Northwest Office Update
At the Northwest Office, the arrival of spring coincides with the holding of annual meetings. This year is no different, even as the pandemic continues. Alaska, Oregon, and Washington are all hosting virtual annual meetings in April and May, and the Northwest Office is providing behind-the-scenes support.
Each planning committee has pulled together an engaging set of speakers and topics, and I’d encourage everyone to consider attending if time allows. While a virtual annual meeting doesn’t provide the same networking opportunities, one benefit is you can take a virtual forestry tour around the Pacific Northwest without having to take a car ride or book a hotel room. (Although after a year of staying close to home, I’m sure many people would welcome such an opportunity!)
One significant project the Northwest Office is undertaking is leading the effort to redesign the website. The current design has served our needs for many years, but it’s time for an upgrade to a website that is mobile friendly and easier to update with new features. If you have any suggestions to new content or features you’d like to see included, please pass them along to Jeremy Felty or myself.
We will also begin soliciting theme ideas for the 2021-2022 issues of the Western Forester. If you have any ideas, please email me at [email protected].
The beginning of April also marks one year of my being the manager of the Northwest Office. Thank you to everyone for your patience and help as I’ve gotten more comfortable in the position, and do let me know if there is anything the Northwest Office can do to better support you as members.
Andrea Watts
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Tales from the Forest: A book review by Marck Buckbee
American Canopy
by Eric Rutkow
A tradition of the SAF National Board of Directors is for outgoing members to present small gifts to their colleagues who remain on the Board. In December 2020, Tom Hanson, who represented District 1, presented all of us with a copy of American Canopy, a book by Eric Rutkow published by Simon and Schuster in 2012. This book, Rutkows first won the American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence. I must acknowledge that I prefer non-fiction, and books that aren’t too long or too difficult.
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Where I worked.
Blair Moody
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Aspen and Pines
When I graduated from the College of Forestry at Northern Arizona University in December of 1975, there were not many jobs in forestry to be found. I had been working in grocery stores to put myself through college when an opening with the local Coors distributor came up. It was then that I learned how to drive a big rig, which had been a childhood desire. My delivery routes took me to the North and South rims of the Grand Canyon, Lees Ferry, Lake Powell, and Sedona, Arizona. As often happens, a college roommate of mine (it’s who you know, not what you know) mentioned there was an opening for a forester with local Southwest Forest Industries (Southwest).
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OSAF Featured Member:
James Mahaffey
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I ended up in the forestry field by way of a meandering career path. Since I grew up in Coos Bay, Oregon I understood the importance of the timber industry to not only our local economy but the state economy as well. However, forestry did not draw any particular interest for me as I pondered my career choices during high school. Other than a few loggers, I had not had an opportunity to actually meet and spend time with an actual forester.
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Wylda Cafferata's Book Review
Neither Wolf nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder
by Kent Nerburn
At the OSAF Leadership meeting, Gene Kodama, our SAF President for 2021, addressed us thoughtfully on what leadership means to him. In that context, he mentioned the book, Neither Wolf nor Dog. I was curious about the connection, and ordered a copy of the book.
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Mick Sears' Tree ID Quiz #12.
Click the button to take the quiz. Answers are at the bottom of the newsletter.
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Science You Can Use!
Planting More Trees Can Increase Carbon Storage Capacity in the U.S.
Around the world, tree planting initiatives are underway to help slow forest loss and climate change. A recent Forest Service study sheds light on how we can target reforestation efforts to maximize climate benefits. Harnessing data from the Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis program, the scientists evaluated the potential to enhance carbon sequestration capacity on productive forestland. They found that concentrating tree planting in understocked forestland, particularly in western states, Florida, and the Northeast, may substantially increase carbon sequestration capacity in the United States.
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Message from the Chair
Jeremy Felty
Dear my fellow Foresters and Natural Resources Specialists,
As Oregon begins to enter “Spring,” I can’t help but reflect on the whirlwind of a year that we have been through. Whether you had the pleasure of working from home, or still managed to get into the woods daily in 2020, we have all been affected by the pandemic. We have felt the aftershocks throughout our daily lives, sometimes in small ways, like the introduction of a mask to your near-daily wardrobe decisions, to your favorite restaurants being closed or shifted to “to-go” only. We have seen family members affected by the virus, or the seclusion of our elderly citizens to protect them, no one can go forth and say they haven’t been affected by COVID-19. With vaccines a-plenty appearing in our local communities, whether your local football stadium has turned into a vaccine clinic or your County fairgrounds, the opportunities to get one of the vaccines grows on a daily basis.
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Jobs a link to job postings on the SAF NW webpage.
- Seeking OSAF Communications Chair
Social media wiz? Passionate about promoting forestry and the great work our members are doing? Have ideas to help keep our members inspired about our profession? We need you as the next OSAF Communications Chair!
OSAF is looking for a communication chair to help promote OSAF and forestry activities on our social media platforms, collaborate with the newsletter editor for content delivery to members, and help keep the OSAF website up to date.
This is also great way to get involved with the OSAF Executive Committee and develop relationships with the new SAF national staff as we work to expand our membership communications efforts.
Contact Jeremy Felty if you are interested or if you know of a good candidate for recruitment.
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Love SAF? Love shopping on Amazon? If you make Society of American Foresters your "charity", Amazon will make a donation every time you shop with them. Click Here to start shopping and donating.
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Tree ID Quiz #12 Answers:
c,a,b,a,c
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