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Protect the best, restore the rest: Managing forests for a climate-changed future
March 25 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
For over a century, our approach to managing forests has been based almost entirely on our drive to maximize financial returns from intensive timber production. How can we work with the natural functions of forests to give us much more?
A new approach to forestry, known as ecological forest management, is gaining traction across the Pacific Northwest as a way to generate wood products while promoting biodiversity, carbon storage, and climate resilience. Ecological foresters wield chainsaws and feller bunchers in innovative ways that turn homogenous timber plantations into complex and diverse forest ecosystems. By protecting mature and old-growth forests, and restoring complexity in plantations, ecological forestry can attenuate winter floods and yield higher summer streamflows — providing more water in our streams and rivers when farmers and fish need it most.
Come learn about the promises (and challenges) of ecological forestry, and get updates on innovative pilot projects currently underway in western Washington. This talk will include a collaborative comment board, poetry readings and more.