The Haines Timber Alliance hosted its first educational community outreach event this Thursday in partnership with the Takshanuk Watershed Council and the Haines State Forestry Office. Participants gathered at Mosquito Lake to take a walk in the woods with local Forester Greg Palmieri. KHNS’ Claire Stremple reports.
Greg Palmieri is the Haines State Forester. That means he’s the one man managing about a quarter of a million acres of land.
“We’re gonna go for a little walk into the woods to show everyone a little bit of the applied forestry that’s been going on here for the last 60, 80 years,” he says
He leads a group of Haines residents into the woods off Kelsall Road. They stamp their feet in the snow and inspect the trees.
Palmieri points out a place that was clear cut decades ago using skid rows. “This is a mix of natural regeneration and planted sitka spruce,” he says. “See all the hemlock coming back here. There’s never a monoculture here. Its different than other parts of southeast.”
He’s showing how different management and logging practices have different outcomes. For example, an area that’s been clear cut grows back differently than selectively logged piece of land. This day is chance for residents to see what that actually looks like.
“People see the forest from their perspective and how they use it, but my job is much broader than any one perspective.” Palmieri says the Haines state forest was specifically established at the same time as the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve to balance usages.
“So the eagle preserve was for conservation and the state forest for utilization.”
Sylvia Heinz is one of the people that utilizes the forest. She owns Mud Bay Lumber Company and represents the Haines Timber Alliance. This is their first collaborative event. “It’s good to get your feet on the ground out in the woods rather than talk about in a coffee shop. Lucy thinks so, too,” she says.
Heinz attended with her infant daughter. She and Derek Poinsette of the Takshanuk Watershed Council organized the event with Palmieri.
A diverse group of attendees included Shannon Donahue the executive director of the Great Bear Foundation and Richard Chapell, a Fishery Biologist with Alaska Fish and Game. They chatted over hot chocolate after the walk. Chapell says he learned a lot.
“It’s great to get out on the ground and see what the trees look like and how he manages the landscape,” he says. “Seeing what it’s like in practice and not just what it looks like in some report.”
The Haines Timber Alliance would like to collaborate on future educational and community outreach events. To learn more, contact Sylvia at Mud Bay Lumber Company.
