WVFA Mountain State Forestry Winter 2020-21

M E S S A G E F R OM T H E E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R S omething is happening in West Virginia that you should take note. People are outside in droves enjoying the West Virginia forests. People from surrounding states are visiting to hike and enjoy the beauty that fall brings. Fishing license sales soared this year. We are blessed with some incredible forests and streams. The products produced from these forests provide some of the most essential products we need to stay healthy and safe. We enjoy that maple syrup, we find ginseng and other herbs. Most of all, the hardwood forest that emerged from the last century has provided us this magnificent landscape. As we enter the 21st century third decade, WVFA will engage on issues that impact West Virginia’s forests. Decades of debating how we manage our national forests have left us with few areas of young forests so important to some of our most endangered bird species. The most recent USFS project that WVFA commented on is precisely the kind of management we need, regenerating the forest, using the most detailed and research documented techniques. Let’s not confuse the exploitive denuding of the entire valley in the 19th central with the modern regeneration harvest of the 21st century. In fact, many studies have shown that the recreational hikers prefer the open stands of young forests because they see more of the surrounding forest and the watchable wildlife abounds in those new harvests. If we want to see science-based sustainable forest management, we need markets for those trees. We need markets for products made from the crooked diseased trees, the suppressed trees that once removed release the healthier trees to grow faster, and yes, we need markets for many different hardwood species. During this pandemic, markets have changed. People are desiring more paper products, less red oak flooring, less cherry furniture, and an incredible increase in white oak for products including a surge in staves for whiskey barrels. The housing upturn will bring back some demand for flooring and cabinets, but we see people preferring lighter colors, maple and of course, that steady demand for yellow poplar where West Virginia is king of the yellow poplar world. What new demand will emerge in the 21st century? We see glue laminated cross timber emerging as one of the products in high value homes and commercial construction. Ongoing research being done right now at the WVU Appalachian Hardwood Center is putting West Virginia in a position or leadership to manufacture this product. Mass timber buildings are returning like the 19th century but with the unique engineering required Eric Carlson Executive Director 4 West Virginia Forestry Association Mountain State Forestry | Winter 2020-2021 www.wvfa.org