Forest Management Guidelines

Forest management is a dynamic process where each practice triggers a feedback. Based on the feedback from the land, each consecutive management intervention is then reassessed and adapted. If we look back in the history and evolution of forests many patterns begin to emerge. Our management goals are not nostalgic, we do not plan on managing the landscape with a goal of returning to a snapshot in time, yet we will learn from the patterns and basic principles to manage for the forests of the future. The hope is to intervene as little as possible to reach our goals, and support the natural ability of forests to adapt and grow.

Principles not Prescriptions

-Change is the only constant

-Timber is a byproduct of a healthy ecosystem

-Ecosystem health is priority number one

-Harvest the least for the best response

-Grow the carrying capacity to levels beyond our expectations

-Never harvest beyond the excess; applies to all resources not just timber

-Plan for succession, but leave room for surprises

-Stable thresholds can be a slippery place to be

-Forests operate on a different timescale, embrace it

-Ask questions

-Wait for answers

How to Harness a Horse

How to Harness a Horse

Most of us descend from an agricultural society. We lust for freshly plowed ground. The smells and textures, the excitement of possibilities. What's getting in the way of fulfilling this desire? You just don’t know how to harness a horse. 

So you've figured out how to catch the horse. It’s a good horse. This horse has done the job many times before. You are the new one, the novice. So it should be easy right? 

You're standing in the barnyard with the lead line in your hand. Bill (the horse) is standing beside you patiently. 

What's next? You know you want to plow the field. You want to grow something, probably food. Maybe not, it might be fun to grow some sort of fiber. Where are you going to sell your crop? Maybe you will just give it away. Welp, that slippery slope just wasted 10 minutes, get to work.

What's next? Bill  has been waiting so patiently for you to figure out your marketing plan. You should probably find a spot to tie him up so you can get to work. The two of you walk into the barn. There is an old ring on a post. You suspect that is where horses have been tied in the past. It's kinda far from where you hung the harness up though. Maybe there is a spot closer, you go check it out. Yeah there is a sturdy old cow manger, but there is no ring. You have a bucket of old hardware in the shed.

You bring Bill back over to the first ring and tie him up. He is such a handsome fella. You can’t help but to stand there and be in awe of this 2000 lb gentle giant. He has a few burs in his mane so you take a minute to pull them out. Wow, that smell! When you get up close you can’t help yourself. The combination of sweat, grass, sunshine, and a few thousand years of coevolution just pulls you in. You put your face on his neck and breathe deeply. Now you are thinking, is it the smell? It almost feels magnetic. Is there another sense that you are not aware of, something you didn’t learn about in school? Ok, you are wasting time again, you have a field to plow.

What's next? Off to the shed. Well technically it's not a shed, it's an old chicken coop. You know the type. Long and low, oriented east to west so that the winter sun will shine in through the southern facing windows. These are very common. It wasn’t long ago everybody had a few hundred laying hens in their backyards. Eggs were aggregated and marketed to larger towns nearby. Now it is used for storage, looks like it has for at least 50 years. Before you step in to find that bucket of hardware you catch a glimpse of what this hen house looked like when it was used for its original purpose. You can picture a woman in a homemade apron tossing around some scratch feed for the hens after she lets them out into the morning sun. A few kids are doing the daily scavenger hunt for eggs. Something about picking eggs is addicting. Yeah most of the time they are in the nesting boxes where you expect them, but what other surprises await? Adults sometimes forget how fun it is to look for eggs. But kids, they are still smart. My mother once told me you are born knowing everything in the world, and through experience you slowly get dumber and dumber everyday. Sure feels that way standing here picturing kids hunting for eggs when you should be plowing the field. 

What’s next? That was easy. There was a ring and giant staple right on top of the old hardware bucket. Grab a hammer and head back to the barn. It was cool this morning, just above freezing, and the hardware is cold in your hands. It is good old iron, a bit rusty, but solid. For some reason rusty metal has a different feel when it is cold, almost like the years of experience have made it better at handling the discomfort. Bill is still standing patiently. Wow he sure makes this easy. You stop to give him another sniff, and to rub a bit of hay off his back. It's spring so he is shedding pretty heavy. You will give him a good thorough brushing before you get to work, but it feels nice to slowly slide your hand down his back. It seems like the hair along his spine is shedding the most. Your hand works almost like a squeegee. Sliding along with a big pile of course winter hair building up until it can't hold any more and it falls off. The shiny new spring hair underneath is so smooth. Bill is black, but it looks like there are spots in his spring hair? You have only had him for a month and he has been black the whole time. Huh? Stay focused, you are wasting your time again, you have work to do.

What’s next? Ok, you just need to go put this ring up near the harness and you can get to work. This old ring and staple were hand forged. Kinda crazy. It would have taken so much work just to blacksmith this thing to tie up a horse. Not to mention mine the ore. You could never justify putting that much time into such a basic task. Nowadays you can just drive down to the hardware store and buy one for $8.99. Well it's probably more now, inflation and all. Yeah, plus factor in the price of gas, and tires, shit! Insurance, taxes, ugghh everything cost so much. But at least it would be much more efficient in our modern day. Blacksmithing is cool but it seems so inefficient. How old do you suppose this ring is? Could easily be 100 years, or maybe even 20. It is well built. Stored in a dry spot it should last for a few hundred more years. Actually now that you think about it, there are a couple of rings just like this on the outside of the barn. They are lasting just fine. They are worn a little more from use, that was probably where the team would get tied daily when waiting in harness for the next job. Speaking of jobs, you are wasting your time again. Go hammer the damn staple in. 

What’s next? With all of this wasting time, the sun has shifted in through the barn door. It is shining on Bill’s black fur. Sure looks like he is taking a nap and really enjoying that mid morning sun. Wake up buddy we have a field to plow. Ok, the new ring seems like it is in a good spot. You grab a brush and get to work. Bill must be itchy from all of the shedding. He has been rolling around in the pasture and his right side is coated with mud. Your fields are on the clayey side of loam. When it dries it looks like pottery on his hair. Surprisingly it brushes off very easily. Turns into a fine dust and blows all around. Your hands turn grey almost instantly. The soil grabs a hold of the horsey smell, when the dust settles inside your nose it is pretty potent. You turn your head away to avoid sniffing in too much. Not as nice smelling as the horse itself. Something about the detachment of the smell from the body of the horse. You are proud of the dust and the smell, but you know if you went to grab lunch with a friend they would turn their noses up. But I bet if they were standing next to this horse they would agree with my daughter. “The best perfume is horse sweat!”

You spend a little too much time brushing and zoning out. Better get to work. The back legs are a bit more of a project. The combination of the spring mud and the fact that manure inevitably gets mixed in you have a perfect recipe for adobe. I have always been curious about those Masai huts in Africa. I heard they mix cow manure with straw to build the walls, suppose you gotta do what you gotta do. You brush down the back legs. Kinda awkward position and pretty heavily crusted on. In your rush you brush onto the chestnut. The chestnut is interesting. It seems like it would hurt the horse if you brush it too hard but it also has no nerves. It’s a vestigial appendage. Basically a dried up thumb that is no longer needed for horses, but it’s still sorta there. Although it is vestigial, maybe it has a subtle purpose. Nothing concrete. A distant memory of climbing trees. Kinda like growing up. Every year you just keep getting dumber and dumber, but once in a while you look at your bare feet and remember how important the feeling of mud between your toes once was. Stay focused you are wasting time again, you gotta get the brushing done, get the harness on, and plow the field!

What’s next? Bill seems to be enjoying everything up until now. Watching the field, napping in the sunshine, getting a brush down. He doesn't care if we get the field plowed. People often ask “do the horses like to work” I’m pretty convinced they are like the rest of us. They like to get dressed up for work, and they like to end the work day, everything in the middle; you do what you gotta do. It is a common misconception that when a horse is pushing hard, snorting, and just generally going for it; that they are enjoying the work. Most of the time these are just signs of anxiety. The natural instinct to power through and get past the pressure is a survival mechanism in the horse. Much more work will get done by the relaxed, almost lazy looking horse. They aren't wasting energy on excitement or fear, they are being intentional and efficient about their movements. Huh, what about us? Is it the same for humans? We pride ourselves in being hard workers and pushing up until the breaking point. Is that the most effective way to get the job done? There you go philosophizing again. Gotta get the field plowed. 

What’s next? Time to harness the horse. You started this process nearly two hours ago. Yes you want to get the field plowed but you know realistically today was about getting Bill in his harness for the first time since you bought him. I mean honestly you don't even know what you are planting or why. This harness came with Bill so you know it fits him. It is a different style than you are used to so it might take a minute to get it right.It is an old leather harness. You know you will probably replace it with a modern nylon, or biothane harness because it is practical. Leather is difficult to clean and doesn’t last as long. But damn! Look at the craftsmanship. This harness is probably over 20 years old and it is still in pretty decent shape. Bill is only 8 so you know other horses have used this harness. How many do you think? The previous owners must have taken the time to clean and oil it well for it to last this long. Man, back to the smell. These old leather harnesses smell amazing. There is something carnal about leather, humans have been using animal hides since we have had canine teeth. The connection is undeniable, is it the smell though? The feel is great too, and it is beautiful. I dunno. Truthfully though you just don’t have the time to do that. It was different back then, you will need a synthetic harness so that you don’t waste so much time with maintenance, it's just not practical.

It went on pretty well, Bill was patient, but something doesn’t look right. This harness came with Bill, but maybe he never actually used it, or maybe it just wasn’t adjusted right. He is pretty tall and it would probably be easier to loosen the Conway buckles on a sawhorse instead of a real horse. Grab a sawhorse from the chicken shed, take off the harness.

Who was Conway? These Conway buckles are a pain in the ass, but that's what makes them so elegant. They just plain work. Maybe there is a better option, something that is quicker to adjust.

Things are starting to look right. Time to slip on the bridle. The bit is cold hard steel. I mean, I wouldn’t want that thing in my mouth right now. Stuff it in your jacket to warm it up. It could take a minute so you walk over to the sunny doorway to take another look at the field. Wow the air outside is so fresh. You quickly get used to the dark and dusty barn, but you don’t realize what you are missing until you walk outside and breathe it in deeply. I wonder if Bill would feel the same way. He is all harnessed up, no need to stand inside anymore. Bring him out to those old rings on the outside of the barn. Wow what a perfect spot. At this time of the morning the sun hits it just right. Bill cocks his back leg to show he is content. Yeah buddy me too. Grab a bucket, flip it upside down, and lean against the warm barn wall. 

Technology

“noun: the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry.”

Technology is most commonly linked with the shiny bits. The invention of the automobile, computer, cell phone, and more recently AI. All definitions of the word technology refer to the application of knowledge for the benefit of humans; this is not exclusive to products that are designed to aggregate and accumulate money in the wallets of a few individuals. Humans are living breathing creatures that depend on nature to thrive.

There are plenty of debates around the timeline of humans on earth but let’s say modern humans began around 70,000 years ago; feel free to give or take a couple 10k years. The industrial revolution that started in the late 1700’s is roughly when our priorities shifted from technology for the “benefit of humans”, to technology that produces products that can be sold for a financial profit. We can all agree that healthy food and clean water are good for people, but there are plenty of sound arguments on whether or not cell phones are good for us. Roughly 70,000 years of technological development working with nature, and somehow around 250 years of greed can completely separate us from the source of our basic needs, mother nature!

It is time for a modern technological revolution. First let’s look at the common definition above that pops up in a quick Google search of “define technology”.

“the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry”. Starts off pretty good right, then you lose me on that last part. What the fuck? I picture some stuffy old corporate executive in a grey suite sitting at a board room table; “We need to add ‘especially in industry’, now the definition makes sense”.

I was listening to a recent interview with Charles C. Mann about the pre-Columbian Americas. His research into what is considered technology was very intriguing. He spoke about how in different cultures technology is defined differently. What they all have in common is the application of knowledge to the benefit to humans. Generations before us have tried many different ways to thrive on earth. Sometimes things worked out well, and sometimes they didn’t. We learn from these experiences and apply them to the future. This is technology. How do we then pass on these experiences to our future generations?

We are facing unprecedented changes in our natural environment. Some refer to this phenomenon broadly as climate change. This is a bit of an oversimplification that might be helpful to a political agenda, but it falls short with the average person. We are a keystone species on earth. We have an influence on nearly every section of our planet; ranging from the pollution of our air, to the planting of trees on a former mine. All of this is the application of knowledge; by definition, technology. We need technology to restore “our” natural habitat. There is a sweet spot between the tree hugger environmentalist who arrogantly separates humans from nature, and the greedy over consumptive modern man. Applying technology to restore healthy ecosystems heals natural cycles, and provides for the keystone species (you!).

I’m not nostalgic. I don’t want to go back to a certain time period. We are applying technology, knowledge that nature is an ever changing give and take. Our modern technology is the application of an ecosystem mindset. Aldo Leopold famously said “the first rule of intelligent tinkering is to keep all of the parts”. This is the elephant in the room, modern thinking asks “what good is that to me?”

Some examples of modern appropriate technology in ecosystem restoration are: techniques for direct seeding trees, forest fire fuels reduction strategies that plan for natural forest fires to take over, adaptive game management strategies that work on the timelines of nature and not bureaucracy. Yes some of these things will include shiny bits, but we cannot let the development of the shiny bits be the end result. The technology is the whole system.

Well the year 2022 is now winding down and we have a little over 70,000 years of technology to reflect on. What parts do we consider a success that we would like to pass on to the next generation, and what have we learned from our mistakes that we can now apply to new technology for the betterment of humans?

Put Carbon to Work

Carbon is the building block of life, not a waste product!

If carbon is the building block of life, then why are we trying to “lock it up in the ground”?

This narrative needs to change. We as living organisms seek life. Humans have an intrinsic desire to participate in biodiverse places; and it serves us well. As we have spread across the planet, we keep looking over the next ridge for our next garden of eden. This is natural. We need a diversity of plants and animals in a healthy ecosystem to thrive. This provides us with our basic needs. In most cases we have been eating ourselves out of house and home while we move. Now that we cover the entire planet, there isn’t another ridge to cross over.

Throughout the process of consumption we have created deserts, degraded water cycles, and emitted huge volumes of carbon into our atmosphere. This is amazing! One species can spread across the entire planet and completely change it in 2-3 hundred thousand years. It is just amazing! With about 8 billion people on earth we are seeing that we need to use our oversized brains and hands to increase the carrying capacity. Some of our consumption is a little overzealous; and for those of us that want our future generations to thrive on earth, we are pretty motivated to figure a few things out.

Atmospheric carbon is just one of many indicators of our overconsumption, but it gets a lot of press. Atmospheric carbon is fairly easy to measure and quantify its effects as a greenhouse gas. This has a lot of people thinking we need to get rid of it. This is misguided. If carbon is the “building block of life”, and we are trying rebuild life on our planet; then carbon is what we want.

Even in my tree hugger circles most people regurgitate the thought that carbon should be locked away in the soil. This is leading to some pretty brilliant ideas to solve the wrong problem. Yes machines built to capture carbon and jam it back in the ground are amazing feats of engineering; but carbon is the building block of life, not some plastic candy wrapper.

Is my math adding up? We want to restore life on earth + We have all of these “building blocks of life” floating around ready to work = Put the carbon to work. Carbon is not a waste product, it is the “building block of life”! Let’s put this shit to work!

I have witnessed both positive and toxic cultural shifts just by the reframing of a few words. When we put blame on something, and refer to it as a waste product; we are becoming toxic. If we look at our situation as an opportunity, (not just a financial opportunity you greedy bastard) it will completely change how we go about our next move. It is an extremely simple paradigm shift that will have huge cascading effects.

Let’s put this carbon to work building more life!

Impact Investments

Investing in regenerative systems; a hillbillies perspective.

Nature is cut throat. In nature life and death is an everyday reality. Organisms that go through life naively ignoring this fact, go extinct. Our society strives to hide these realities to our detriment. What is beautiful about nature’s harshness is that you know what to expect. It is comforting to know your place in the world.

The cycles of life and death are always creating change. Through the myriad of phase changes there is a flow of energy. This energy is natural capital. Much of the success of various ecosystems is based on the capacity to grow excess life off of the natural capital. Healthy ecosystems grow. Our exchange of dollars depends on this natural capital. Where we go wrong is when the fake man made capital (dollars and cents) outspends the capacity for our ecosystem to generate excess natural capital. Agricultural and environmental catastrophe is caused by us overdrawing on our principle.

One of the reasons that breaking sod in virgin prairie to grow crops, and logging in old growth forests is so profitable is because of the accumulated natural capital. It is 2023, none of us want to do this. From the investors all the way down the line to the people who work the land, most of us are good people who want to do good. So how can we make impact investments actually work?

This is where impact investment seems like a great option. Take some money and invest it into businesses that are trying to regenerate our planet. Sounds good. The catch is what do you want your return to look like? If you are investing into a system that has overdrawn on its principle and needs a full rebuild how are you going to make any real money back on your dollars spent? Well the truth is you might not. The wealth that we have accumulated was created on the backs of slaves and low wage workers, busting their asses to overdraw the natural capital. It’s going to take some time to rebuild the soils, ecosystems, and livelihoods of humans who steward these places. At this point if we don’t rebuild our principle, we are going out of business.

Do less with less!

As I said earlier; healthy ecosystems have the capacity to grow excess. Simply put, we need to keep our withdrawals in check and not overdraw on the principle. In the case of our crop land, we need to continue to invest in the ecosystem for many years before they will be healthy enough to grow any excess.

The hierarchy of return on investment needs to be flipped upside down for it to be an actual impact investment. This is going to take some time, generations of time. Instead of returns to investors as priority number one, it is the health of the ecosystem as priority number one.

The humans that work the land are part of the biodiversity in these ecosystems. We need to shift our priorities to include restructuring the profits to prioritize the people on the ground. As the system begins to grow excess, the workers that steward the land and make the everyday decisions need to get the initial returns on the investment. Then once the ecosystem is healthy, and the stewards of the land are happy and taken care of, we can talk about where the profits should go. Taking a lesson from nature, this is more of a wealth distribution model than a wealth aggregation model. The rising tide lifts all boats.

Better define regenerative.

Regenerative is greenwashed just like any other buzzword. We need to define our goals for regenerating our ecosystems. If the regeneration of one piece of land comes at the cost of another piece of land; ie limestone and peat moss mining, then it is not regenerative. There are stepping stones and compromises, but we need to acknowledge them and work towards eliminating these compromises with every step of the journey.

Invest in systems that have the capacity to grow excess.

Truly regenerative investments create returns off of natures ability to grow, not on the exploitation of previous growth. We need to target systems that naturally have the capacity to grow excess. Invest in systems that deploy the investment dollars into self replicating, perennial food crops. Grass fed livestock, trees, and shrubs have the capacity to sequester carbon and increase the biodiversity of the ecosystem just by doing what they do best. Trademarked and patented bullshit like Kernza are just a poorly thought out bandaid, and do not account for the ecosystem as a whole. Getting in a car accident in a Volvo station wagon is better than getting in that same accident with a geo metro, but how about you just slow the fuck down? A perennial grain is still an industrial mono-crop, minimal capacity to grow the biodiversity of an ecosystem, and a risky investment.

Invest in systems that create great jobs.

I can’t say it enough, humans are part of the biodiversity we are trying to grow. Ecosystems create culture not the other way around. When we have a healthy ecosystem that integrates the everyday human, we will have robust and uniques cultures that are worth passing on to future generations. I want to hear different stories, eat different foods, and experience different outlooks on life when I visit different regions and ecotypes.

There is no exit strategy.

As a living breathing creature our exit strategy is death. If you are making an impact investment so that you can cash out in a few years, that is not an impact investment. We are rebuilding ecosystems that generations before us have overdrawn. Profits can be made, but they need to work within the confines of the ecosystem’s ability to grow excess, and continue to reinvest on the principle to levels unknown to modern humans.

But what do I know? I’m not an investment banker, just a simple minded hillbilly.

Prove It!

“yeah I could do that too, if I had a bunch of money”

Ok prove it! Go get a bunch of money and try. This is where I lose most people.

Growing up wild in nature I never really took money very seriously. My family didn’t have much money. My parents fought over money problems regularly, but when their minds were clear they taught me to value my time over money.

At 8 years old I started to work. Not child labor, a job. I would garden for neighbors, and do odd jobs when they popped up. One of my favorite entrepreneurial ventures was getting paid 25 cents per bird to climb around in barns at night catching pigeons, but thats a story for another time.

I wasn’t forced into it, but if I wanted money to buy something I would go to work and make money. Simple as that. There are much harder challenges in life than making money and thats why I don’t take it very seriously.

This is why I get so frustrated when people use money as an excuse to why they are not succeeding. This is very common in agriculture. There is a broad demographic of “farmers”. From poor folks who think that farming is the only thing they can do, to rich gentleman farmers. Success can be had at all ends of this spectrum and it lays in your perspective.

Is it fear that keeps you from innovating or do you really think that money is the limiting factor? Yes, there are plenty of times when you need more money, but that isn’t what is holding you back.

Money is a man-made thing, but like all man-made objects and thoughts; it stems from nature.

Let’s look at the water cycle. Is water owned by any one person? No, water is constantly moving and interacting with the entire planet. Water that has been underground for thousands of years can emerge through a spring, evaporate, fall as rain, then be collected, bottled, and sold to a person on the other side of the planet; who then pees it out to continue its journey. Yes certain people can accumulate and hoard water thus preventing others from using it, but it is never really theirs. They posses it for a period of time, but it will inevitably move on in the cycle. Plug in carbon, minerals, air, molecules, money, whatever you want into this metaphor and possession seems like a childish concept that isn’t quite real. If you can agree to this, then why are you using money as an excuse to not innovate and change the world around you for the better?

There are people out there with money, and people out there with ideas, and people out there with skills, and people with various combinations of all of these things. I propose we get together and figure some shit out. Quit bitching about all of the things “I would do if……..” Go find the people who share your values and get it done. You will spill some water on the way, but the good news is someone else will have a drink on your behalf.

Lunch Break

Leadership comes in many forms.

Lunch break on your first day of work. You’re nervous, no one looks familiar; yet you feel welcomed. The morning was hard but you are already getting the hang of it. The “boss” works alongside offering support, and reminding you that it is more important to be patient, and safe than to be the first or fastest.

You didn’t bring lunch. You never bring lunch. In your family there has never been enough to go around. That is why you are at work. That is why you are in a foreign country thousands of miles from home. You are a teenager now, you need to help provide.

Someone slides a cooler out of a truck and hands you a sandwich with a smile. You don’t know how to speak their language and they don’t know how to speak yours, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Your smile sparks a head nod that says “you’re welcome”.

You have been working in this forest for a month. Part of a team. You work hard alongside your teammates. They depend on you, and you depend on them. You are learning to recognize the plants and animals. It hasn’t been long but you are seeing a change. Some of the areas from your first week look different. Is a change happening, or do you just feel a sense of sentimentality because that is where you started? A connection is being forged.

You are homesick. This place is very different than home. The people, this country; don’t make sense. The forest makes sense. Your work makes sense.

It’s lunch time. You love lunch. It’s a time to relax and reflect. You feel good sitting with your team under the shade of a big tree. There is a new person on the team. They aren’t from here, but you don’t know where they are from. You don’t know what to say, so you hand them a sandwich. They smile, you nod.