From Thickets to Thriving Forest_ A Forest Landowner’s Restoration Journey

I like doing work that I can see the immediate rewards of. When I was a scientist, it would take sometimes decades before you'd see fruits of your labor. But actually going out into the woods and doing any kind of forestry work is immediate gratification. When we first moved here, I really had no concept at all about the forested areas. I got a letter in the mail that asked me to describe a forest management plan and also ask what we were doing to maintain the forest. And so at that point, I really didn't have an answer for them. When I decided that I wanted to focus on the forest health here, I knew quickly that I was going to need quite a bit of help. And so that's when I reached out to West Multnomah County Soil and Water Conservation. I met Laura Taylor. She was instrumental in front-loading the restoration work. It was just like a very dense, young forest with a lot of invasives. We started off by developing a forest stewardship plan. We could barely even get into the forest. It was blackberry thick as the English hawthorn, which has inch-long thorns. We were battling pushing through that. Laura introduced me to folks at NRCS, and that established a more long-term working relationship. They helped then provide some funding for the project. We matched the remaining funding needed, 50 percent, with the landowner. And he was also able to do a lot of his match just with his own labor. Really getting to know each of these people and their stories. They don't come to us without wanting to do some sort of conservation effort for their property. These are long-term projects with long-term results. It's really wonderful to be able to help them invest in their land. It's been a huge transformation. What we see now is open space on the ground with individual native trees and shrubs coming up. And just a huge diversity. What we've been doing out here has been a great success. I think we've planted thousands of trees. The canopy's starting to come together. It's so important to be engaged and to really be connected to your property. And just also taking the time to step back and think about the big picture. What does a healthy forest look like? Where do we need to go to get to that? I need to remind myself of the motto to work smarter, not harder. So just a desire to see these things grow and eventually take over the land as a great big forest. NRCS is located in every single county across the U.S. We're there to help, so just call us up. Come in. We'd love to talk to you.