Forestry Initiative
It is written in Genesis 2:15:
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
The one of the earliest instructions for humankind that occurs in the Scriptures is to assume responsibility for the stewardship of the land. The Iona House community has been blessed with 71 acres of biologically-diverse forest land. The tree species represented on the property include Douglas-fir, black oak, ponderosa pine, incense-cedar, sugar pine, Pacific madrone, and flowering dogwood. In an effort to be good stewards of this land, we now have a forestry team that is currently conducting a preliminary inventory of our forest. This team is led by Harlan Young, a Humboldt State University forestry graduate and a Certified Arborist, who began working in the forestry profession in 1986. He is being assisted by two forestry aids, Catherine (“Cat”) Young and Joshua (“Josh”) Brindley, whom Harlan has trained in basic forest sampling methods.
In contrast to industrial forestry, which prioritizes maximizing the yield of merchantable timber and forest products, our team is practicing what is called ecological forestry. Ecological forestry is primarily concerned with the perpetuation of healthy, diverse, and whole forest ecosystems. With this approach, the harvesting of timber is designed to mimic naturally-occurring cycles of disturbance and recovery, such as a low to moderate intensity lightning fire, followed the germination and growth of new vegetation. Such cycles not only promote the regeneration of trees, shrubs and forbs, it also helps prevent high concentrations of fuel that can cause high-intensity, catastrophic fires. However, environmentally responsible timber harvesting can also generate revenue for the land owner.
The manipulation of the forest environment should never be done without a plan that includes specific management objectives. Such a plan can’t be developed without a scientifically valid assessment of the current condition of the forest, which is the purpose of this forest inventory. A grid has been laid out consisting of 1/10th-acre plots which are roughly evenly-distributed throughout the entire property, providing a representative sample of the forest as a whole. The combined area of all of the sample plots will equal 14.2 acres, which is 20% of the entire 71 acres. Within each plot, the team identifies tree species, counts the number of trees, and measures the heights and diameters of merchantable-sized trees. With this data, the team can determine tree species composition and calculate forest density (the number of trees per acre), basal area (the square footage area that is occupied by tree trunks), and the volume of potentially merchantable timber. The tree height data also provides information about the forest canopy structure. All of this information is essential for making management decisions that are ecologically and economically sound.
What’s particularly unique about our forestry initiative is that the spiritual formation and health of the forestry team is just as important as the care of the land. Crew members take time out of their field work to participate in the morning, afternoon, and evening prayer offices, as well as special, Iona Community events.
There’s room on the team for more volunteer forestry aides! Anyone interested in gaining some knowledge and skills in forestry and desiring to contribute to the care of the land can contact Harlan by email at harlanyoung63@gmail.com.