By Jennifer Whitelaw

James Peet and his wife Emily own 20 acres of land near Enumclaw, 18 of which are zoned as timberland and two as residential. While they plan to sell some of the wood products produced by their forest, the first order of business is building a home on the property that will be just as friendly to the environment as their logging practices will be to their forest.

As he recounts the sustainable design features of the Peet house-to-be, James sits on a Hemlock log in his family’s Wapiti Woods that will soon be milled and used to frame the house. All the wood used to build the house will come from the Wapiti Woods forest.

“We as a species need wood products to survive,” James said. “I believe in using it wisely.”

James has been thinning his forest himself after taking classes offered by Northwest Natural Resource Group, the organization which also helped him and Emily get Waipiti Woods certified through the Northwest Certified Forestry program.

“Northwest Natural Resource Group is one of the best organizations to join, particularly if you’re not familiar with forestry and logging,” said James. “Their logging class was the best of its kind I’ve ever taken.”

For now, James thins his forest by cutting trees that he can use to construct the house. He plans to build it himself, with limited help from professional sub contractors. Unlike the average do-it-yourselfer, however, James knows quite a lot about sustainable development. He teaches classes on the subject at Edmonds Community College, classes that are required for the College’s horticulture restoration program.

James will continue teaching two to four classes over the next year as he works on the house. He also hopes to grow his research and analysis business, Pacific Geographics LLC, while Emily will continue her family medical practice in Enumclaw.

In order to build the house in a sustainable fashion, James will use hemlock, Douglas fir and alder from Wapiti Woods, as well as soy-based foam insulation, a masonry heater, a geothermal heat pump and a rain water collection system.

From his own studies and the lessons he provides to his students, James knows that solar panels don’t make much sense in Western Washington. He calculated the payback period to be approximately 86 years. He will, however, use a passive solar design to maximize the natural heating and cooling potential by properly orienting the house.

Over time, James and Emily plan to create a permaculture environment at Wapiti Woods. In addition to their sustainably harvested forest, they will cultivate plants and trees that provide food to the family and the native wildlife. The property is already popular with bears, cougars, bobcats, deer, elk, mountain beaver, red squirrels and a variety of birds, including the raven which circled overhead as James recounted his vision for Wapiti Woods.

James says that his long term vision for the property is to remain flexible and to adapt based upon what the land and his family require. When it comes time to concentrate on commercial products, James suspects that the vine maple at Wapiti Woods could make great hiking staffs and the alder could be valuable to cabinet makers. For now, his focus is wholly dedicated to getting the house built.

James will handle most of the wood production for the home construction on site, with help from mobile milling professionals. He’s built a working solar kiln to dry the wood and has already attained six percent humidity, the ideal moisture content for the wood. Building an access road on the property and purchasing logging equipment meant out of pocket, up front expenses, but James expects to at least break even in the long run.

Though he spent years as an interpretive and law enforcement ranger and, growing up as the child of a state department official, saw many different landscapes around the world, James says that his passion for the forest and nature comes from reading Mother Earth News as a kid.

Emily tells James that he was born in the wrong century, and in fact James names Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the United States Forest Service in the beginning of last century, as his hero and inspiration.  Pinchot advocated preservation of the nation’s forest land reserves by planned use and renewal and coined the term “conservation ethic.”

“I think most people want to live sustainably, but they won’t do it if they don’t have the knowledge, the access or sometimes the money,” said James.

For other small forest owners, James has this advice. “Don’t try to compete with the big guys. Find a market and forestry niche. Be open minded and ask questions. Being a member of Northwest Natural Resource Group isn’t expensive. Have them consult for you.”