"Sustainable forestry is right where organic gardening was a generation ago--at the very beginning of working out the techniques and technologies that will let logging thrive at a scale appropriate to both the human and natural communities that depend on the forest. This book is at--if you will pardon the expression--the absolute cutting edge of that process." Bill McKibben, author ofThe End of Nature, Hope, Human and Wild, Enough, and other books If the future really mattered . . . How would forests be managed to improve, rather than degrade, future timber values? How would trees be cut to minimize damage to the residual forest? How would foresters measure success towards minimizing damage? How would loggers be paid to lower logging impacts? How would forests be managed in a way that ensures the survival of all native species? How would woodlot owners be able to afford this type of management? Low-Impact Forestry: Forestry as if the Future Matteredanswers these questions and more. Using Maine as a case study, this book offers forestry goals and guidelines that emphasize quality and value while conserving biodiversity and supporting communities for the long term.

With help from her parents, a forest manager and a wildlife biologist, and in the company of new friend Ricky, eleven-year-old Ellie Homesly fills a field notebook with sketches and notes about nature in the woods near her home. Includes suggestions on how to keep a field notebook. A teacher's guide is available online.

This report provides a general overview of current log sort yard operations in the United States, including an extensive literature review and information collected during on-site visits to several operations throughout the nation. Log sort yards provide many services in marketing wood and fiber by concentrating, merchandising, processing, sorting, and adding value to logs. Such operations supply forest products firms with desired raw materials, which helps improve their bottom line by reducing the number of marginal logs processed. Ultimately, sorting logs leads to better use of the available timber resources. Successful log sort yards are self-sufficient and have well-established markets and a steady supply of wood. Log sort yard concepts and analyses described in this report have broad applications.