Better forestry in Washington: Ecological Forest Management

"This is not a forest. It's a plantation." Hear how we can better manage our forests in our short film featuring forestry expert Dr. Jerry Franklin.
November 14, 2022

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The health of our rivers, salmon runs, wildlife, and communities is intimately tied to our forestry techniques — especially as the impacts of climate change become more pronounced. By protecting mature forests and restoring dense tree plantations through active management, we can make forests and watersheds more resilient to climate impacts while improving wildlife habitat, expanding recreational opportunities, increasing carbon storage, and supporting jobs in the woods.

RE Sources is excited to announce the launch of our Future Forests Campaign. The primary aim of this campaign is to promote ecological forest management (or ecological forestry) as a tool to enhance the climate resilience of the Nooksack and Lake Whatcom watersheds.

What is ecological forestry?

We’ll let preeminent forest ecologist Jerry Franklin explain, who pioneered this innovative approach to forest management, in our new short film below!

As Dr. Franklin describes in the video, ecological forest management offers an alternative approach to industrial logging. Instead of managing forests as crops, ecological foresters treat forests as complex ecosystems that provide numerous benefits. Ecological forestry is not a “lock it up” approach to forest management, but instead requires a hand-on approach to restore forests from intensive clearcut-plantation forestry.

Ecological forestry creates rich habitat, as well as woodClimate change will further increase winter flows and decrease summer flows in our region, meaning we’ll have way too much water when we don’t need it and far too little when farmers and fish need it most. Research suggests that ecological forestry can increase the resilience of our watersheds to these impacts while producing high quality logs and sustaining jobs in the woods.

Want to learn more about ecological forestry? Watch our new video with Jerry Franklin and learn about the Future Forests Campaign.

 

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