually underbrush that has grown back after forest fires or clear cuts. I used to hear them every day as a child. I haven’t heard one in years. What’s happening to all the underbrush? It’s either being managed out of existence, or it’s being clear cut and developed.
Again, I could write a book. We have a creek that runs through our woods and we have to be conscious of how we cut and maintain the trees so that we keep an adequate “swim buffer”.
Add to that, our property is in high demand here. We live in a rural, very poor county that is being gentrified little by little. Our county needs the commerce, the jobs, the tax revenue. 2/3 of our residents live below the poverty line, but watching all the trees come down on the main roadway is heartbreaking.
Thanks for the post. Sorry about the novel. 😄 Best of luck on the Bald.
How did you know I like novels best? Thanks for the comments and especially for your reflections on your own place. I'm so interested in the layers you've got going on; they resonate. I was just chatting yesterday with a creekside property owner who is dealing with invasive knotweed that is clearly coming from state-owned land just upstream, and the state is telling her she has to pay to have hers removed even though they haven't managed theirs... Bamboo is so gnarly, we're lucky here that it hasn't become widespread. I can only imagine the relentless cutting back you're doing.
"Swim buffer" -- I like that. Forest practices here require a creek / wetland buffer for salmon habitat. Those buffers end up being the heart of most forests.
And agreed about the economics of rural areas, there has to be a better way. Property values keep going up here (we're semi-rural and many commuters buy places here and work elsewhere, and our county as a whole has plenty of people and tax revenue) and the cost of property taxes alone forces some longtime families and land stewards to sell and move, as well as folks who aren't trying to work in top-wage jobs. (And then who do they sell to? Land flippers?) Development in and of itself doesn't have to be terrible; it's all about how it's done — just like logging. Are things scraped clean and sold into the commodity market, or woven into the fabric of our place?
Slapdash thoughts at the moment... Thanks for your stories!
This is wonderful, and so applicable here across the water on Whidbey Island. I'll be sharing widely. Thank you.
Thanks John. Sometimes I wish we were an island like Whidbey... (we're 3/4s of the way there). Thanks for sharing the piece.
This is so beautifully written that I became smitten with this piece of ruined land . It’s easy to see that it has fallen into the right stewardship. It will repay you with the beauty that blossoms from the tended earth.
Thank you for sharing your intimate relationship with it, Chris.
Thanks Eloise. Much more to come from The Bald.
This was beautiful to read and so full of surprises. I too, would love to come help sometime!
I love this Chris. Leading with the complexity gives it so much heart and intrigue. I’d love to come help out sometime 💛
Fabulous piece Chris. I really enjoyed it. I was headed out to do a little brush cutting/firewood work already. Now I'm really fired up!
Stack that wood!
What a delightful read.
Bravo.
For the work you're doing and for the telling of it.