RappFLOW's sustainable forestry workshop draws overflow crowd

by Amy Silver and Beverly Hunter, Spring 2004

A standing-room-only crowd of over 200 people gathered in the restored mule-team barn at Cliff Miller's Mt. Vernon Farm in Sperryville on Saturday, April 24, to participate in the RappFLOW (Rappahannock Friends and Lovers of Our Waterways) workshop on sustainable forestry in Rappahannock County. Facing the Thornton River and surrounded by forests and pastures of grass-fed cattle, it was the perfect setting to learn about relationships of forests and watershed. According to Beverly Hunter, RappFLOW coordinator, at least 20 public and private organizations and 40 individuals contributed exhibits, demonstrations, expertise, educational materials, speeches, food, and facilities to this event.

RappFLOW participants watch
sawmill operations from a safe distance.
Photo courtesy Dick Biby.

Co-coordinator Janet S. Davis introduced this fourth in a series of RappFLOW workshops, supported in part by grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation. Davis described RappFLOW as a "loose affiliation of people who come together to protect Rappahannock's water resources. We are farmers, artists, foresters, wood-workers, construction workers, fishermen, students—all kinds of people who want to protect our watershed."

County Administrator John McCarthy welcomed the crowd

The barn rang with laughter during County Administrator John McCarthy's introductory remarks on the environmental and economic value of our forests, when McCarthy joked that he views people seeking to move to the county as "viruses." However, he added, once they move here he "embraces them," treating them "…the same as those who have been here since before the flood." McCarthy stressed the environmental and economic importance of forestry and agriculture. "Trees and cows don’t ride school buses," and thus forestry and agriculture keep down the costs of schools and other local government functions. However, "there are good and bad ways to do any agricultural activity," hence the importance of learning about sustainable forestry practices. Adding that the Rappahannock County name adds value to products made here and "we should be making sure that the name gets out." McCarthy concluded by expressing his hope to see certified organic forestry products being grown in the county.

Lyt Wood presented five guidelines for sustainable forest management

In his presentation exploring the "Five Guidelines for Sustainable Forest Management," Arborist and Forester Lyt Wood emphasized overall forest health. While forest health may be difficult to define, it’s easier to see what is not a healthy forest. For a nearby example, Wood mentioned the Shenandoah National Park’s forest surrounding highway 211 as it passes through Thornton Gap. This forest has been ravaged in recent history by fire, gypsy moths, ice, high winds, and both by Oriental Bittersweet and by the herbicides used to control it.

The bulleted items comprise Lyt Wood’s five guidelines:

The first guideline is to start by assessing the site and then selecting tree species appropriate to the site, not the other way around.
Second, the sustainable forester works with, rather than against, the flow of succession, in which open land is succeeded by trees that seed in full sunlight, followed by shade-loving hardwoods. The natural processes are set back by disturbances such as logging. Operating at cross-purposes with the natural progression, said Wood, takes a lot more work. If you have a mixed stand of hardwoods and Virginia pines, for example, cutting the pines out works with the flow of succession by removing "pioneer" trees that don't live very long.

Logging horses wait to haul the log
from the forest.
Photo courtesy Dick Biby.

Wood distinguished between alternative harvesting approaches, including clear cut, selective cut, and group cut. While clear cutting has become a dirty word, according to Wood, in some cases, for example with a pure stand of Virginia pine, the only reasonable way to harvest these short-lived, shallow-rooted trees is with a clear cut, followed by replacement. Clear cutting also avoids high grading, the practice of selecting only the best quality and most vigorous trees to cut, leaving the poorer trees and ultimately degrading the quality of the forest. Further, clear cutting in itself is not damaging to the watershed; water quality is damaged by soil-disturbing practices such as heavy equipment, unstable logging roads, and skid trails. Selective cut, on the other hand, is rarely the best way to go in our area, and is usually only applicable with shade-tolerant stands such as sugar maple and American beech not typical in the county. While he was not advocating clear cutting, he said, it should be understood as one of a number of systems that were appropriate under certain circumstances.

When logging is over, said Wood, the area must be put to bed properly and timber replanted consistent with overall forest management goals, indicated by the third guideline: never consider timber harvest except in conjunction with timber regeneration.

Fourth, remember that the forest is a complex ecosystem, including not only trees but also other plants, animals, soil, water, and air. Healthy soil contains both air and water; healthy water does not contain soil. Three ways the watershed can be damaged are improper logging techniques, grazing, and forest loss.

The fifth guideline is to implement practices that have multiple benefits. Because we want to keep our forested land in Rappahannock County, said Wood, we must find ways for our forests to contribute to our local economy in some way. It doesn’t have to be harvesting timber, but by adding value to forest products. Lumber is much more valuable than logs; furniture is much more valuable than lumber.

RappFLOW host Cliff Miller addressed the crowd

Mt. Vernon Farm owner Cliff Miller spoke about the 850-acre farm farmed by his family since 1827. Once a large dairy, Mt. Vernon now has 525 acres in forest and 300 open acres.

Miller's farm management philosophy has evolved over the years, and he is now committed to improving the land and water, growing healthy products for sale locally, using sustainable practices, and encouraging entrepreneurial young people to farm the land. From 2002 to 2004 Miller placed 160 riparian acres in hardwood forest under the CREP program, and in 2003 placed 604 acres under conservation easement. The farm uses grass-based, management intensive grazing, no plowing, no pesticides or fertilizers, and the animals receive no shots or antibiotics. They have just begun marketing their grass-fed beef and will soon have chicken and lamb available as well.

Miller acknowledged all the skilled people in the community who have been integral to the farm's restoration and success, including Rachel Bynum and Eric Plaksin, who lease acreage for Waterpenny Farm; Chris Bird, who helped jack up and restore the old
7-mule-team barn using timber harvested on the property; Miller’s wife Lucile, who "started beating on me when we got married about environmental issues" and has been a guiding force in the farm’s evolution; and many others.

Chad Vogel cuts down a tree.
Photo courtesy Dick Biby.

Practical demonstrations and exhibits

The presentations were followed by several demonstrations and exhibits:

Chad Vogel, a professional horse logger, demonstrated felling and hauling a log with his Belgian work horses as he explained why horse logging supports sustainable forestry. The demonstration took a dramatic turn when the selected tree temporarily declined to fall. Vogel spoke of the advantages of horses, saying horses compact the soil much less than big machines. In addition, with big skidder operations, the machines must pay for themselves by harvesting as much as possible. The machines pull so much wood at a time that other standing timber is inevitably damaged in the process. Furthermore, horses are self-renewing—"you never find little baby skidders in the woods." Horses are, additionally, self-healing and run on solar fuel.

Chris Bird, a master at cutting, milling, and building with local hardwoods, demonstrated his transportable sawmill.
Bruce Westfall, a talented craftsman who has restored several barns at Mt. Vernon farm, has a woodworking shop in one of the barns where he uses wood harvested there.
Furniture-maker Peter Kramer displayed several items.
Luther Steve Marquisee displayed hand-carved mandolins from native hardwoods as well as landing nets and fly-tying benches.
Steve Morse, whose company manufactures wood veneer panels using sustainable, rapidly renewable and recycled content, was an exhibitor.
Artist and potter Jeannie Drevas displayed several items from her "Conversations with Nature: Gleanings from the Forest" collection.
Other exhibitors included Virginia Forest Watch, the Virginia Department of Forestry, the Division of Soil and Water Conservation of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Virginia Cooperative Extension, the NRCS of the Department of Agriculture, the Piedmont Environmental Council, the Rappahannock County Conservation Alliance, and RLEP.

At the conclusion of the fascinating and by all accounts successful event, under glorious spring skies, a delicious free lunch of Mt. Vernon-grown grass-fed beef, hot off the grill, was sponsored and served by the members of RLEP.

This article, courtesy Bev Hunter of the Piedmont Research Institute, has been reposted from www.piedmontresearch.org.

For additional information on RappFLOW events, including upcoming events, visit www.rappflow.org.

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