Chapter 1: An Introduction to Innovative Tree Farming
From A Guide to Innovative Tree Farming in the Pacific Northwest by Mike Dubrasich. 2005. Whirlwind Press. For a hard copy of the book ($10 - includes shipping) please contact W.I.S.E. [here].
If you own rural property in the Pacific Northwest, then this book is for you. Tree farming is one of the best ways to use your property. It’s relatively easy, non-polluting, low maintenance, interesting, and it can be very profitable, too.
Tree farming is the art and science of growing, harvesting, and marketing large, woody plants. Trees are fascinating, lovely, noble, and enjoyable to grow. Tree farming is also a business, one that uses natural phenomena (plants, soil, rain, and sunshine) to produce commercial goods and materials. Most rural landowners grow trees on their property, and many of them make money harvesting sawlogs, Christmas trees, firewood, boughs, cones, or hundreds of other tree products. That’s tree farming. Many so-called “forests” in the Pacific Northwest are actually tree farms: plantations of trees grown to be commercially harvested. (Orchards and nurseries are also types of tree farms, but they are outside the scope of this book.)
