Carson and Samantha Sprenger, Rain Shadow Consulting

Carson is a restoration forester and ecologist with over 18 years of experience working in the forests of the San Juan Islands. He obtained a B.S. in Environmental Science from The Evergreen State college in Olympia, and a M.S. in Forest Ecology from the College of Forest Resources, University of Washington. Carson has 8 years of experience with ecological research and is a local expert on historical fires and pre-contact forest structure. Carson specializes in conservation/forest management planning, forest restoration design, forest inventory, design of fuel reduction treatments, and tree health assessments. With professional experience in rigging, hazard tree removal, and large scale tree thinning, he has a keen understanding of on-the-ground project management.

Sam specializes in restoration ecology, soil science, and invasive species control. She received a B.S. in Environmental Science and Resource Management and a M.S. in Forest Soils/Restoration Ecology from the College of Forest Resources, University of Washington. She has a broad understanding of both forest and prairie landscapes in the Pacific Northwest and has been involved in conservation planning in the San Juans since 2004. Sam has 10 years of horticultural experience which she employs in her involvement with the propagation, outplanting, and monitoring of rare plants in our region.

Jake Robinson, Yankee Creek Forestry

Jake has been operating Yankee Creek Forestry since 2003.  During that time he has worked with private landowners to create forest management plans and conduct forest stand improvement and restoration projects including; selective logging, planting, riparian restoration, fuels reduction, pre-commercial  and commercial thinning, harvest plan layout, wildlife habitat enhancement, and mitigation plans.  Jake has also worked as a sub-contractor on several innovative federal stewardship contracts doing harvest layout, cutting, and equipment operation.  Most of this work was done in the interior valley forest habitats around the Rogue Valley of southern Oregon.  After moving to the coast two years ago, Jake took a temporary position with South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve as the Forest Science Coordinator where he developed the Reserve’s first upland forest management and restoration plan.  This provided Jake an excellent opportunity to explore the coastal forest types in great detail, both in literature and the field.   Since then Jake has decided to work exclusively as a private contractor, focusing on his desire to restore and maintain the private forests of the region.  This move also gives Jake more flexibility and time to spend on his new passion, sharing the wonders of the world with his new baby boy. 

 
John Zapel, Westek Ltd.

In the past 25 years, John Zapel has worked on a variety of engineering and logging projects for public and private landowners, such as building fish passage structures, bridges, roads, and first-entry thinning of over-crowded stands. Westek has also been contracted by the U.S. Forest Service for road repair and construction as well as road decommissioning in the Olympic National Forest. Using a processor and a Scandinavian-made harvester, Zapel is able to practice low-impact logging in which soil compaction is minimized. Click here to watch a video of Zapel running the harvester in the Knutsen Family Forest in Onalaska, WA. For more information and photos of Westek's most recent projects, click here.

Mike Cronin, Cronin Forestry

Mike received his B.S. in Forest Management from Southern Illinois University in 1972 and served as a full time forester with the Washington Department of Natural Resources for over 30 years. In the past, Mike has served as a timber sales appraiser, small sales specialist, and forest practices forester. Mike was the Straits District Manager in 2003-2006 and was responsible for management of 100,000 acres of state lands and staff between Forks and the Hood Canal. From 2000-2008, Mike served on the WA Interagency Incident Management Team 2 as a wildland fire manger (Division Supervisor and Operations Section Chief) on large fires throughout the west. Mike retired from the WA DNR in June 2006 and started Cronin Forestry in Port Townsend. His current clients include the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, NWWI, Jefferson County, and dozens of local forest landowners.


Brian Weber, M. H. T. Inc.

Brian Weber owns M. H. T. Inc. based in Morton, WA. Brian began planting trees at a very young age with his parents, and since then, has been serving the logging needs of private and public landowners for over 35 years. He has also worked on various projects to control the spread of disease on different forest lands. Brian specializes in thinning, danger tree removal, professional falling and logging in sensitive areas, snag creation, and limbing. In addition, Brian operates his own saw mill to provide a greater suite of services to landowners and to salvage lumber from unwanted logs on his property. Brian is a certified logger under the Master Logger Program, and has been employed by Commercial Thinning INC, Pacific Coast Cutting, Davis Cutting, and A-1 Timber.

Greg Lange, Draftworks Horse Logging

Greg Lange operates two forest services related companies. One is Draftworks Horse Logging and the other is Heritage Millworks where he value-adds rough sawn timber. He prefers a collaborative approach to delivery of services as he has skilled sawyers and a certified arborist as part of the team. Greg specializes in small forest landowner timber stand improvement thinning. The use of draft horses, directional felling techniques, and a logging arch result in minimal harvest related impact. When not working under a specific harvest prescription, a conservative “worst first” individual tree selection approach is practiced. This results in improved future forest health and quality of growth. He finds the process of discovery while working with a landowner on their harvest objective to be enjoyable.

Jim and Otto, both American Belgian draft horses are Greg’s quiet, hay-powered skidders. They turn timber harvesting into a neighborhood occasion and documented legacy event for the landowner. Greg credits the Healing Forest Harvest Foundation for his background in horse logging as he interned there in the past.

Heritage Millworks is the wood processing side of the business. Greg took over a 30 year old wood product manufacturing facility located in Port Angeles. The facility is Forest Stewardship Council certified and Greg takes pride in putting local wood into local homes. Typical products are tongue and groove paneling, flooring, and various siding styles. His shop is equipped with a 3000 board foot capacity dehumidification dry kiln, commercial 5 head molder, 36” re-saw, shapers, and various other wood-working equipment. Greg finds specialty work particularly rewarding as he can grind custom knives to match a customer’s desire in a wood profile.

Mike Jackson, Professional Forestry Services

Professional Forestry Services, Inc. is a forest management company dedicated to non-industrial private forest resource owners. Founded in 1960 by Jack E. Winn, Professional Forestry Services Inc., currently manages approximately 16,000 acres in 79 parcels for our various clients, in Western Washington State. Our client list includes private family ownerships, bank trusts, municipalities, foundations, estates and corporations. We have established a reputation over many years with public agencies, banks, attorneys, accountants and numerous entities with in the timber industry.

Our philosophy is to manage, conserve and maintain forest resources to provide periodic dividends and a prospective pension for each generation. We develop a program that is personally planned in accordance with client objectives, and their timber inventory.

The management plans we create addresses the environment, aesthetics, wildlife, public relations, economics and timber growth. Our staff of three graduate foresters, two forestry technicians and office support staff are available to show prospective clients on-site comparisons of forests under our management with unmanaged forests.

Jean Shaffer, TreeArt Ecoforestry

Background: In 1973 I received a Bachelor of Science degree from Washington State University in Conservation with a specialty in Wildlife. At that time, my WSU forestry courses embraced only clear cutting. This rang false, discouraged me, and after graduation was followed by a decade of retreating to my own forest to "drop out". On the rebound, inspiration got me involved as an active, but frustrated, old growth environmentalist during the 1980's.  At the end of that decade I met the world renowned ecoforester Merve Wilkinson. He, as well as others, taught me that logging didn't have to be a dirty low-down business that left a forest looking like a war zone. Rather, forests we manage for logging, through logging, could become old growth!  And we could harvest at the same time. My real forestry education has come from people who have trial-tested ways to co-exist peacefully with Nature by living off only Her surplus.  The rest of my life is devoted to listening to the forest, listening to what others, from shamans to scientists, have to say, and passing on the knowledge to everyone interested.
 
Philosophy: My forestry approach is to allow the forest to meet its needs first so that it will be able to best provide for our human needs be they: wood production, sequestering carbon for credits, wildlife habitat, planetary amenities, or spirituality and beauty.  To the best of our knowledge, a forest left alone will succeed from a ground zero state to old growth climax forest. But that takes a long time. By observing indicators trees give on a physical as well as soul level, we can not only support this succession, but speed it up by removing trees that the forest is trying to weed out itself and leave those trees it is keeping. In other words, let the forest's Spirit and natural selection phenomena be the authority.
 
Services Provided: I council landowners by teaching them these indicators so they can do it themselves, along with providing a forest plan for their forest's particular needs. I also have a background in light logging to offer, so tree removal does no harm to the soil, which is essentially the placenta of the forest, or the forest canopy. My plans qualify properties for FSC certification, for acceptance into county re-zoning programs to get a property tax break, and for achieving old growth forest to best sequester carbon in the form of big trees. I also assess the health of trees close to homes, for potential danger. I have an experienced, sensitive, personable logger, for those not wanting to do their own logging. I'd be honored to walk your forest with you. I charge $20 an hour. See my web page at www.TreeArt.info or email: jeanorjerelshaffer@wildblue.net.  ph: 360-459-0946  8400 Rocky Ln SE/ Olympia WA  98513

Integrated Resource Management

Established in January 1994, Integrated Resource Management is a full service forestry consulting firm based in Philomath, Oregon. IRM is dedicated to planning and implementing sustainable and restorative forestry. IRM assists private landowners, land trusts, natural resource agencies and other forest proprietors in reaching a diverse range of stewardship goals. IRM offers a full range of forestry services including management planning, cruising and forest inventory, stumpage appraisals and forest investment analysis, low impact timber harvest, and ecological restoration. For clients seeking a balanced approach to forest management as an investment, our innovative forestry practices provide reasonable financial returns while protecting ecological function and productivity. For more information, please visit IRM’s website at www.irmforestry.com.

Sterner Resources, LLC

Michael Sterner is a forester and lawyer admitted to the Oregon state bar.  He has ten years experience in forestry and natural resources consulting focusing on environmental assessment, forest management planning, and certification.  He was project manager of the second American Indian Forest Management Assessment (IFMAT-II), and co-author of a report to the U.S. Congress.  He holds a Master of Forestry degree from Yale University.  After college, he served for three years in the Peace Corps in West Africa.  He holds a J.D. from the University of Washington Law School.  His legal experience includes working as an attorney at the Internal Revenue Service in Seattle; doing pro bono work for Legal Aid Services of Oregon; and experience as a student lawyer in the UW Tax Clinic.  He has also served as a volunteer income tax return preparer for United Way of King County.  Click here to read an article about relevant tax issues for forest land owners that Mike recently wrote for the NNRG newsletter.

Forestry consulting services are available throughout the Pacific Northwest.  Attorney representation is available only in Oregon.  You can reach him at www.sternerlaw.com or mssterner@gmail.com.