The farm-to-table movement resonates with citizens of the Pacific Northwest. We shop at local farmers markets, participate in CSAs, buy eggs from our neighbors who raise chickens. We care so much about where our food comes from – and its well-being – that the show Portlandia pokes fun at us Oregonians and Washingtonians wanting to “meet the […]
From the Blog
Member Spotlight: A few sheep and EQIP help steward the forest
By Christina Davis and NNRG Steve and Linnea Bensel of Nootka Rose Farm steward 32 acres of forest on Waldron Island in the San Juans. In recent years, they accessed cost-share funds through the Natural Resources Conservation Service to develop a forest management plan and do a pre-commercial thinning in their forest. They also channel the appetites of a few woolly ruminants to stymy […]
Funding Forest Stewardship – Enhance Forest Health
For updated cost-share funding offered through NNRG in 2024 click here. For the third installment in the Funding Your Forest series, we’re focusing on ways to improve the diversity and productivity of your forest. Stewarding a forest that is diverse in species, age and size classes, with appropriate stocking densities is beneficial to the entire […]
Funding Fuel Reduction and Forest Health Projects
Depending on the state of your forest, fuel reduction and forest slash treatments may be ways you can improve your forest’s health and fire resilience. We’ve identified cost-share programs, funding, and other resources, as well as information on how to do-it-yourself. Forest slash treatment is becoming a necessity in many forests due to historic fire […]
Special Announcement: Funding Forest Stewardship – Make a Plan
NNRG is kicking off a series about cost-share programs and resources available to woodland owners in Oregon and Washington. Over the next six weeks we’ll be sharing information about resources to fund stewardship activities in your forest. We’re focusing on the topics you’ve told us are important to you: developing management plans, improving timber quality, […]
Sometimes a couch tells the story
Over the past year my father built a set of craftsman-style living room furniture for my family – a couch and two Morris chairs. This furniture is particularly significant as it was crafted from white oak that my father and I harvested from my family’s original woodlot in Minnesota many years ago. The logs […]
Partnership in the Skagit Watershed
The iconic Skagit Watershed is important to all of us for its production of timber, food, and fisheries. It is also significant in that it is the only river system in the Puget Sound region to support all five species of Pacific salmon. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Northwest Natural Resource […]
GiveBIG – May 5
Are you a champion for forests? The Seattle Foundation’s GiveBIG is a one-day, online charitable giving event to inspire people to give generously to nonprofit organizations who make our region a stronger, more vibrant community for all. This year’s GiveBIG event is May 5, 2015. Northwest Natural Resource Group is excited to be a participant in […]
Time to start thinking about 2016 EQIP projects
The Washington State cutoff for 2016 EQIP funding is Friday, July 17, 2015 (Edit: The 2016 EQIP deadline has been extended to October 16, 2015 in WA. The Oregon 2016 EQIP deadline is January 15, 2016.) The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a technical and financial assistance program managed by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. EQIP […]
Spring time in the San Juans
NNRG returned to the San Juans this spring, this time assisting Camp Orkila prepare for pre-commercial thinning as well as develop a forest management plan for Satellite Island. Kirk Hanson, Director of Forestry, spent the better part of a day on Satellite Island, a 116-acre remote camping island owned by the YMCA that is nestled along […]
Harvest Underway at Roslyn Urban Forest
This month, Northwest Natural Resource Group started the restoration harvest on the City of Roslyn’s Urban Forest. Roslyn’s forest has not been managed for decades and is extremely overtstocked for its age – mostly with Douglas fir that has grown in among the Ponderosa pine in the absence of naturally occurring forest fires. NNRG is […]
Fostering Positive Growth in a Forest and a Community
Tierra Learning Center’s forest in Sunitsch Canyon Leavenworth, WA By: Christina Davis The history of Sunitsch Canyon extends further into the past than the incorporation of Washington State. Mathias Sunitsch, originally from Austria, established his homestead on the land in 1888, then considered Washington Territory. Sunitsch’s barn, built in 1912, still stands on the property […]
Evergreen Land Trust
Evergreen Land Trust, Deming, WA Evergreen Ecoforestry is a program of the Evergreen Land Trust. ELT uses selective and low impact logging to limit ecosystem impacts while producing lumber and finished wood products. We steward over 200 acres of second growth forest upslope from the South Fork Nooksack River in Deming , WA . Our […]
EQIP and a Forest Classroom
Butler Family Forest, Olympia, WA Nestled along Pants Creek and the Capital Forest near Olympia sits a 40 acre FSC® certified forest owned by Paul and Peggy Butler, and Jim Stroh and Jan Yancy. Paul, a retired Evergreen State College professor, and his partners bought the property from another former Evergreen professor in 1990 and […]
USDA features Kirk’s Riparian Designs
Story from USDA Agroforestry Report 2011-2012 The full report can be found at here. Inspired? Learn about what EQIP can do for you:
EQIP and A Family Forest
Sasquatch Farm, Montesano, WA By Neva Knott, edited by NNRG Often when we think of a family forest, we envision grandparents or parents passing the land from generation to generation. Some family forests grow differently, such as Sasquatch Farm, founded by brother and sister, Garry and Nancy Dale. In 2001, the siblings purchased the 60-acre […]
A Church’s Inheritance and EQIP
Bethlehem Lutheran Church forestland, Belfair, WA Story told by Neva Knott, edited by NNRG What would you do if you inherited over one hundred acres of forestland in need of restoration? Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Marysville, WA was faced with this quandary when a member of the congregation bequeathed 132 acres of Hood Canal forestland […]
Northwest Trek
Northwest Trek, Eatonville, WA By Jennifer Whitelaw Northwest Trek is a 723-acre wildlife park near Eatonville. 435 of those acres feature a fenced in free-roaming area where native Northwest animals can be viewed from a moving tram. Take the tour and you will hear about the animals from one of the naturalists on staff. You […]
Wetset Enterprises
Wetset Enterprises, Mossyrock, WA By Kirk Hanson Thomas Wolfe once famously stated that “you can’t go home again”. NCF member Micheal Hurley begs to differ as he gradually exchanges a 30-year career that took him all over the world for the woods of his childhood. Nestled into the headwaters of Salmon Creek in the foothills […]
Wild Thyme Farm
Wild Thyme Farm, Oakville, WA By Jennifer Whitelaw John Henrickson’s land speaks to him, and he thinks more people should listen. “We need more people to develop that relationship – to fall in love with the land,” he said. The particular object of John’s affection is Wild Thyme Farm, a 150-acre forest in the Oakville […]