A forester walks into the woods carrying diameter tape, an increment borer, and a GPS… No, it’s not the opening to a joke or a riddle — it’s the start of a typical workday in the field for an NNRG foresters, who never leave home without a few important pieces of forestry gear. Several of […]
Alexandra Dolk
Program Manager. Kind to animals. Fond of woodworking, dry ciders, and bats.
Beavers as Partners in Riparian Restoration
And as the Bisers worked on restoring the hydrology of the forest, something amazing happened: beavers moved in, and eagerly set to work restoring the hydrology on their own.
NNRG Staff Book Picks!
For compelling holiday reading, start here. We asked NNRG staff to send over their top book recommendations in the forestry/ecology genre. The list includes fiction and non-fiction, classics and new hits. NNRG Director of Programs Rowan recommends: Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe by Charlotte Gill Gill uses stories about […]
Revisiting the Skokomish Tribe’s FSC-Certified Harvest
Skokomish Park at Lake Cushman is a scenic, 500-acre forest and campground on Lake Cushman in the Olympic Peninsula. Every year hundreds of campers visit the park to swim and fish on over 8 miles of freshwater shoreline and to hike and bike over 9 miles of trails. You wouldn’t know it from visiting, but […]
NNRG Expands San Juans ‘Rainshadow’ Education to Jefferson County
Nothing typifies the beautiful San Juan Islands more than the peeling, tri-color branches of a madrone snaking through a canopy.
A Truffle in the Hand is Worth Eight Underground
Two Oregon family forest owners know the secrets of Pacific Northwest truffles better than most; Marilyn Richen and Tammy Jackson truffle at their family woodlands—450 acres of woodlands in Columbia County—together with their dogs Blue and Gucci.
Recipes From the Forest – Fall Edition
Delicious dishes can be made from the bounties found within our forests. Below are recipes for a few of them.
Getting to the Root (Rot) of the Forest
Phil Aponte has always loved forests. When he was an interpretive ranger for Mount Rainier National Park, Phil had the chance to walk the woods with renowned forest ecologist Dr. Jerry Franklin. Jerry took a group of park rangers into a stand of old-growth forest and had the rangers lie down to observe their surroundings. […]
Raising 5,200 Children by Shovel and Machete
This January the Hansons embarked on a large reforestation project on their forest near Olympia, Washington. Comprising 18 acres and 5,200 seedlings, it’s been their most ambitious planting job to date — one that has had Hanson parents, kids, and grandkids weathering much of the current pandemic from deep in the forest.
Seeing the Forest for the Tech
Advances in tech seem to happen so rapidly it can be hard to keep up. Super-efficient heavy machinery, digital applications, remote sensing & mapping tools, and drone technology have changed the way we manage forests.
Beavers, Bobcats, and Bears, Oh My!
If a bear ambles through a forest while no one’s watching, was it really there? Thanks to wildlife cams — and our understanding of the metaphysical possibility of unperceived existence — we know that bear was really there!
Resources for Building Wildlife Nesting & Roosting Boxes
In Pacific Northwest forests, dead wood works wonders for wildlife. But when there isn’t enough naturally occurring dead wood around, you might need to do some woodworking yourself. Wood duck carefully inspecting a nesting box. Photo by Mark Biser. Snags—standing dead or dying trees—are important forest structures for cavity-dependent birds and small mammals, food sources […]
Women in the Woods: Then and Now
Here we are at the beginning of National Women’s History Month, this Sunday is International Women’s Day (March 8th), and it feels like the right time to shout from the rooftops how important women are to sustaining healthy forests. That fact doesn’t change when March ends — so we promise not to stop shouting it!
Keeping an Eye on the Back 40
Regular, rigorous monitoring is an important part of good forest stewardship. No one knows this better than Chris Goodman. Chris and his family own and take care of Back40 Quinault Forest, an aptly named 40-acre forest near Lake Quinault in Grays Harbor County. Since acquiring the forest in 2008, monitoring has been a critical component […]
Forestry for the Generations
Ayers’ Last Stand has roots that go four generations deep. When Matt Patton and his kids play in their forest, they’re climbing, hiding, and running around some of the same trees Matt’s great-great-grandfather knew. Matt’s kids are the sixth generation in his family to experience the forest—known as Ayers’ Last Stand—and likely not the last. […]
The (Life and) Death Cycle of the Salmon
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If you’re hoping to spot salmon in the forest this season, a creek or river is your best bet. But if you limit your searches to fin-spotting at the water’s edge, you’re missing out on the full experience. Don’t forget to look to the trees.
Making a Good Co-Home
There’s a hint of expectation in the air around Lousignont Creek, located in the northern Oregon Coast Range.Sometime in the next two months, adult coho salmon will appear as if out of nowhere and struggle upstream in search of suitable gravel for spawning.
Pointing the Trees in the Right Direction
It isn’t always easy to watch trees come down during a thinning, but Paul and Peggy Butler are getting better at it the second time around.
Tackling Invasives Without Chemicals―But Not Without Help
Artemio and Edana Paz have lived on and cared for their forest outside of Springfield for over 50 years. This year for the first time they sought help controlling invasive weeds from a unique source.
A Tale of Two Thinnings
Two members of NNRG’s group FSC certficate, Kopel Family Forest and Ferris Family Forest, are both commercially thinning their forests—a strategy that works to achieve both landowners’ goals for their lands.